2019 Auto Bild All Season Tire Test

For the first time in 2020, Tire Reviews will be performing its own all season tire test, but until then, the Auto Bild all season tire test is the best you can get! Testing ten sets of all season tires in 225/45 R17 using a BMW 1 Series, and including a summer and winter tire as reference, Auto Bild have done as thorough a job as ever for their 2019 all season tire test.

The most notable performances follow the trends other tests have shown during 2019. The new Bridgestone WeatherControl A005 couldn't deliver on the foundations laid by the strong wet and dry braking performance in the shootout test, finishing ninth overall due to a very average snow performance, but more importantly for UK drivers, very high wear.

The Vredestein Quatrac Pro again impressed, beating the established excellent all season tires from Goodyear and Continental to second place, with a sporty handling feel in all conditions, coupled with good dry and wet grip.

It's no surprise that the Michelin CrossClimate+ won another test, but it was a surprise the "summer optimised" all season tire from the French manufacturer was second in snow handling. Apparently, it is now a tire that can do everything.

As this is a German tire test, they put more weighting on snow performance than we perhaps would in the UK, however the top four places are all excellent all season tires, with the Goodyear the best if you expect to experience a lot of snow and ice, and the other three patterns having slightly different blends of dry, wet and snow performances.

As always, check out all the glorious data below to decide which tire is the best for your own personal driving circumstances.

Dry

Due to very strong performances by the new comers from Maxxis and Bridgestone, the usual dry weather braking king, the Michelin CrossClimate+ had to settle for third overall. As usual, all ten all season tires struggled to match the reference summer tire, with the Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen-2 the worst of the all seasons, tying with the reference winter tire.

Michelin asserted it's dry dominance during dry handling, with the Vredestein Quatrac Pro the best of the rest. Both tires were reported to have a sporty handling feel when compared to other all season tires on test.

Wet

The wet braking test showed the summer tire having an even bigger advantage. The Bridgestone A005 continued its run of excellent wet braking results to stop the car ahead of all the other all season tires, and the new Vredestein Quatrac Pro again impressed.

The Vredestein Quatrac Pro was the only all season tire to beat the summer tire during wet handling, with the Continental, Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone all closely matched.

Dry braking and aquaplaning are often opposing qualities, so it was surprising Maxxis also won the aquaplaning testing! Vredestein, Michelin and Continental were the worst in testing, which highlights the deemphasis of aquaplaning results in new premium designs.

Snow

 The winter reference tire had a narrow advantage over the best all season tires, with the summer reference tire performing as expected.

Goodyear again won the snow handling test, with a surprisingly strong second placed for the dry-optimised Michelin CrossClimate+. 

Value

It's no surprise Michelin won the wear testing, the French manufacturer consistently has the best wearing tires in the market. Continental again prove they've fixed their wear issues with the latest generation of products, wearing nearly as well as the Michelin, and proving better value overall thanks to a lower purchase price.

The cheaper tires on test had the best mileage / purchase price balance, with the Continental, Michelin and Goodyear performing well.

Environment

The Bridgestone and Continental had very low rolling resistance results.

Nexen had a significant advantage in external noise testing.

