Nokian have just announced the Nokian SeasonProof 2, the first tire from their new, state of the art factory in Europe. They are hopeful this will finally be the tire that brings them to the front of the all season market, so of course I had to test it!
In this test, I will be testing seven of the best all season tires in the popular 235/55 R18 tire size. As these are all season tires, I will be testing them in all seasons, covering the dry, wet and snow performance of these tires, and testing the noise, comfort and rolling resistance levels of the tires to help you make the most informed choice for your own driving needs.
5 categories (16 tests)
| Test Category | Best Performer | Worst Performer | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry (3 tests) | |||
| Dry Braking | ▲ BFGoodrich ADVANTAGE SUV ALL SEASON: 36.21 M | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 39.94 M | 3.7 M (9.3%) |
| Dry Handling | ▲ Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X: 72.3 s | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 75.86 s | 3.6 s (4.7%) |
| Subj. Dry Handling | ▲ Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3: 10 Points | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 8 Points | 2.0 Points (25.0%) |
| Wet (5 tests) | |||
| Wet Braking | ▲ Nokian Seasonproof 2: 30.46 M | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 38.49 M | 8.0 M (20.9%) |
| Wet Handling | ▲ Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3: 72.35 s | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 75.51 s | 3.2 s (4.2%) |
| Subj. Wet Handling | ▲ Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV: 10 Points | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 7 Points | 3.0 Points (42.9%) |
| Straight Aqua | ▲ Nokian Seasonproof 2: 81.7 Km/H | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 69 Km/H | 12.7 Km/H (18.4%) |
| Curved Aquaplaning | ▲ Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV: 8.17 m/sec2 | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 3.28 m/sec2 | 4.9 m/sec2 (149.1%) |
| Snow (4 tests) | |||
| Snow Braking | ▲ Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV: 18.51 M | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 20.27 M | 1.8 M (8.7%) |
| Snow Traction | ▲ Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV: 3.68 s | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 4.24 s | 0.6 s (13.2%) |
| Snow Handling | ▲ Nokian Seasonproof 2: 84.07 s | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 89.91 s | 5.8 s (6.5%) |
| Subj. Snow Handling | ▲ Nokian Seasonproof 2: 10 Points | ▼ Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV: 8.5 Points | 1.5 Points (17.6%) |
| Comfort (3 tests) | |||
| Subj. Comfort | ▲ BFGoodrich ADVANTAGE SUV ALL SEASON: 10 Points | ▼ Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6: 9.5 Points | 0.5 Points (5.3%) |
| Subj. Noise | ▲ Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6: 10 Points | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 6 Points | 4.0 Points (66.7%) |
| Noise | ▲ Nokian Seasonproof 2: 70.7 dB | ▼ Westlake All Season Elite Z401: 73.3 dB | 2.6 dB (3.5%) |
| Value (1 tests) | |||
| Rolling Resistance | ▲ BFGoodrich ADVANTAGE SUV ALL SEASON: 6.57 kg / t | ▼ Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6: 9 kg / t | 2.4 kg / t (27.0%) |
Wet
In my mind, the wet performance of an all season tire is the most important aspect. My theory is this - if you live in a region with a harsh winter, you'll be fitting proper winter tires already, and if you live in a dry climate, you'll be on summer tires year round. This means the people fitting all season tires are in those areas that get mostly long wet winters, with periods of snow that turns to slush very quickly.
Shockingly, the cheapest tire in the test was the worst in the wet. It had lots of aquaplaning around the lap which was very. In fact the person who calculated the curved aquaplaning data left a note saying "worst I've ever seen" which is crazy when you consider it doesn't look that different from the rest of the tires!
The rest of tires were VERY close, 2% between best and worst. Bridgestone and BFGoodrich were similar with quite a lot of understeer, then you had Maxxis, Hankook, Nokian and Goodyear, in that order, all a little more drivable. They did have some subtle differences in steering response, the nokians steering felt the most relaxed, whereas the maxxis felt the most summer like, but i'm really splitting hairs.
The wet braking did separate things a little more, the budget was a huge 27% behind the best, which was the new Nokian. Even with wet handling being so close, the order was almost identical between wet handling and wet braking, with the Goodyear and Nokian once again being the best, but this time with Nokian ahead. To give you an idea of difference, I calculated the wet braking distance from the motorway speed limit, the Nokian would have you stopped in under 81 meters and the budget over 100 meters, or another way of looking at it, when you'd stopped on the nokian from 130 km/h, you still be doing 60 km/h on the budget. Yikes.
Straight Aqua
Curved Aquaplaning
Dry
Six tires within 1% of each other around a 75 second lap with 13 turns. I keep saying things are getting close at the front, and it's true again. If you want to buy an all season tire to do a dry track day, anything apart from the budget will do just fine.
Luckily I also spent hours and hours testing the tires sub limit, steering response, lane changes, how they are on center etc which usually gives me more to talk about, and the results… well, they're all just fine, even the budget. On this Tiguan test car I think the BFGoodrich and Goodyear had the best blend of steering, I thought the Maxxis was nice and pointy if that's what you want from a tire, and the Nokian was lovely and relaxed, but still turned well if you needed it to. But, as with the lap times, they're all so close you will be happy with any of these in this size.
