2021 AMS Winter Tire Test

The 2021 Auto Motor und Sport winter tire test tested ten popular central European winter tires in 195/55 R16. This size is used for vehicles such as the Audi A1, Dacia Sandero, Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, Peugeot 208 and many more.

The Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 took another convincing test win, proving to be excellent in the wet and dry while still having reasonable snow performance. 

The new Continental WinterContact TS870 also performed well with the lowest rolling resistance on test, excellent snow handling and low noise, it was however a little weaker in dry braking than the best on test.

The new Vredestein Wintrac rounded out the top three places, and like the new Vredestein Quatrac this tire excelled in wet handling, it was excellent in all braking tests and regarded as one of the sportiest feeling tires on test.

The other interesting result was BFGoodrich beating Michelin with a very strong snow performance, which is unusual for a second brand to beat the primary brand. The magazine recommended the BFGoodrich for climates which see a lot of snow.

Dry

The Michelin Alpin 6 had the shortest dry braking distances, narrowly beating the Vredestein Wintrac. Both these tires had a significant lead to the third place GT Radial. The Goodyear UltraGrip 9+ unusually struggled in the dry braking test.

Dry handling mixed up the order with the Toyo Observe S944 leading the pack and the Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 placing second. GT Radial retained its third position.

Wet

The Bridgestone LM005 is known as a wet braking specialist, and once again it dominated the test stopping the test Seat Ibiza nearly 2 meters shorter than the second placed Falken Eurowinter HS01 with the Wintrac in third.

Vredestein and Bridgestone also performed well during wet handling.

Pirelli had a significant advantage during straight aquaplaning. Curved aquaplaning results can be found at the bottom of the page.

Snow

The important snow braking test was led by Vredestein, with BFGoodrich and Bridgestone close behind.

BFGoodrich again performed well in snow traction.

Confirming the BFGoodrich is the best overall in snow, it was also fastest around the snow handling lap.

Environment

The Falken and Continental tires had the lowest external noise.

Continental also had the lowest fuel use on test.

The magazine provided pricing had Pirelli even more expensive than the Michelin, with the Vredestein looking great value considering its overall result.

