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I had to register my utter disappointment with Nokian WR4!!
Both the "2017 Sport Auto Winter Tire Test" & "AMS Performance 18 inch Winter Tire Test" were right on the spot with the scores.
The WR4 are horrible on the wet surfaces!! I have a TT Mk3 and driving it on a highway at any levels of rain is utter horror show. I constantly get the feeling that the car is "floating" (aquaplaning). Overtaking anyone on a wet road is like driving on ice. Even on the dry surfaces, the tires seem to force the car to "wander". You have to constantly make small steering wheel adjustments in order to have the car go straight. At first I thought that this was due to possible road imperfections" but now I know better.
VERDICT: "Not recommended"
Since people rarely drive fast & crazy during the winter, I recommend any other tire. They might be good on dry, however in most places winter is mostly wet and icy than just being outright cold and dry. Get a tire with good wet & snow stats.
You will find a feeling this this with any new winter tires on a car like the TT. The extra siping and blocks of winter tires cause the car to feel imprecise when compared to a summer tire.
Probably, however I do have them for 2 years now. Granted they haven't done a big mileage with them but still. The tires should have been worn in by now. Very disappointed in them in general. Aquaplanning is also dangerously bad, even in perfect conditions. I thought that my inexperience with a sports car was to blame for my feeling of "lack of control and stability" 2 years in and I still cant shake the feeling of pure inadequacy of the tires.
I actually had a slide as I was driving in Vienna at a roundabout. I started understeer in the middle of my turn. I wasn't even driving fast. Thank god my Quattro system and the fact that no cars were on the road made it possible to get out of the situation with no causalities.
What you say is possible. But the way the tires act is on the point with what both tests say. Very good website both your "Tire Reviews" and the testing link choices! Bravo!
Thanks for the kind words :) I hope your next set of tires are better! Maybe look at something like the CrossClimate as a winter tire, much less block movement.
I dont understand this :
- Quitetest tire on test: Kumho WinterCraft WP71
- Negative: increased noise level
??
The "Quietest tire on test" section is automatically generated based on the numeric score given to the tire in the results.
If you look at the graph, the top 4 tires in the noise test were classified as the best, even though tires 2, 3 and 4 were louder than the best.
I don't understand how Semperit is the best tire on show when Dunlop was first also on Braking and handling in the snow...
The full test included snow traction, and potentially a snow circle, which is why the magazine concluded the Semperit was the strongest overall in the snow.
Hankook is really so bad? Users are not complaining...
Bad in ...? My experience is, Hankook and other Tires in this priceclass are not bad everywhere, but it´s not balanced like the Top-Tires. The Hankook is still good in snow and dry, but weaker in wet. I have the feeling Hankook change every year the tire, still looking for a good balance.
And the biggest problem with satisfied customers: They compare her old, hardened, low thread tire with the new tire. If they were not satisfied with the new tire, how bad it is?
This test highlighted a weakness under wet braking which caused Hankook to have a poor result.
' ... opposing design qualities of wet grip and wet aquaplaning ... '
Different, yes but not opposing, I suggest.
Straight aquaplaning is a function of the tread's capacity to transmit &/or store water.
Wet grip (in merely slick circumstances) is a function of compounding & siping.
It is quite possible for a tire to have efficient channelling & to _also_ be well compounded/siped for the wet. It is obviously also possible for only one of these to be present.
A better candidate for _opposing_ design demands would be _dry_ grip & aquaplaning (given the former's demands for a high land/sea ratio date latter's demands for a low one).
cheers! Peter
While I agree the dry example is a better example, as you point out, in low water conditions compounding is extremely important, and the more you have in contact with the surface the better.
Michelin actually run a slick intermediate tire in Le Mans!
I think that it depends on whether we talk of a mere film or something a bit more (but less than streaming) & on the road surface (smooth concrete or a surface with more peaks & troughs in it).
If a coarsish surface which has the potential for mechanical interlocking cum micro-interpenetration & which is merely slick with a film, then compound is king.
If a smooth surface but also merely slick, then (sipes &) block edges become more important than on coarser surfaces for film penetration.
If a coarsish surface with a bit more water (but still less than streaming), then a bit of clearing & storage of the water fosters the chances of compound-dependent micro-interpenetration cum interlocking at the rear part of the contact patch.
If a smooth surface with that "more then slick, less than streaming" level of water, then clearing & storage to allow (sipes &) block edges & compound "give" at the rear of the contact patch to break the residual film become more important again.
Positive: Short braking distance in the snow, good performance on dry and wet surfaces
Negative: Relatively long braking distances and low lateral stability in snow
Don´t understand this in "Negative". Fastest on snow handling, best in snow breaking.
The long braking distances is for dry running. The magazine also tested average lateral acceleration (snow circle) which we didn't list, where the dunlop only scored 8th place.
I will update the listings to make this clearer
The negative in this case is dry ruining and it can be a huge set back for the customer. There are locations were you have winters with 80% of snow on the surface you drive or surfaces are wet all the time in the temperature interval of + 5 to -5 where summer tires are not appropriate. (99% of 100% summer tires performs better on wet than winter ones). In my case I live in location where we have wet/snow/dry surfaces and constant changes therefore I cant make sacrifices to any of the stats.