2010 Auto Express Winter Tire Test
2010 marks the start of the UK automotive magazine industry taking winter tires seriously with the largest weekly magazine publishing the 2010 Auto Express winter tire test.
Auto Express launched its interest of winter tires with style, testing 6 premium winter tires against 13 rigorous tests and included an all season and summer tire for comparison. All tires were tested in 205/55 r15 on a VW Golf.
Snow Performance
The snow tests covered the braking, traction and handling of the various tires on a snow covered frozen lake. Braking was tested first, and of the winter tires the Goodyear was the only tire to dip below 59 feet. The rest of the winter tires were extremely close, stopping within 7 feet of the Goodyear while the all season tire needed another 16 feet.The summer tire stopped in a massive 142 feet, 82 feet longer than the winter tire! This means when you had stopped on the winter tire, you would still be doing 20 mph on the summer tire having both braked from 25mph!
The Goodyear also outperformed the rest of the tires in the traction test, with over 3 times the grip of the summer tire. The snow handling lap was very close, with all 6 winter tires finishing within seconds of each other over the 100 second lap. Unsurprisingly summer tire was a handful, offering very little grip and took over 160 seconds to get the car to the finish.
Wet Performance
For the UK climate a winter tires wet performance is more important than the snow performance, with wet braking being the top priority.At near freezing temperatures the Dunlop and Continental winter tires out performed the summer tire during the wet braking test. At 7+c this result was reversed, but in both tests the results were extremely close.
The summer tires more sporty tread design helped it win the wet handling course (at 7+c) but the Nokian was an extremely close second thanks to sporty handling and good feel. Once again, the results were close with just 3 seconds between the best time and the worst time, which was set by the all season tire. Unfortunately the wet handling course wasn't run again in colder temperatures as the wet braking run was.
The Goodyears aggressive tread design won the aquaplaning tests with the all season scoring poorly in last place. The Nokian was the last of the winter tires due to a tread pattern optimized for clearing slush rather than water.
Dry
Unsurprisingly, the summer tire won the dry tests in the relatively warm temperatures, winning the braking test by stopping the car in just 129 feet. Reflecting other summer VS winter tests, the best winter tire stopped approximately 10% behind the summer tire at 144 feet. The dry handling test was much closer, with the Dunlop and Nokian just 2% behind the summer tires laptime.Fuel Economy and comfort
Proving once again that winter tires aren't noisy fuel guzzlers, four of the six winter tires had a lower rolling resistance than the summer tire while two of the winter tires were actually quieter than the summer counter part.Overall
Auto Express have done a great job highlighting the importance of winter tires to the UK public. Auto Express thoroughly recommend winter tires for the UK climate thanks to the increased safety they bring. You can find the full write up in issue 1138.Goodyear UltraGrip 7+
205/55 r15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 186.2 |
| Wet | 288.4 |
| Snow | 299.7 |
| Comfort | 98 |
| Rolling Resistance | 89.6 |
Total: 961.9
Continental WinterContact TS830
205/55 r15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 184.8 |
| Wet | 295.8 |
| Snow | 294.7 |
| Comfort | 100 |
| Rolling Resistance | 94 |
Total: 969.3
Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D
205/55 r15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 188.3 |
| Wet | 295.2 |
| Snow | 288.2 |
| Comfort | 99.1 |
| Rolling Resistance | 81.9 |
Total: 952.7
Vredestein Snowtrac 3
205/55 r15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 186.4 |
| Wet | 291.5 |
| Snow | 285.7 |
| Comfort | 98.8 |
| Rolling Resistance | 90.7 |
Total: 953.1
Pirelli Sottozero Serie II
205/55 r15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 185 |
| Wet | 279.4 |
| Snow | 281.5 |
| Comfort | 95.2 |
| Rolling Resistance | 100 |
Total: 941.1
Nokian WRG2
205/55 r15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 185.3 |
| Wet | 294.9 |
| Snow | 277.7 |
| Comfort | 97.3 |
| Rolling Resistance | 92.8 |
Total: 948
Vredestein Quatrac 3
205/55 r15
All Season Tire
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 188.2 |
| Wet | 282.6 |
| Snow | 264.6 |
| Comfort | 99.1 |
| Rolling Resistance | 86.6 |
Total: 921.1
Continental Premium Contact 2
205/55 r15
Summer Tire
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 200 |
| Wet | 282.6 |
| Snow | 46.6 |
| Comfort | 99.1 |
| Rolling Resistance | 90.5 |
Total: 718.8
I have a Renault master 2009 plate, if I fit winter tires is there any research on loss of MPG? Or advise please?
