The 2020 Sport Auto all season tire test has covered seven of the best all season tires in 225/45 18, using a new BMW 3 Series.
Most of the tires on test were also included in the 2020 Tire Reviews all season tire test, however as Sport Auto used a different size and vehicle, this test still makes for interesting reading!
Sport Auto found the Bridgestone WeatherControl A005 to be an excellent tire in the dry and wet, and even with its mid pack performance in the snow, crowned it best in test, a little ahead of the Michelin CrossClimate+, which performed better in the wet than it did in our test.
One interesting piece of information Sport Auto shared was the summer and winter reference tires used. Usually these remain anonymous, but in this test it was the Bridgestone Turanza T005 and the Bridgestone Blizzak LM005. This is especially interesting as the LM005 is winning most of the 2020 winter tests, so seeing how one of the best winter tires compares to some of the best all season tires is a great insight into the different balance between the all season and winter tires.
Dry
It will be no surprise to regular readers of the site that the summer tire had a significant advantage in the dry, stopping the BMW a full 10 feet ahead of the best all season tire, which for a change wasn't the Michelin CrossClimate+!
Dry Braking
Dry braking in feet
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
RefReference Summer |
100 % |
| 92 % | |
| 92 % | |
| 91 % | |
| 87 % | |
| 86 % | |
| 85 % | |
RefReference Winter |
84 % |
| 84 % |
The difference between best and worst was 16%.
The summer tire retained its advantage in during dry handling tests, while the Bridgestone WeatherControl A005 jumped ahead of the rest of the all season tires.
Dry Handling
Dry Handling Average Speed
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
RefReference Summer |
100 % |
| 99 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 96 % | |
RefReference Winter |
96 % |
The difference between best and worst was 4%.
Wet
The Bridgestone all season again proved best in the wet braking test with a significant advantage, with the winter tire performing well.
Wet Braking
Wet braking in feet
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
| 100 % | |
| 97 % | |
RefReference Winter |
95 % |
| 94 % | |
RefReference Summer |
94 % |
| 93 % | |
| 92 % | |
| 88 % | |
| 86 % |
The difference between best and worst was 14%.
Surprisingly the winter tire was best during the wet handling testing.
Wet Handling
Wet Handling Average Speed
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
RefReference Winter |
100 % |
RefReference Summer |
99 % |
| 98 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 94 % | |
| 93 % |
The difference between best and worst was 7%.
The summer tire out performed all the all season tires during straight aquaplaning testing.
Straight Aqua
Float Speed in mph
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
RefReference Summer |
100 % |
| 98 % | |
| 96 % | |
RefReference Winter |
95 % |
| 94 % | |
| 93 % | |
| 92 % | |
| 92 % | |
| 91 % |
The difference between best and worst was 9%.
Snow
During snow braking the BFGoodrich all season tire surprisingly out performed the full winter tire, with the Continental AllSeasonContact a close third.
Snow Braking
Snow braking in feet
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
| 100 % | |
RefReference Winter |
96 % |
| 91 % | |
| 87 % | |
| 83 % | |
| 82 % | |
| 82 % | |
| 80 % | |
RefReference Summer |
52 % |
The difference between best and worst was 48%.
Snow handling kept the Winter, Continental and BFGoodrich as the top three tires, just this time in a different order.
Snow Handling
Snow handling average speed
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
RefReference Winter |
100 % |
| 98 % | |
| 98 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 97 % | |
| 94 % | |
| 93 % | |
| 91 % | |
RefReference Summer |
37 % |
The difference between best and worst was 63%.
Environment
As usual, the summer tire proved to have the lowest rolling resistance.
Rolling Resistance
Rolling resistance in kg t
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
RefReference Summer |
100 % |
| 96 % | |
| 91 % | |
RefReference Winter |
90 % |
| 90 % | |
| 86 % | |
| 84 % | |
| 81 % | |
| 81 % |
The difference between best and worst was 19%.
