While studded tires aren't suitable for the normal UK winter, Tire Reviews does have a lot of international readers, which is why we're covering this excellent studded winter tire test from the Swedish publications Vi Bilägare.

Why this one? Well, they've used a Volvo V30 to test seven studded tires in the very common 205/55 R16 tire size, and they've also included a friction studless nordic winter tire.

It's worth noting that the nordic winter tire included in the test, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3, is STILL too extreme for the UK winters. Instead we use a winter tire type called "European winter tire" which is covered in the Nokian line up by the WRD4 and WRA4.

These European winter tires are again a step below the nordic winter tires in snow and ice, but offer a better dry and wet performance, meaning they're more suitable to the type of winters we see in central Europe.

Dry / Wet

In the dry, Continental IceContact 2 was the only tire able to beat the Nordic friction tire, but in the wet the friction tire surpsingly performed badly, taking over 4 meters extra to stop when compared to the worst studded tire!

Snow

During the snow testing, the friction tire won both the traction and braking tests, but struggled more with the lateral stability requirements of the snow handling lap.

Ice

Unsurprisingly, the studded tires had a big advantage during the ice testing.

Environment

The friction tire proved to be the quietest tire on test, and had the lowest rolling resistance.

Results

1st: Continental IceContact 2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Joint best on ice, excellent traction and braking in the snow, very short braking distances in the dry and wet. High noise level, highest fuel use. Read Reviews
2nd: Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Joint top on ice, quick steering reactions and a stable neutral balance allows excellent control in winter conditions. Relatively long stopping distances in the dry and wet. Read Reviews
3rd: Goodyear UltraGrip Ice Arctic
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	An excellent all round tire, shortest stopping distance in the dry and wet. Slight understeer on ice and snow. Read Reviews
4th: Gislaved Nord Frost 200
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Excellent on snow. Average in dry and wet, relatively weak on ice due to low number of spikes. Read Reviews
5th: Bridgestone Noranza 001
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Good traction and braking on ice. Relatively long snow braking, longest dry braking distance. Read Reviews
6th: Yokohama iceGUARD iG65
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Short braking distances in the wet. High noise, poor snow and ice handling. Read Reviews
7th: Nexen Winguard winSpike WH62
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Low noise. Worst ice performance, even worse than the studless Nokian R3. Poor in the dry and wet. Read Reviews
8th: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	One of the best tires in the snow and the dry. Lowest noise of all the tires. Couldn't match the studded tires on ice. Read Reviews