Results

View Results as a single table and adjust the score weighting

1st: Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
195/55 R16 87H EU Label: C/A/71 Weight: 7.97kgs Tread: 8.2mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 4th +1.9 M 95.75% Dry Handling 2nd -0.5 Km/H 99.56% Wet Braking 1st 100% Wet Handling 2nd -0.1 Km/H 99.86% Straight Aqua 4th -4.3 Km/H 95.1% Curved Aquaplaning 3rd -0.09 m/sec2 97.26% Snow Braking 2nd +0.1 M 99.69% Snow Traction 4th -0.02 N 98.94% Snow Handling 6th -2.3 Km/H 95.77% Noise 9th +1.1 dB 98.47% Price 7th +28 72.82% Rolling Resistance 3rd +0.5 kg / t 94.12% Safe braking and good handling on snow, outstanding wet grip with very short braking distances and safe cornering. Slightly longer braking distances in the dry. Read Reviews
2nd: Continental WinterContact TS 870
195/55 R16 87H EU Label: C/B/70 Weight: 7.58kgs Tread: 8.6mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 8th +2.3 M 94.9% Dry Handling 4th -0.6 Km/H 99.48% Wet Braking 4th +2.8 M 91.28% Wet Handling 7th -1.8 Km/H 97.5% Straight Aqua 2nd -3.8 Km/H 95.67% Curved Aquaplaning 1st 100% Snow Braking 6th +0.5 M 98.49% Snow Traction 4th -0.02 N 98.94% Snow Handling 2nd -1 Km/H 98.16% Noise 2nd +0.2 dB 99.72% Price 7th +28 72.82% Rolling Resistance 1st 100% Excellent winter performance with high cornering safety in the snow and safe, good handling in the dry and wet, fuel efficient. Small weakness in dry braking. Read Reviews    Buy from £108.49
3rd: Vredestein Wintrac
195/55 R16 87H EU Label: C/B/70 Weight: 7.61kgs Tread: 8.15mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 2nd +0.2 M 99.53% Dry Handling 7th -1.8 Km/H 98.43% Wet Braking 3rd +2.4 M 92.43% Wet Handling 1st 100% Straight Aqua 9th -8.5 Km/H 90.31% Curved Aquaplaning 10th -0.62 m/sec2 81.16% Snow Braking 1st 100% Snow Traction 6th -0.04 N 97.88% Snow Handling 8th -3.5 Km/H 93.57% Noise 3rd +0.3 dB 99.58% Price 3rd +17 81.52% Rolling Resistance 4th +0.8 kg / t 90.91% Good snow braking, dynamic wet handling, short dry braking with precise cornering. High noise when cornering. Read Reviews    Buy from £87.99
4th: BFGoodrich gForce Winter 2
195/55 R16 91H EU Label: D/B/69 Weight: 8.36kgs Tread: 7.9mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 7th +2.2 M 95.11% Dry Handling 5th -0.8 Km/H 99.3% Wet Braking 7th +3.3 M 89.88% Wet Handling 8th -2.7 Km/H 96.25% Straight Aqua 5th -4.6 Km/H 94.75% Curved Aquaplaning 6th -0.45 m/sec2 86.32% Snow Braking 2nd +0.1 M 99.69% Snow Traction 1st 100% Snow Handling 1st 100% Noise 5th +0.4 dB 99.44% Price 5th +23 76.53% Rolling Resistance 9th +1.7 kg / t 82.47% Outstanding snow properties. Weak results in the wet. Read Reviews
5th: Michelin Alpin 6
195/55 R16 87H EU Label: D/B/69 Weight: 8.31kgs Tread: 7.45mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 1st 100% Dry Handling 6th -0.9 Km/H 99.21% Wet Braking 6th +2.9 M 90.99% Wet Handling 5th -1.2 Km/H 98.33% Straight Aqua 7th -5.7 Km/H 93.5% Curved Aquaplaning 6th -0.45 m/sec2 86.32% Snow Braking 9th +0.6 M 98.19% Snow Traction 7th -0.06 N 96.83% Snow Handling 7th -2.8 Km/H 94.85% Noise 3rd +0.3 dB 99.58% Price 9th +48 60.98% Rolling Resistance 8th +1.1 kg / t 87.91% Best in the dry with good dry handling and good cornering grip in the wet. Average snow performance. Read Reviews    Buy from £130.99
6th: Pirelli Cinturato Winter
195/55 R16 91H EU Label: C/B/67 Weight: 7.39kgs Tread: 8.9mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 6th +2 M 95.54% Dry Handling 10th -3.4 Km/H 97.03% Wet Braking 10th +5.5 M 84.2% Wet Handling 8th -2.7 Km/H 96.25% Straight Aqua 1st 100% Curved Aquaplaning 2nd -0.04 m/sec2 98.78% Snow Braking 4th +0.2 M 99.39% Snow Traction 1st 100% Snow Handling 5th -2 Km/H 96.32% Noise 5th +0.4 dB 99.44% Price 10th +52 59.06% Rolling Resistance 6th +0.9 kg / t 89.89% Short braking distances and good traction on snow. Long wet braking, poor dry handling. Read Reviews    Buy from £98.69
6th: Goodyear UltraGrip 9+
195/55 R16 87H EU Label: C/B/72 Weight: 8.2kgs Tread: 8.6mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 10th +3.8 M 91.85% Dry Handling 9th -1.9 Km/H 98.34% Wet Braking 9th +4.4 M 86.94% Wet Handling 3rd -0.5 Km/H 99.31% Straight Aqua 6th -5 Km/H 94.3% Curved Aquaplaning 4th -0.14 m/sec2 95.74% Snow Braking 6th +0.5 M 98.49% Snow Traction 1st 100% Snow Handling 4th -1.8 Km/H 96.69% Noise 10th +2.4 dB 96.71% Price 4th +22 77.32% Rolling Resistance 2nd +0.3 kg / t 96.39% Good cornering grip and handling in snow. Good wet cornering. Average braking in all conditions, relatively loud external noise. Read Reviews    Buy from £98.99
8th: Falken Eurowinter HS01
195/55 R16 87H EU Label: D/B/70 Weight: 8.91kgs Tread: 8.7mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 9th +2.7 M 94.07% Dry Handling 7th -1.8 Km/H 98.43% Wet Braking 2nd +1.8 M 94.21% Wet Handling 6th -1.3 Km/H 98.19% Straight Aqua 2nd -3.8 Km/H 95.67% Curved Aquaplaning 5th -0.44 m/sec2 86.63% Snow Braking 5th +0.3 M 99.09% Snow Traction 9th -0.11 N 94.18% Snow Handling 3rd -1.6 Km/H 97.06% Noise 1st 100% Price 1st 100% Rolling Resistance 10th +2.5 kg / t 76.19% Acceptable snow and wet performance, good ride comfort. Not very precise steering, average dry grip. Read Reviews    Buy from £81.99
9th: GT Radial WinterPro2
195/55 R16 91H EU Label: D/B/70 Weight: 7.98kgs Tread: 8.4mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 3rd +1.6 M 96.4% Dry Handling 2nd -0.5 Km/H 99.56% Wet Braking 4th +2.8 M 91.28% Wet Handling 8th -2.7 Km/H 96.25% Straight Aqua 10th -10.5 Km/H 88.03% Curved Aquaplaning 8th -0.49 m/sec2 85.11% Snow Braking 6th +0.5 M 98.49% Snow Traction 8th -0.09 N 95.24% Snow Handling 9th -3.9 Km/H 92.83% Noise 8th +0.5 dB 99.3% Price 2nd +16 82.42% Rolling Resistance 4th +0.8 kg / t 90.91% Very good dry performance, good wet grip, comfortable. Poor performance on snow. Read Reviews
10th: Toyo Observe S 944
195/55 R16 91H EU Label: D/B/71 Weight: 8.2kgs Tread: 8.8mm	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 4th +1.9 M 95.75% Dry Handling 1st 100% Wet Braking 8th +3.5 M 89.33% Wet Handling 4th -0.7 Km/H 99.03% Straight Aqua 8th -6.7 Km/H 92.36% Curved Aquaplaning 8th -0.49 m/sec2 85.11% Snow Braking 10th +1.2 M 96.45% Snow Traction 10th -0.15 N 92.06% Snow Handling 10th -5 Km/H 90.81% Noise 5th +0.4 dB 99.44% Price 5th +23 76.53% Rolling Resistance 7th +1 kg / t 88.89% Very good dry handling with safe understeer. Long wet braking, very low snow performance. Read Reviews