Warning, lots of data ahead! For the 2019 winter, Auto Motor und Sport have tested eleven of the best winter tires in the 215/55 R17 crossover SUV size.
The biggest plus of this test is the sheer amount of data they've produced, as they've rated the tires both objectively and subjectively in a lot of categories.
It's also good news for Goodyear, as the new Goodyear UltraGrip Performance + wins on its first outing, proving to have an excellent balance of wet and snow performance, along with short dry braking distances.
Stepping up on the promise of 2018, the Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 once again proves itself as a strong contender, and maybe the tire of choice for the snowier climates.
The Vredestein Wintrac Pro rounds out the top three places. This tire might be the best choice for the drier, warmer climates, as it excelled in the dry and wet handling tests, but was a little weaker than the best on test during snow testing.
The other result worth mentioning was the new Nokian SnowProof. It's not very often we see Nokian performing badly in a winter test, let alone finishing last. In this test, the Nokian performed extremely well in the dry, with the best dry braking result and had a good result in the snow, but really struggled in the wet. As this is the first test of the SnowProof we've seen, we'll await more test data to see whether the new Nokian really is this bad in the wet, or it was something related to this test.
The overall results were incredibly close, with all the tires down to eighth place being recommended, but if you want the best for your SUV in 215/55 R17, pick from the top five.
Dry
Interestingly, the top two spots during dry braking were taken by the bottom two tires overall, with the Nokian and Giti proving to be the best at stopping the VW T-Roc.
Dry Braking
Spread: 2.70 M (6.1%)|Avg: 45.05 M
Dry braking in meters (Lower is better)
Nokian WR Snowproof
44.10 M
Giti GitiWinterW1
44.30 M
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
44.50 M
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
44.60 M
Michelin Alpin 6
44.60 M
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
44.60 M
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
44.80 M
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
45.70 M
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
45.70 M
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
45.90 M
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
46.80 M
Dry handling was extremely close between the eleven tires, with a difference of just 2 km/h between the best and worst tires.
Dry Handling
Spread: 2.00 Km/H (1.7%)|Avg: 115.08 Km/H
Dry Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
116.10 Km/H
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
115.90 Km/H
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
115.60 Km/H
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
115.40 Km/H
Giti GitiWinterW1
115.20 Km/H
Nokian WR Snowproof
115.20 Km/H
Michelin Alpin 6
114.90 Km/H
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
114.90 Km/H
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
114.40 Km/H
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
114.20 Km/H
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
114.10 Km/H
The sporty Vredestein was the only tire to receive ten points during subjective dry handling scoring.
Subj. Dry Handling
Spread: 3.00 Points (30%)|Avg: 8.36 Points
Subjective Dry Handling Score (Higher is better)
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
10.00 Points
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
9.00 Points
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
9.00 Points
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
9.00 Points
Michelin Alpin 6
9.00 Points
Nokian WR Snowproof
8.00 Points
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
8.00 Points
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
8.00 Points
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
8.00 Points
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
7.00 Points
Giti GitiWinterW1
7.00 Points
Wet
The Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 had a significant advantage during wet braking.
Wet Braking
Spread: 4.90 M (15.7%)|Avg: 33.49 M
Wet braking in meters (Lower is better)
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
31.20 M
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
32.30 M
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
32.50 M
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
32.60 M
Giti GitiWinterW1
33.50 M
Michelin Alpin 6
33.50 M
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
33.50 M
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
34.00 M
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
34.40 M
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
34.80 M
Nokian WR Snowproof
36.10 M
The top three tires overall dominated wet handling, both in average speed and subjectively.
