| Test Summary | |
| Wet Braking |
Nokian WR D4 |
| Dry Braking |
Goodyear UltraGrip 9 |
| Wet Handling |
Debica Frigo 2 Sava Eskimo Ice |
| Wear |
Nokian WR D4 |
| Rolling Resistance |
Debica Frigo 2 |
| Straight Aqua |
Debica Frigo 2 Sava Eskimo Ice |
| Snow Handling |
Nokian WR D4 |
Six of the tires on test are European winter tires which are available to the UK market, and two of the tires (Debica Frigo 2 and Sava Eskimo Ice) are full nordic friction studless winter tires, so it should give us a good overview of how these two different types of tires perform, and why Nordic winter tires aren't suitable for the UK market.
Dry
In the dry testing, the Nokian was supreme, stopping the car in 27.76 meters. The more heavily siped nature of Nordic winter tires means they struggle in dry testing, with the Debica 3 meters and Sava nearly 4 meters behind the best European winter tire on test when braking down from 80 km/h.
Wet
As in the dry testing, the Nordic winter tires were last by a huge margin. The best European tire on test stopped the vehicle in under 30 meters when braking from 80 km/h, with the Sava Nordic winter tire a full 10 meters behind.
The gap was similar in the wet slalom, with both Nordic winter tires a long way off the pace and controllability of the European winter tires.
Goodyear rounded out an impressive wet performance by winning the aquaplaning test too.
Snow
Snow is where the Nordic winter tire should take the advantage, but during the snow braking test the Goodyear once again won, stopping the car in just 15.79 meters from 40 km/h.
The Goodyear was also strongest in snow traction, who's results mirrored snow braking closely.
Ice
Ice braking is finally where the Nordic winter tires won a test, with the Debica Frigo having a big advantage when braking down from just 25 km/h.
As with snow traction, the results were broadly similar to ice braking, with the Nordic winter tires having a strong advantage.
The ice slalom was again won by the Nordic winter tires.
Results
The overall results are below. If you've ever wondered why we don't get the more extreme Nordic winter tires in the UK, this is your answer, with both Nordic tires on test struggling in the dry and wet when compared to our European winter tires.
