Developing a tire to perform well in snow conditions is actually relative easy for the tire manufacturers. Lots of edges, a nice wide tread pattern and you have a reasonable snow performance. It's the balance between snow and wet performance which is extremely important to a lot of European countries, where the cold wet conditions far out weigh the snowy or icy driving conditions, and where a lot of cheaper winter tires fail.
The Big Test
The average budget winter tires sacrifices too much wet performance to be considered a sensible option for the UK climate.
To highlight this, Auto Bild have taken 42 sets of winter tires, from premium to budget, and put them through a wet and snow braking "shoot out", to see which 15 tires go through to their group tests.
Also included in the test is a summer and all season tire to give a balance to the market overview.
As you'd expect the summer tire stops the shortest in the wet from 50mph, taking just 129 feet to stop. The best winter tire, the Semperit, is less than a meter behind in 40.1. While the gap between braking in the wet is extremely close, the results are somewhat different on snow. Where the Semperit takes 112 feet to stop from 31mph on snow, the summer tire which enjoyed a 3 feet advantage in the wet, skids up in 228 feet - a huge 116 feet longer than the winter tire!
This test also highlights the poor performance of budget winter tires in the wet. Using the Semperit as our benchmark, the worst winter tire took 184 feet in wet braking, stopping 52 feet, or 52 foot after the Semperit tire had stopped the car.
The all season tire, a Goodyear Vector 4Seasons kept honest to its name by winning neither test, but doing well in both disciplines, stopping the car in 152 feet in the wet and 126 feet in the snow, which would have the tire placed around 20th in the overall results.
Auto Bild will be taking the top 15 tires through to the shoot out due next month, conditionally recommend places 16 to 26, and do not recommend places 27 to 42, something we completely agree with.
The average budget winter tires sacrifices too much wet performance to be considered a sensible option for the UK climate.
The Braking Results
Please note: Auto Bild considered places 27-42 so dangerous they did not test them in the snow. Our results show 3 feet for formatting reasonsContinental WinterContact TS 850
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 41.2 |
| Snow | 31 |
Total: 72.2
Semperit Speed Grip 2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 40.1 |
| Snow | 34 |
Total: 74.1
Bridgestone Blizzak LM32
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 41.8 |
| Snow | 32.8 |
Total: 74.6
Pirelli Winter Snow Control Series 3
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 42.3 |
| Snow | 33.7 |
Total: 76
Falken Eurowinter HS449
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 40.2 |
| Snow | 36.6 |
Total: 76.8
Goodyear UltraGrip 8
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 43.2 |
| Snow | 33.7 |
Total: 76.9
Michelin Alpin A4
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 42.4 |
| Snow | 34.5 |
Total: 76.9
Dunlop SP WinterSport 4D
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 43.4 |
| Snow | 33.6 |
Total: 77
Hankook Winter i cept RS
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 44.7 |
| Snow | 32.5 |
Total: 77.2
Uniroyal MS plus 66
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 43 |
| Snow | 34.4 |
Total: 77.4
Fulda Kristall Control HP
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 45.3 |
| Snow | 32.5 |
Total: 77.8
Firestone Winterhawk 2 EVO
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 46.2 |
| Snow | 32.6 |
Total: 78.8
Nokian WR D3
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 45 |
| Snow | 34.3 |
Total: 79.3
Kleber Krisalp HP2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 45.3 |
| Snow | 34.7 |
Total: 80
Maxxis MA PW Presa Snow
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.8 |
| Snow | 32.3 |
Total: 80.1
Yokohama W Drive
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 44.9 |
| Snow | 35.3 |
Total: 80.2
Toyo Snowprox S953
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 46.5 |
| Snow | 34.2 |
Total: 80.7
BFGoodrich gForce Winter
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 45.9 |
| Snow | 34.9 |
Total: 80.8
BFGoodrich gForce Winter
205/55 R16All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 45.9 |
| Snow | 34.9 |
Total: 80.8
Marshal i Zen MW15
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.8 |
| Snow | 33.1 |
Total: 80.9
Avon Ice Touring ST
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 41.7 |
| Snow | 39.7 |
Total: 81.4
Vredestein Snowtrac 3
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.1 |
| Snow | 34.5 |
Total: 81.6
GT Radial Champiro Winterpro
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.4 |
| Snow | 37.5 |
Total: 84.9
Marangoni Meteo HP
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.8 |
| Snow | 37.4 |
Total: 85.2
Goodride SW601
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 46.4 |
| Snow | 39.8 |
Total: 86.2
Apollo Acelere Winter
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.6 |
| Snow | 39.8 |
Total: 87.4
Westlake SW 608
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 47.1 |
| Snow | 40.6 |
Total: 87.7
Kumho IZen KW23
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 48.5 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 49.5
Roadstone EuroWin 549
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 48.8 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 49.8
Nankang SV2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 48.9 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 49.9
Ceat Formula Winter
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 49 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 50
Kenda Polar Trax
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 50.3 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 51.3
Evergreen Winter EW62
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 51.2 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 52.2
Nexen WinGuard
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 51.9 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 52.9
Runway RWT I
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 52.1 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 53.1
Kormoran Snowpro B2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 52.6 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 53.6
Infinity INF 049
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 52.8 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 53.8
Linglong Winter Hero Radial 650
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 54.8 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 55.8
Riken Snowtime B2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 54.8 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 55.8
Rockstone Eco Snow
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 55.1 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 56.1
Federal Himalaya WS1 Winter
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 55.2 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 56.2
Sunny SN3830
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 55.4 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 56.4
Wanli Snowgrip S1083
205/55 R16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Wet | 56 |
| Snow | 1 |
Total: 57
Excellent job with the testing of numerous brands and compiling the data. Don't listen to haters, trolls, laptop gangstas and complainers; they're all bums!
If this is supposed to be a test of winter tires why did they test the Vredestein Snowtrac 3 and not the Wintrac Xtreme?
The Wintrac Xtreme is Vredesteins winter tire in the larger sizes. The snowtrac covers the smaller sizes, which includes the 205/55 R16 in this test.
Why have you only picked one test within the Auto Bild winter tire test? Nokian Tires were the overall winners of the Auto Bild , Auto Motor Sport and AUTOStraßenverkeh winter tire test 2012. They were declared the "Best Winter Tire" by Auto Bild. Nokian tires had over 20 test wins in the winter tire tests in car magazines in Germany and Europe last winter. They came first in over half of the tests. Nokian winter tires were also test winners in the 2011 winter tire tests. In 97 test reports from autumn 2011 to spring 2013, Nokian tires were test winners 54 times.
See another article http://www.tiretechnologyin...
Not sure what you mean.
http://www.tirereviews.co.u...
Nokian didn't win overall, they placed 9th:
http://www.tirereviews.co.u...
The selection of tire manufacturers is not really good actually..
We were quite impressed with 42 manufacturers subjected to a single test! Have you seen better?