Results

View Results as a single table and adjust the score weighting

1st: Michelin CrossClimate+
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 3rd +0.4 M 99% Dry Handling 1st 100% Wet Braking 4th +2.3 M 95.27% Wet Handling 3rd -1.6 Km/H 97.8% Straight Aqua 9th -4.3 Km/H 94.21% Snow Braking 5th +1.8 M 92.91% Snow Handling 5th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 2nd -0.2 Km/H 99.65% Noise 10th +2.4 dB 96.74% Wear 1st 100% Value 4th +1.02 Price/1000 83.96% Price 10th +130 71.11% Rolling Resistance 4th +0.93 kg / t 90.09% Convincing all round performance with sporty driving characteristics in all conditions. Precise steering, short wet and dry braking, lowest wear and good comfort. None mentioned. Test winner. Read Reviews    Buy from £105.98
2nd: Vredestein Quatrac Pro
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 8th +3.4 M 92.07% Dry Handling 2nd -0.6 Km/H 99.3% Wet Braking 2nd +0.2 M 99.57% Wet Handling 1st 100% Straight Aqua 8th -3.9 Km/H 94.75% Snow Braking 4th +1.3 M 94.78% Snow Handling 4th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 6th -1 Km/H 98.24% Noise 5th +0.8 dB 98.89% Wear 6th -18800 Km 73.45% Value 8th +1.87 Price/1000 74.06% Price 6th +55 85.33% Rolling Resistance 6th +1.41 kg / t 85.7% Excellent year round tires with impressive qualities on ice and snow, sport handling on wet and dry roads, precise steering response with good feedback, short braking distances in the wet. Average wear. Exemplary. Read Reviews    Buy from £84.39
3rd: Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 10th +4.9 M 88.96% Dry Handling 8th -2.4 Km/H 97.2% Wet Braking 3rd +1.2 M 97.47% Wet Handling 4th -1.7 Km/H 97.66% Straight Aqua 3rd -1.4 Km/H 98.12% Snow Braking 1st 100% Snow Handling 1st 0% Snow Handling 1st 100% Noise 4th +0.7 dB 99.03% Wear 3rd -6700 Km 90.54% Value 5th +1.06 Price/1000 83.44% Price 8th +90 78.05% Rolling Resistance 3rd +0.9 kg / t 90.37% An excellent all season tire with strong winter characteristics, safe handling and a good balance int he wet, good comfort, good mileage, good price to wear ratio. Slow steering in the dry. Good. Read Reviews    Buy from £101.00
4th: Continental AllSeasonContact
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 7th +3.1 M 92.72% Dry Handling 4th -1.3 Km/H 98.48% Wet Braking 6th +3.6 M 92.79% Wet Handling 2nd -1.4 Km/H 98.07% Straight Aqua 10th -5.4 Km/H 92.73% Snow Braking 2nd +0.6 M 97.52% Snow Handling 2nd -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 5th -0.9 Km/H 98.42% Noise 7th +1.4 dB 98.07% Wear 2nd -3100 Km 95.62% Value 3rd +1.01 Price/1000 84.09% Price 9th +110 74.42% Rolling Resistance 2nd +0.19 kg / t 97.8% A balanced all season tire with sporty wet handling, low wear, short braking distances and stable cornering on ice and snow, good price / performance ratio, low rolling resistance. Slightly extended wet braking. Good. Read Reviews    Buy from £93.99
5th: Hankook Kinergy 4S2
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 5th +2.5 M 94.05% Dry Handling 3rd -1.1 Km/H 98.72% Wet Braking 8th +4.5 M 91.14% Wet Handling 6th -2 Km/H 97.25% Straight Aqua 4th -2.1 Km/H 97.17% Snow Braking 3rd +1.2 M 95.16% Snow Handling 3rd -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 3rd -0.3 Km/H 99.47% Noise 8th +1.5 dB 97.94% Wear 7th -20300 Km 71.33% Value 7th +1.59 Price/1000 77.06% Price 3rd +30 91.43% Rolling Resistance 5th +1.02 kg / t 89.23% Strong winter performance, good traction and dynamic handling on snow, good aquaplaning safety, good wet and dry handling, good price to performance ratio. Slightly extended wet braking. Good. Read Reviews    Buy from £87.89
6th: Nexen N Blue 4 Season
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 6th +2.8 M 93.38% Dry Handling 7th -2.3 Km/H 97.32% Wet Braking 7th +4.1 M 91.87% Wet Handling 7th -2.6 Km/H 96.42% Straight Aqua 6th -3.3 Km/H 95.56% Snow Braking 8th +2.1 M 91.83% Snow Handling 8th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 4th -0.8 Km/H 98.59% Noise 1st 100% Wear 4th -10900 Km 84.6% Value 1st 100% Price 1st 100% Rolling Resistance 10th +2.57 kg / t 76.68% Low priced all season tires with a safe balance in all weathers, stable cornering and short braking in the snow, low wear, good price to performance ratio, low noise. Slightly extended wet braking, high rolling resistance. Good. Read Reviews    Buy from £71.29
7th: Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 1st 100% Dry Handling 6th -1.5 Km/H 98.25% Wet Braking 9th +4.7 M 90.78% Wet Handling 9th -3.9 Km/H 94.63% Straight Aqua 1st 100% Snow Braking 9th +2.7 M 89.73% Snow Handling 9th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 7th -1.2 Km/H 97.89% Noise 2nd +0.5 dB 99.3% Wear 9th -22700 Km 67.94% Value 9th +2.04 Price/1000 72.36% Price 4th +35 90.14% Rolling Resistance 7th +1.43 kg / t 85.53% A new all season tire form a Chinese manufacturer with safe handling on snow and dry roads, good aquaplaning resistance, short dry braking distances. Average grip in the wet, long wet braking, average wear. Good. Read Reviews    Buy from £75.49
8th: Kumho Solus HA31
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 9th +4.3 M 90.18% Dry Handling 9th -2.6 Km/H 96.97% Wet Braking 5th +3.2 M 93.54% Wet Handling 8th -3.3 Km/H 95.45% Straight Aqua 7th -3.8 Km/H 94.89% Snow Braking 6th +2 M 92.19% Snow Handling 6th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 8th -1.8 Km/H 96.84% Noise 3rd +0.6 dB 99.17% Wear 5th -11200 Km 84.18% Value 2nd +0.62 Price/1000 89.6% Price 4th +35 90.14% Rolling Resistance 9th +1.61 kg / t 84% Good aquaplaning properties, low wear, short braking distances on snow, low noise. Average snow handling, slightly extended wet and dry braking distances, soft dry handling, average comfort. Average. Read Reviews    Buy from £103.79
9th: Bridgestone Weather Control A005
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 2nd +0.2 M 99.5% Dry Handling 4th -1.3 Km/H 98.48% Wet Braking 1st 100% Wet Handling 5th -1.8 Km/H 97.52% Straight Aqua 5th -2.8 Km/H 96.23% Snow Braking 10th +3.5 M 87.08% Snow Handling 10th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 10th -2.1 Km/H 96.31% Noise 9th +1.8 dB 97.54% Wear 10th -31800 Km 55.08% Value 10th +4.92 Price/1000 52.05% Price 7th +80 80% Rolling Resistance 1st 100% Short braking distances and sport handling in the wet and dry, good aquaplaning reserves, low rolling resistance. Average performance in the snow, very poor wear. Average. Read Reviews    Buy from £141.29
10th: Cooper Discoverer All Season
225/45 R17	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 4th +1.7 M 95.87% Dry Handling 10th -3.2 Km/H 96.27% Wet Braking 10th +6.3 M 88.02% Wet Handling 10th -6.4 Km/H 91.18% Straight Aqua 2nd -0.6 Km/H 99.19% Snow Braking 6th +2 M 92.19% Snow Handling 6th -23.6 s 0% Snow Handling 9th -1.9 Km/H 96.66% Noise 6th +1.1 dB 98.48% Wear 8th -20700 Km 70.76% Value 6th +1.35 Price/1000 79.82% Price 2nd +15 95.52% Rolling Resistance 8th +1.47 kg / t 85.18% Good aquaplaning resistance, short braking distances in the snow and on dry roads, low price. Poor cornering and long braking distances in the wet, slow steering and poor balance in the dry. Not Recommended. Read Reviews    Buy from £71.79