While all tires were relatively close on the external pass by noise test, the testers noted humming noises from a couple of the tires on test (see notes below)
Noise
External noise in dB
relative index, 100 = best in test ↑| Position / Tire | Result |
|---|---|
| 100 % | |
| 99 % | |
| 99 % | |
| 99 % | |
| 99 % | |
| 99 % | |
RefReference Winter |
98 % |
| 97 % | |
RefReference Summer |
96 % |
The difference between best and worst was 4%.
Results
Score weighting - Dry 30%, Wet 40%, Snow 20%, Environment 10%
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
225/45 R18 95V XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 2nd / 7 | 99% |
| Dry Handling | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Wet Braking | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Wet Handling | 2nd / 7 | 99.86% |
| Straight Aqua | 6th / 7 | 93.93% |
| Snow Braking | 4th / 7 | 83.12% |
| Snow Handling | 7th / 7 | 92.78% |
| Noise | 2nd / 7 | 99.02% |
| Rolling Resistance | 3rd / 7 | 93.98% |
- EU Label
- C/A/71
Michelin CrossClimate+
225/45 R18 95Y XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 3rd / 7 | 98.26% |
| Dry Handling | 4th / 7 | 98.36% |
| Wet Braking | 2nd / 7 | 97.11% |
| Wet Handling | 2nd / 7 | 99.86% |
| Straight Aqua | 7th / 7 | 92.8% |
| Snow Braking | 6th / 7 | 82.08% |
| Snow Handling | 3rd / 7 | 98.47% |
| Noise | 3rd / 7 | 98.88% |
| Rolling Resistance | 1st / 7 | 100% |
- EU Label
- C/B/69
Continental AllSeasonContact
225/45 R18 95Y XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 4th / 7 | 94.51% |
| Dry Handling | 6th / 7 | 97.79% |
| Wet Braking | 4th / 7 | 92.92% |
| Wet Handling | 4th / 7 | 99.17% |
| Straight Aqua | 3rd / 7 | 96.5% |
| Snow Braking | 2nd / 7 | 91.26% |
| Snow Handling | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Noise | 6th / 7 | 98.61% |
| Rolling Resistance | 4th / 7 | 89.66% |
- EU Label
- C/B/69
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3
225/45 R18 95W XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Dry Handling | 2nd / 7 | 98.53% |
| Wet Braking | 3rd / 7 | 94.08% |
| Wet Handling | 4th / 7 | 99.17% |
| Straight Aqua | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Snow Braking | 5th / 7 | 82.33% |
| Snow Handling | 5th / 7 | 95.84% |
| Noise | 3rd / 7 | 98.88% |
| Rolling Resistance | 6th / 7 | 83.87% |
- EU Label
- C/C/71
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
225/45 R18 95Y XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 5th / 7 | 92.74% |
| Dry Handling | 2nd / 7 | 98.53% |
| Wet Braking | 5th / 7 | 91.52% |
| Wet Handling | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Straight Aqua | 2nd / 7 | 98.56% |
| Snow Braking | 7th / 7 | 80.06% |
| Snow Handling | 6th / 7 | 94.09% |
| Noise | 3rd / 7 | 98.88% |
| Rolling Resistance | 6th / 7 | 83.87% |
- EU Label
- E/B/71
BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2
225/45 R18 95V XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 7th / 7 | 90.41% |
| Dry Handling | 7th / 7 | 97.47% |
| Wet Braking | 6th / 7 | 88.3% |
| Wet Handling | 6th / 7 | 96.13% |
| Straight Aqua | 5th / 7 | 94.44% |
| Snow Braking | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Snow Handling | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Noise | 1st / 7 | 100% |
| Rolling Resistance | 2nd / 7 | 95.12% |
- EU Label
- C/B/69
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS210
225/45 R18 95V XL
Category scores (% of best)
All discipline results (9)
Discipline positions compare the ranked tires in this test, not the whole market. These are individual measurements, not weighted overall scores.
