2019 Auto Express Winter Tire Test

The 2019 Auto Express winter tire test has tested ten 225/45 R17 winter tires, and included a summer and all season product as a benchmark.

The newest winter tire from Goodyear is shaping up to be an excellent winter product. Thanks to a near perfect all round performance, it wins another tire test, narrowly beating the established king of winter motoring, the Continental WinterContact TS860.

Michelin will be happy with a third place overall, as they're the only manufacturer publicly designing their tires to work as they wear, with tread blocks that open up as the miles go on. This means the Michelin Alpin 6 might be the best tire at 50% tread wear, it's something we will try and test in the future.

Vredestein again look to be a good option for a southern UK climate, with the Wintrac Pro performing well the dry and wet, but a little weaker in the snow, while the winter specialists at Nokian might be a little disappointed with seventh overall, seemingly trading the best fuel use on test for lower wet grip.

As for the summer and all season benchmark tires, there's no huge surprises. The summer tire had a huge dry and wet braking advantage, stopping the car seven meters shorter than the best winter tire and ten meters shorter than the worst tire in the dry, with a similar gap in the wet. The all season tire placed third overall in this winter test, with its bias slightly more towards dry and wet running, but it still had acceptable snow performance when compared to the summer tire.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again. A good all season tire is a better option for the most of the UK than a full winter tire.

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.

1^st

Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	194.5
Wet	489.2
Snow	400
Rolling Resistance	89
Noise	100
Overall	100

Total: 1372.7

2^nd

Continental WinterContact TS 860

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	195
Wet	488.9
Snow	390
Rolling Resistance	91
Noise	93
Overall	99.5

Total: 1357.4

Joint 3^rd

Michelin Alpin 6

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	196.1
Wet	483.2
Snow	384.1
Rolling Resistance	86
Noise	87.6
Overall	98.4

Total: 1335.4

Joint 3^rd

Continental AllSeasonContact

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	198.3
Wet	482.2
Snow	372.7
Rolling Resistance	94
Noise	94.3
Overall	98.5

Total: 1340

4^th

Dunlop Winter Sport 5

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	192.9
Wet	479.8
Snow	393.9
Rolling Resistance	92
Noise	96.2
Overall	98.3

Total: 1353.1

Joint 5^th

Vredestein Wintrac Pro

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	197.9
Wet	478.3
Snow	377.6
Rolling Resistance	76
Noise	92.4
Overall	97.7

Total: 1319.9

Joint 5^th

Falken Eurowinter HS01

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	193.4
Wet	487.5
Snow	373.8
Rolling Resistance	63
Noise	96.2
Overall	97.7

Total: 1311.6

7^th

Nokian WR Snowproof

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	199.3
Wet	467.3
Snow	387.2
Rolling Resistance	100
Noise	95.2
Overall	97.6

Total: 1346.6

8^th

Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	196.4
Wet	473.4
Snow	375.2
Rolling Resistance	88
Noise	93.3
Overall	97.3

Total: 1323.6

9^th

Hankook Winter i cept RS2

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	195.3
Wet	458.4
Snow	386.2
Rolling Resistance	80
Noise	88.6
Overall	95.9

Total: 1304.4

Joint 10^th

Toyo Snowprox S954

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	199.5
Wet	461.4
Snow	355.5
Rolling Resistance	80
Noise	93.3
Overall	95.3

Total: 1285

Joint 10^th

Continental Premium Contact 6

225/45 R17

All discipline results (6)

Test	Result
Dry	221.3
Wet	500.1
Snow	205.8
Rolling Resistance	93
Noise	92.4
Overall	94

Total: 1206.6