The weekly UK publication Auto Express has just published their 2019 all season tire test! This year Auto Express tested nine all season tire patterns in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf.
As in previous years, Auto Express have included a summer and winter tire as reference. Shockingly, the summer Continental PremiumContact 5 was the best in dry overall, near the best in wet, and fell apart in snow. Things get more interesting when we compare the winter Continental WinterContact TS860 to the all season tires on test.
If you ignore the dry braking result (a break down of all the data can be found on the Auto Express website here), the winter tire was as much an all season tire as the best all season tire on test! While this won't apply to all winter tires, it's a good example of how close a winter bias all season tire, and a full winter tire can be!
Of the all season tires, the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-2 just edged out the Continental AllSeasonContact for the test win. Both tires had excellent, balanced performances, with the Continental a little stronger in the dry and snow covered roads, and the Goodyear having the edge in the wet.
The summer bias Michelin CrossClimate+ was the strongest all season tire overall in dry conditions, coupled with the sportiest handling. It matched the best in the wet, and while couldn't quite keep up with the winter-bias all season tires in the snow, it was still an order of magnitude better than the summer tire.
Interestingly the Bridgestone A005 again scored well in the braking tests, but as over tests have started to show, it doesn't quite have an all round ability like the best all season tires on tests, largely due to a very weak snow performance and high rolling resistance.
Results
Sadly Auto Express don't provide any raw data, instead scoring the best in each test one hundred percent, and working down from there. You can check out the full test on the Auto Express website here.
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 186 |
| Wet | 195 |
| Snow | 197 |
| Rolling Resistance | 93 |
| Noise | 100 |
| Overall | 100 |
Total: 871
Continental WinterContact TS 860
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 183 |
| Wet | 195 |
| Snow | 197 |
| Rolling Resistance | 93 |
| Noise | 103 |
| Overall | 100.4 |
Total: 871.4
Continental AllSeasonContact
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 189 |
| Wet | 191 |
| Snow | 200 |
| Rolling Resistance | 100 |
| Noise | 90 |
| Overall | 99.5 |
Total: 869.5
Michelin CrossClimate+
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 200 |
| Wet | 193 |
| Snow | 184 |
| Rolling Resistance | 93 |
| Noise | 91 |
| Overall | 99.4 |
Total: 860.4
Nokian WeatherProof
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 197 |
| Wet | 188 |
| Snow | 198 |
| Rolling Resistance | 94 |
| Noise | 84 |
| Overall | 99 |
Total: 860
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 194 |
| Wet | 196 |
| Snow | 176 |
| Rolling Resistance | 88 |
| Noise | 93 |
| Overall | 98.5 |
Total: 845.5
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS210
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 188 |
| Wet | 182 |
| Snow | 188 |
| Rolling Resistance | 86 |
| Noise | 96 |
| Overall | 97.3 |
Total: 837.3
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 192 |
| Wet | 182 |
| Snow | 187 |
| Rolling Resistance | 99 |
| Noise | 85 |
| Overall | 97.2 |
Total: 842.2
Cooper Discoverer All Season
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 188 |
| Wet | 180 |
| Snow | 191 |
| Rolling Resistance | 93 |
| Noise | 98 |
| Overall | 96.9 |
Total: 846.9
Continental Premium Contact 6
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 203 |
| Wet | 187 |
| Snow | 108 |
| Rolling Resistance | 92 |
| Noise | 86 |
| Overall | 95.3 |
Total: 771.3
Nankang Cross Seasons AW6
205/55 R16
All discipline results (6)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 183 |
| Wet | 166 |
| Snow | 192 |
| Rolling Resistance | 93 |
| Noise | 92 |
| Overall | 93.6 |
Total: 819.6
It amazes me how these tests vary between the top few, with the contis, mich CC+ and good years all vying for the top spot over the last couple of years, obviously the tire size and individual test conditions shake things up a bit, the A005s usually doing exceptionally well in wet /dry but losing points in snowy conditions.... fitted some A005s to the wifes old FWD V70 in January, replacing some good year F1 assys, completely changed the car during the winter months, with it being a lot gentler over the bumps and in the wet Welsh valleys they have been awesome throughout the whole year, although never driven hard, the tires give even better grip than the afore mentioned F1s, not tried in anger in the white stuff apart from a light dusting but they seemed OK, and imagine despite low test scores will be an improvement over any summer tire...
had a hard toss up, not to buy Bridgestone again, but down to really your own recommendations and findings, this weekend I am having CC+ fitted to my XC70, OK, they are slightly less efficient in the summer months than the A005s on most test results, but feel with the 4WD of the XC they should give me a fighting chance if we do actually get some snow this winter, the sooner the Scorpion Verdes are taken off the better IMO, and anything willl be an improvement, even with 4+mm of tread left they are average at best in any road condition. Contacted Michelin about fitting the CC+ as Volvo seem to constantly recommend and factory fit specific SUV / 4x4 tires, but they said due to the fact the car is used predominantly on road and is basically a car derived SUV, then the CC+ would actually be a better choice over the SUV CC as the improved tread design gives constant results throughout the life of the tire over the previous gen patterned SUV specifics
Latest Autobild Allroad Allseasons tire test results table basically confirms your choice (on Audi Q5, 235/65 R17): https://reifenpresse.de/201...
P.S. CC+ main advantage in compare to CC, following the producer statement, is increased mileage.
...and a much lower drop-off in performance (across all weathers) as the tire wears down to 2mm compared to the opposition (including winter tires), shown in a report on this website. This is why I bought them, and for the longevity in both distance and years, as I tended to do lower than average mileage so tend to replace my tires when they get to 6yo, at least that what I did up until now, when I used to run summer tires only.
Nokian Weatherproof seems to have been improved. It seems to be the 2nd best on dry, close to MCC+.
Agreed, still a little off in the wet though.
The Cooper Discoverer AS has a tread design similar to the A005. Shouldn't it guarantee similar performance as well?
Compound and construction plays a huge role in all categories of performance, more so than tread pattern.