2021 Tire Reviews Winter Tire Test

In this tire test we take nine of the best performance winter tires in the popular 225/40 R18 size and test them in the dry, wet and of course snow to see what the best winter tire is for the 2021/22 autumn and winter.

As always, we're testing some of the best central european / milder climate winter tires on the market, and have a summer tire as a reference tire so you can see the difference between winter and summer tires in the dry, wet and snow.

These are not nordic / extreme winter tires as found in the northern parts of North America, there will be a seperate test for these in the future.

225/40 R18 is a popular winter tire size for vehicles such as the Audi A3 / A4, VW Golf GTI / R, BMW 1 Series and 3 Series, and many other vehicles with this wheel size.

Dry

Testing at 3c, the slowest around the dry handling lap were the Dunlop and Goodyear pairing, both exactly 1.21 seconds, or 2.5% off the fastest lap. Both tires felt controllable, predictable and nice to drive on, but ultimately both lacking grip in these cool dry conditions.

Next up was the Hankook and GT Radial, both around a second off the best time. The Hankook was one of the softer feeling tires around the dry handling, it didn't feel super precise and didn't appreciate being pushed laterally but it did feel great on the brakes, whereas the GT felt like it had some good traction out of the corners, but would lose some time mid apex.

Fifth, fourth and third was Bridgestone, Continental and Nokian. They all seemed to have similar levels of grip across the lap, however the Nokian was the nicest to drive quickly, offering a nice rounded grip circle and predictable handling.

Second place was the Imperial budget tire. It didn't feel that good on the brakes, but cornering it felt like the best tire here. Almost as if it's a summer compound that they've stuck some sipes in. Watch this space to see how that develops.

Finally, the fastest tire of the group, nearly matching the summer tires lap time, was the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5. This tire wasn't the most fun to drive, probably sitting 3rd or 4th subjectively, but it had lots of grip both laterally and on the brakes.

As for the summer tire, well, that was the fastest, and the most fun to drive, and the quickest to steer, and the most direct on brakes, everything you'd expect from a summer tire, but at the 3c test temperature, it didn't have a huge advantage. Summer tires usually lead in the dry at any temperature.

Dry braking was again led by the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5, with over a meter gap to the second placed Hankook Winter Icept evo 3, and Continental placed third with the new WinterContact TS870P. The summer tire just edged out the winters at the cool 3c temperatures.

Wet

Like the dry, we tested at 2.5c to 3c in the wet, and like in dry, the group overall was very close.

Unable to repeat the surprise performance in the dry, the Imperial had the lowest levels of grip by far, it was over 10% behind the best, and if that doesn't sound much in your head, it really is when you're driving on it. Even though the grip circle felt rounded, it was rounded with no grip as you were constantly waiting on grip in all directions, you seemed to be sliding constantly, and you felt more like a passenger. Not recommended.

The next group of tires consisted of Nokian, GT Radial and Dunlop. They were around 5%, or 2 seconds of the best, and all three sets of tires just felt lower in grip than the fastest in the group. The Nokian and Dunlop both had a hint of oversteer in their balance, which made the car feel more playful, but ultimately cost time when combined with the limited traction, whereas the GT Radial needed to be driven in a really neat manner to make a quick lap.

Getting nearer the sharp end were the Continental, Michelin, and Goodyear, all around 1.5% off the best, or less then a second! The Continental felt like it had a very safe understeer balance with good lateral grip, but lost out a little in traction, and overall it just felt a little numb. The Michelin improved the steering feel a little, but again seemed to be a little traction limited, where the Goodyear was an easy tire to drive quickly, giving more confidence than previous tires and a neutral balance with just a hint over understeer.

While Hankook was only a few tenths on, I've separated it because it was my favorite subjectively being really lovely to drive and feeling like it had excellent grip in all directions. It just worked really well with the Golf 8, almost like it was an OE tire and the lap time reflected that.

The Bridgestone Blizzak LM05 was over half a second faster than any other tire! When testing blind, I've no idea what tire I'm driving on, but when I'm making my notes in the car I like to try and guess which tire is which, and after running wet braking, the Bridgestone was obvious. The tire has grip, and lots of it. HOWEVER, it didn't feel that sporty, which meant I definitely found the Hankook and Michelin way more enjoyable to drive the lap on, which is an interesting tradeoff. Best grip, vs most fun. That's why I give you this data, so you can pick.

The summer tire struggled at the cooler temperatures, it felt like it was sitting on the road rather than keying into it and it was a constant fight to get the car around the lap.

The Bridgestone LM005s wet advantage continued in wet braking, with nearly 1.5 meters advantage to the second placed Continental. Hankook again placed well, nearly tying with the summer tire which fared better in wet braking than in handling. The budget winter tire stopped over TEN meters behind the bridgestone, which is a huge gap and could easily be the difference between stopping and a crash.

There were some interesting differences between straight and curved aquaplaning, but on average the Continental, Goodyear and Hankook performed the best across both tests.

Snow

As with the all season test, I was unable to travel to Nokian tires impressive winter testing facility due to travel restrictions, so instead hired a finnish independant test driver to perform the snow testing.

Snow traction was led by the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5, with the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ in second and Hankook Winter i*cept evo 3 in third.

Snow braking was again led by the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5, this time with the Nokian SnowProof P and Continental WinterContact TS870P in second and third places, which also closely matched snow circle results.

Snow handling rounded out the incredible Michelin performance with the French tire again proving best in the important snow handling test, which makes it a flawless snow result for the Pilot Alpin 5. The tester said the Michelin had "Excellent overall grip level, Best balance between front and rear and steers effectively even though rear doesn’t slip much. Feels like Nordic winter tire."

Goodyear placed second across the snow handling lap, 1.5% behind the michelin and described as having good balance with good front axle grip at all steering angles. The tire oversteers a bit which helps turning.

Third place went to the consistent Hankook, which like the goodyear had excellent front axle grip at big steering angles and a stable rear axle, and the fourth place continental had a sharp front end and resisted oversteer very well.

As with the all season test, the summer tire could barely make it to the circuit.

Environment

The Nokian Snowproof P had the lowest noise on test, with the impressive Michelin and Continental also performing well.

The Dunlop, Goodyear and Continental led the way in subjective comfort.

The Bridgestone and Continental also had the lowest rolling resistance, which is impressive given their performance in the dry and wet!

There was over 100% price difference between the best and worst tires on test, with the cheap Imperial tire once again proving you often get what you pay for with tires.

Results