Not Michelin, Not Goodyear – These Are The Best Summer Tires For Comfort

Swapping your tires out for for different seasons might be more common for folks who live in regions prone to harsh winters, as some tires are just built to perform better in ice and snow. There are also summer tires, however, that are designed to perform better when the roadways are warmer and frequently wetter.

Summer tires might seem like a relatively unnecessary luxury – particularly in the age of the all-season tire — but if you live in areas that are excessively hot or wet during warmer months, they could offer better handling, braking, and traction when you are out and about. Apart from those upgrades, it will no doubt be important to most drivers to ensure that their summer tires also deliver a comfortable ride. Road testing is, perhaps, the best way to ensure your summer tires are comfortable, but that option may not be available unless you purchase the tires first.

As such, it can be helpful to research reviews from professional product testers to see which tires scored best in the comfort category. According to reports from TyreReviews, Dunlop's SportMaxx RT 2, Bridgestone's Potenza Sport Evo, Hankook Ventus Evo, and Goodyear's Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 are the comfiest models on the market in 2026 when it comes to summer tires. All of these models tied for the top spot with a score of eight points out of a possible 10 in the comfort category. In doing so, they bested models by many of the major tire makers in the market. 

For the record, TyreReviews did not conduct the tests that rated those tires as the comfiest in the summer tire class. Rather, the results stemmed from AutoBild's annual Summer Tire Test, which ranks as one of Europe's most extensive and important tire testing events, covering things like dry and wet driving, noise, rolling resistance, value, and durability. In the comfort category, the Dunlop, Hankook, Bridgestone, and Goodyear tires were followed by models from Nokian, Kumho, Kleber, Pirelli, Vredestein, Toyo, Continental, Sava, Nexen, Linglong, Yokohama, Michelin, and Falken, which all scored 7.3 points a piece. Meanwhile, tires from Maxxis, Victra, and Giti rounded out the top 20 with a score of 6.7 each. 

As it is, the Hankook Ventus Evo scored well in several other categories, including Dry Braking, Dry Handling, Subjective Dry Handling, Wet Handling, and Value. In the end, the dry weather dominance of Hankook's Ventus Evo was more than enough for the tires to earn the top spot in AutoBild's overall Summer Tire rankings. Goodyear's Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 tires placed second, with Michelin's Pilot Sport 5's taking third place overall. Closing out the Top 5 are Giti's GitiSport S2 plus and Pirelli's Cinturato C3, which technically fell into a tie for fourth place.

Those results are no doubt a big deal for Giti and Pirelli, which are well-enough known, but aren't always included among the major brands rated just ahead of them in Autobild's summer tire testing. The results also mark a big win for Hankook, who earned an unwelcome honor in a recent JD Power satisfaction survey.