2016 ACE All Season Tire Test

The 2016 ACE magazine all season tire test covers ten all season tires in the popular 205/55 R16 tire size using a VW Golf, and includes a summer and winter tire as benchmarks.

Once again, the test highlights the fact that current all season tires, with the exception of the Michelin CrossClimate, should be considered as slightly tweaked winter tires and have all the drawbacks of the winter rubber in warm dry and wet conditions.

Braking Performance

With the UK motorist spending the majority of time on dry or wet roads, an all season tire which comprises dry and wet braking is the wrong choice for year round motoring.

During dry braking the summer Continental Premium Contact 5 stopped the car in 124 feet, and the winter Dunlop Winter Sport 5 a fairly distant 150 feet. The average of the all season tires was 148 feet, with the test winning Nokian stopping the car 145 feet. The summer optimized Michelin CrossClimate stopped the car in 135 feet, a car length ahead of the next nearest all season tire.

In the wet braking tests the results were similar. The summer tire stopped the Golf in 171 feet, the Michelin CrossClimate was the closest all season tire at 183 feet, with the next best all season tire at 193 feet and the winter tire at 197 feet.

On snow, the winter tire needed 82 feet top stop the car, the best all season tire 89 feet, and the Michelin at 95 feet. When you consider the worst all season tire stopped the car in over 115 feet, you can see the blend of performance offered by the Michelin is very suited to the UK climate.

The Results

ACE magazine awarded first place to Nokian with the WeatherProof, second to Goodyear with the Vector 4Season Gen 2, and third place to the Michelin CrossClimate.

The Nokian and Goodyear tires excelled in the snowy conditions of the winter tests, behaving like full winter tires, but unfortunately also behaved like a full winter tire in the dry and wet testing. While these tires would be excellent for climates which see a lot of freezing weather and snow, we feel they are too extreme for the majority of the UK climate, where snow is a rare occurrence.

The Michelin CrossClimate finished third, once again delivering on its promise of being a summer, rather than winter optimized all season tire. The balance of performance was much more preferable for year round motoring in the UK, with the only real weakness being aquaplaning results. This can largely be explained by the 7mm tested tread depth, rather than the 8-9mm of the other tires, but Michelin assure us the mileage delivered by the CrossClimate will be the best on test.

The mid range brands covered fourth to eighth place, with the Hankook and Vredestein tires offering the better balance of performance for the UK climate.

Pirelli will be disappointed with ninth place overall, with the Cinturato AllSeason offering a good dry and wet performance, but a very weak snow and ice result, with the Bridgestone A001 shadowing the Pirelli result, just a little weaker in all areas.

For reference, the summer tire scored 55 dry points, 65 wet points, 0 snow points. The winter tire scored 40 dry points, 52 wet points and 69 winter points. This would have put the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 winter tire as the third best "all season" tire overall had it been included in the results.

Full Results

1^st

Nokian WeatherProof

205/55 R16

An excellent all round all season tire. Most points in the wet overall, almost as strong as the winter tire in the snow, slightly below average in the dry.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	42
Wet	62
Snow	67
Rolling Resistance	32

Total: 203

2^nd

Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2

205/55 R16

An equal to the winter tire in almost all areas, the Goodyear is a great choice for extremely cold and snowy climates

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	43
Wet	50
Snow	69
Rolling Resistance	32

Total: 194

3^rd

Michelin CrossClimate

205/55 R16

Best wet and dry braking, with only aquaplaning stopping it winning every test other than snow. Surprisingly capable with snow traction and braking makes the CrossClimate the ideal choice for climates which don't see a lot of snow

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	48
Wet	53
Snow	50
Rolling Resistance	31

Total: 182

4^th

Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	39
Wet	46
Snow	53
Rolling Resistance	30

Total: 168

5^th

Hankook Kinergy 4S

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	44
Wet	45
Snow	47
Rolling Resistance	28

Total: 164

6^th

Sava Adapto HP

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	40
Wet	41
Snow	51
Rolling Resistance	32

Total: 164

7^th

Kumho Solus HA31

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	42
Wet	37
Snow	50
Rolling Resistance	31

Total: 160

8^th

Vredestein Quatrac 5

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	44
Wet	41
Snow	44
Rolling Resistance	31

Total: 160

9^th

Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	44
Wet	51
Snow	23
Rolling Resistance	29

Total: 147

10^th

Bridgestone A001

205/55 R16

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Dry	43
Wet	42
Snow	14
Rolling Resistance	28

Total: 127