From the winter tire tests which include MPG, the conclusion is the MPG should be around the same as your summer tires, depending on what summer and winter tires you have.
I am looking at options for changing to winter tires. Please can you explain when it is necessary to replace the wheels also.
People usually change wheels for convenience, or when they're changing to a smaller wheel size for the winter weather.
I need to replace 4 tires on a secondhand car I am buying. as I live in NE Scotland I am considerng fitting winter tires. Could I use these all year round? What would be the drawbacks?
Continental recommend if you're only going to use one set of tires, to use winter tires.
Traditionally the draw backs are poor warm wet weather performance and poor tread wear over the summer months, though modern winter tires designed for our climates (not extreme Northern climates) are much better.
We'd suggest looking at a good all season tire like the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons or the Vredestein Quatrac 3 featured in this article.
http://www.tirereviews.co.u...
http://www.tirereviews.co.u...
Just fitted some Ultra Grip7+. Have only been able to test them on snow and sub-zero so far! (This is December 2010). They have been great - nearly as much control as chains in deep snow. One note of caution - the feeling of control on snow is better than the actual stopping power. Stop distance may be under half that of summer tires, but you are tempted to go much faster because you don't fishtail. So when you hit the brakes, that 18meters feels longer than you expected. Although was able to ABS steer through a small gap when this happened - something summer tires never would have done. (and I learned my lesson!)
Good in thewet too - very good grip on cold wet roads.
Prepare to be really annnoyed how slow everyone else is going though.
It looks as though at least some and possibly all of the tests were undertaken in temperatures above 7 degrees C. Surely not a very helpful test then, since part of the point of winter and all-season tires is that they perform better below 7 degrees than summer tires?
Sorry, clearly not all tests (snow!) but the wet handling test at least seems to have been undertaken in warm conditions...
Agreed. It was noted that the braking test was re-done by Continental at near freezing temperatures to give it cold weather accuracy.
We're pushing for data to show the differences at set temperature intervals, but as I'm sure you can imagine getting that data can be quite tricky!
All of the tested tires are more or less crappy,, If studdless, go for the Continental ContiViking 5. If studds, go for the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7.. Don´t know how cold the winters in GB gets,, but i used the GY UltraGrip 7+ last winter. Totaly useless, really dangerous when the temperature gets below -10 celsius, on ice or in snow. Can´t use tires like that in Sweden...
We've no doubt a Nordic type winter tire is far better for your conditions in Sweeden, however in the UK we need dry and wet performance in temperatures up to 10c over the winter, which is where something like your "useless" Ultragrip 7+ excels.
Snow performance is a small part of the winter tire role in the UK, and all the above tires will out perform a traditional summer tire many times over on snow and ice.
Just put winter tires on my Boxster S. Waiting to see how they cope in the snow due tomorrow! I had lots of trouble getting hold of winter tires here in the UK, ended up buying them online from Germany and getting them shipped over! More info on how easily obtainable they are would be good on next year's test.
Hi Phill,
I hope your winter tires performed well, there's so much positive feedback flying around at the moment it's hard to imagine they didn't but it would be good to hear your experiences!
We'll look at doing something next year regarding availability. For now there's always www.tiresearcher.com where you can filter by winter tires in your size.
Hi Phil,
Sorry to hear you had to import your winter tires from Germany online.
Continental WinterContact TS830
Available now from Kwik Fit at 25% discount.Bargain for top winter tires.
http://www.kwik-fit.com/
Safe winter driving on your winter tires.
Best regards,
Dave
I don't understand the scoring system here...if highest overall number = best performer, then the Conti TS830 is surely the winner?? And the Nokian and Pirelli would also swap positions. Could someone from Tirereviews please clarify? Thanks
Hi,
Auto Express scored on more categories than our database could handle which is why you see variations in the overall score. It's something we're working on in the future.
I hope this clears it up for you.
Jon
It is good to see a winter tire test in the UK. I agree that testing of more tire types would be really helpful, as this just covers the usual suspects that ADAC et al have tested many times. However testing of more tires comes at a cost. The major ommission in this test is the lack of testing on ICE. The give ratings for Dry Wet and Snow, with snow being a rarity in the UK, ICE is much more common and is the most likely situation where a winter tire will make a difference.
For what it's worth, the snow section of the test was conducted on a snow covered lake, so the tire would have been biting into a mix of snow and ice.
I think this test is pretty rubbish. Why didn't they include mid-priced and budget tires too? Instead they have 2 versions of Continental and Vredestein??
Because they are specifically testing winter tires. The only reason the Quatrac and Premium Contact are in is as a control to see how a variety of winter tires compare to an all-season tire and a summer tire.
Great test, nice to see winter tire info in the uk