| Test | Position in discipline | % |
|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | 6th / 7 | 92.31% |
| Dry Handling | 4th / 7 | 98.36% |
| Wet Braking | 7th / 7 | 85.55% |
| Wet Handling | 7th / 7 | 95.02% |
| Straight Aqua | 4th / 7 | 94.96% |
| Snow Braking | 3rd / 7 | 87.29% |
| Snow Handling | 4th / 7 | 98.25% |
| Noise | 7th / 7 | 96.99% |
| Rolling Resistance | 5th / 7 | 87.64% |
- EU Label
- C/B/70
Regarding Michelin CrossClimate, I found it interesting that the testers said:
'.....Sensitive to slipping so not recommended for vehicles without ESP.....'
My previous car had CC+ and I drove about 30000 miles on the tires.
Although very good in a wide range of conditions, I did notice occasional slight slipping of the tires when pulling away on dry roads (but not wet roads) which got slightly worse as the tires wore and was possibly more common in the first few minutes of a journey before the tires had warmed up.
The slight slip wasn't enough to cause the ESP light to flash but I could feel it.
I thought it was just my clumsy size 14 boots affecting the clutch control although Vector Gen 2 on my wife's car never do that despite their generally-accepted lower dry grip.
Interesting, it's not something i've noticed above and beyond other all season tires when comparing them back to back, but I guess it's a thing!
I need to decide for at a set of 235/45-18 All Seasons for a Tesla 3 Long Range for use in Denmark, should be comparable to the UK climate. For an EV rolling resistance and noise are perhaps overweighted as selection criteria, but on the other hand its a quite powerfull car, so the tires should be able to handle that safely
Based on the test I consider the Bridgestones. However it seems that there is also a EVO version available. If the "old" A005 wins this test, the "A005 EVO" should be a "no-brainer pick"?
I'm hesitating to this, since The Michelin CC+ seems to be the popular pick among when I consult Tesla forums.
The EVO version of the A005 was meant to improve the snow performance, but in testing to seems to still be very close to the regular A005, which is no bad thing.
Where the CC+ has the edge over the A005 is wear.
It may depend upon how much snow and ice you get and how bad it gets when you do. I run CC+s (but only 195/65 R15) on my 15yo Mazda3 in the UK and they're great, but I purposely bought them because I live in the South East/East of England, where we don't get much snow and ice and its rarely bad when we do.
As such, a summer-biased A/S tire is the best for me, and a long-lived one even better because I don't do much mileage for the most part. The Bridgestone tire is similar or perhaps even more summer biased than the Michelin CC+.
From previous tests, the Conti is in between the more traditional more 'winter-biased' A/S tires. There seems also to be more choice in smaller, higher profile tire combos like mine (one of the most popular sizes of tire generally), though if I recall, Michelin also did make A more sporty 'Pilot Sport AS' tire for larger, lower profile tire sizes. Not sure how new that tire design is though and whether it's offered any more.
Compare still the new and latest tests winning Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen3, which should be between the current Michelin and Conti in its character.
If you have at least 3-6 months for your decision, you can also wait a bit and be the early adopter of the brand new Michelin Cross Climate 2, which is already sold in the USA and to Europe it will come in early 2021. Obviously it must be even better than the current CC+.
Is there any explanation for quite huge difference in rolling resistance measured for Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 (i.e. winter reference tire in this test) - 8.3 kg/t and in 2020 Auto Bild Performance Winter Tire Test - 7.35 kg/t? The tire size was the same.
Actually, Auto Bild result seems to be too low as that would put the tire in "B" class according to EU rating, while its EU label says it is "C", i.e. rolling resistance between 7.8 and 9.0 kg/t.
I would assume that rolling resistance result should be the most accurate and comparable from all tested parameters across diffferent tests, but apparently it isn't...
It's an interesting question. I can only assume variation in the testing but I'll dig a little deeper next week
And what you have dig out?
I didn't get too far :(
Are you/both tests comparing the same tire sizes/dimensions?