Wet Handling
Spread: 4.40 Km/H (6%)|Avg: 71.41 Km/H
Wet Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
73.30 Km/H
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
73.20 Km/H
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
72.90 Km/H
Michelin Alpin 6
72.60 Km/H
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
72.50 Km/H
Giti GitiWinterW1
70.80 Km/H
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
70.70 Km/H
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
70.50 Km/H
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
70.30 Km/H
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
69.80 Km/H
Nokian WR Snowproof
68.90 Km/H
Subj. Wet Handling
Spread: 4.00 Points (40%)|Avg: 7.91 Points
Subjective Wet Handling Score (Higher is better)
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
10.00 Points
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
10.00 Points
Michelin Alpin 6
10.00 Points
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
10.00 Points
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
9.00 Points
Giti GitiWinterW1
7.00 Points
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
7.00 Points
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
6.00 Points
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
6.00 Points
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
6.00 Points
Nokian WR Snowproof
6.00 Points
The Falken had an advantage during the aquaplaning testing, with the rest of the tires closely matched.
Straight Aqua
Spread: 12.80 Km/H (15.4%)|Avg: 75.20 Km/H
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
83.10 Km/H
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
76.50 Km/H
Giti GitiWinterW1
76.50 Km/H
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
76.00 Km/H
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
75.80 Km/H
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
75.50 Km/H
Michelin Alpin 6
75.40 Km/H
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
74.10 Km/H
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
72.30 Km/H
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
71.70 Km/H
Nokian WR Snowproof
70.30 Km/H
Snow
Bridgestone once again stopped the VW T-Roc in the shortest distance, this time during snow braking.
Snow Braking
Spread: 2.50 M (9.8%)|Avg: 26.93 M
Snow braking in meters (Lower is better)
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
25.60 M
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
26.00 M
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
26.10 M
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
26.50 M
Nokian WR Snowproof
26.60 M
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
27.20 M
Michelin Alpin 6
27.20 M
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
27.30 M
Giti GitiWinterW1
27.70 M
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
27.90 M
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
28.10 M
As in the wet testing, the new Goodyear proved to be excellent during snow handling.
Snow Handling
Spread: 3.40 Km/H (6.9%)|Avg: 48.17 Km/H
Snow handling average speed (Higher is better)
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
49.40 Km/H
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
49.20 Km/H
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
48.70 Km/H
Nokian WR Snowproof
48.40 Km/H
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
48.40 Km/H
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
48.30 Km/H
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
48.00 Km/H
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
47.90 Km/H
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
47.90 Km/H
Michelin Alpin 6
47.70 Km/H
Giti GitiWinterW1
46.00 Km/H
Subj. Snow Handling
Spread: 3.00 Points (30%)|Avg: 8.55 Points
Subjective Snow Handling Score (Higher is better)
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
10.00 Points
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
9.00 Points
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
9.00 Points
Nokian WR Snowproof
9.00 Points
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
9.00 Points
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
9.00 Points
Michelin Alpin 6
9.00 Points
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
8.00 Points
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
8.00 Points
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
7.00 Points
Giti GitiWinterW1
7.00 Points
Environment
All the tires were relatively close in both external noise and subjective internal noise, but the Falken proved to have the best balance of the two.
Noise
Spread: 1.80 dB (2.6%)|Avg: 70.24 dB
External noise in dB (Lower is better)
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
69.30 dB
Nokian WR Snowproof
69.70 dB
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
69.80 dB
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
70.00 dB
Giti GitiWinterW1
70.10 dB
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
70.20 dB
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
70.20 dB
Michelin Alpin 6
70.50 dB
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
70.70 dB
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
71.00 dB
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
71.10 dB
Subj. Comfort
Spread: 3.00 Points (30%)|Avg: 8.64 Points
Subjective Comfort Score (Higher is better)
Falken Eurowinter HS01 SUV
10.00 Points
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
9.00 Points
Bridgestone Blizzak LM005
9.00 Points
Michelin Alpin 6
9.00 Points
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Plu
9.00 Points
Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
9.00 Points
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
9.00 Points
Toyo Snowprox S954 SUV
8.00 Points
Nokian WR Snowproof
8.00 Points
Vredestein Wintrac Pro
8.00 Points
Giti GitiWinterW1
7.00 Points
The Continental WinterContact TS850P had the lowest rolling resistance, but was one of the most expensive to buy.
Although tires were launched five years ago, they still perform well due to their balanced performance, stable behavior and good lateral stability in the snow, good wet handling
Relatively long braking distance on snow and dry surfaces