Luckily, as usual, braking spread things out.
Snow
I know the snow performance of an all season tire is very important to some people, so tested traction, braking, and handling, and there's some interesting quirks which I'll try and explain.
The slowest around the lap was the budget Westlake, it wasn't terrible, just a little down on grip, and a bit too much oversteer which led to a few 'ahhh' moments when getting quickly sideways. But this will be infinitely better than a summer tire, and more than enough winter performance for somewhere like the UK, so that's a win for the budget! If only it had some wet grip.
Next up was Maxxis, Goodyear and Bridgestone. The maxxis was an interesting one. I wrote in my notes 'there's more grip than the lap time shows, i struggled to get the best from it as it wasn't super predictable around the limit.' More on that in a bit.
I was a little surprised at the Goodyear in fourth, but it understeered quite heavily which is safe, but does penalise time, but it felt good out of the corners which is a plus, and then you had the Bridgestone which lacked a little bite but was well balanced.
Third and second was BFgoodrich and Hankook, both having excellent grip. The BFGoodrich lacked a little feedback, but the hankook was a beautiful tire to drive, very well rounded.
As was the new Nokian, which was the fastest around the lap having what I would call the best blend of grip, balance and communication. And it wasn't a fluke, I was using the Nokian as the control tire so I ran it four times and every time it was superb.
As for traction and braking, well this is where I'm a little annoyed. I like data to line up perfectly and be logical, and I know traction and braking often don't line up perfectly with handling, they are looking at a single objective measurement and handling is looking at many things in harmony, however the Maxxis absolutely stomped both traction and braking. It was so far ahead I redid everything, and got the same results, so it's the real deal, good job maxxis. Everything else lined up pretty well, other than the Nokian being a little down on traction. I couldn't tell you why, perhaps the tire works better with a bit of slip, but then it was very good in braking so that doesn't add up either. Still, considering these are all all season tires, they're all fantastic in the snow, other than westlake.
I did run a Nordic winter tire to flex a little, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 to really show what true winter performance is and to try and stop you in serious winter regions trying to run an all season tire, as it was lots ahead.
Comfort
The subjective, in cabin noise levels of all the tires were virtually indistinguishable, other than the budget, which had a high pitched whine.
Other than that, the new Nokian was the quietest in the external noise test, which is measured in a straight line, but I did mark it down ever so slightly as it produced a bit more noise when turning compared to some others. The other tire with a subjective noise note was the Hankook with a slight hum, though it was very low on the external noise test. But really, for noise, they're all good.
Comfort was also very close with Goodyear, Hankook and BFGoodrich a TINY bit ahead of the rest. But you could buy any for comfort and not be sad, even the budget.
Value
Rolling Resistance
Results
1st: Nokian Seasonproof 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Best in wet overall, near best in snow overall, good noise and comfort levels, low rolling resistance. Slightly firmer over big impacts, not the best in dry braking. The Nokian Seasonproof 2 is finally a Nokian all season tire with excellent wet grip! Sure, it wasn't the best in the dry but it wasn't super far off, it WAS however the best in the wet overall, which is key for this category, it was excellent in the snow, it had the lowest noise, and a pretty good rolling resistance. I marked it a little down for subjective comfort, but it was a close group, and that's about the only negative of this new tire.
Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2nd: BFGoodrich ADVANTAGE SUV ALL SEASON | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The best in dry braking, excellent in the deep water of aquaplaning, good in the snow, excellent noise and comfort levels, the lowest rolling resistance. Higher levels of understeer during all handling tests, extended wet braking distances,. The BFGoodrich ADVANTAGE SUV ALL SEASON is a solid tire overall. This is the first test of the SUV variant, and while it's likely very closely related to the non-SUV variant, it worked very well in this size. It was the best in dry braking, though a little bit too much understeer in dry handling, average in the wet grip tests but great in aquaplaning, very good in the snow, great noise and comfort, AND the lowest rolling resistance in the test.
Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd: Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very good dry handling, the best in wet handling, good on snow, the best noise and comfort levels. Reduced aquaplaning resistance, above average rolling resistance. The Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 is just as I remember it. It was was great in dry handling, though not the best in dry braking, the best in wet handling and very good wet braking, though again like the Hankook it struggled a little in the deeper water, it was very good in the snow, though not quite up to the Hankook, had excellent noise and comfort, like the Hankook, and its rolling resistance was the same as Hankook. This tire is aging in years but is still an excellent choice.
Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4th: Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very good dry and wet handling, the best in snow overall, very good noise and comfort levels. Reduced aquaplaning resistance, above average rolling resistance. Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X is great in dry handling, though not the best in dry braking, good in the wet though it struggled a little in the deeper water of aquaplaning, the best overall in snow, very good in comfort and noise, and had an ok rolling resistance. A solid all round product.
Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5th: Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very good in dry and wet handling, excellent aquaplaning resistance, excellent snow traction and snow braking. Average wet braking, imprecise snow handling, average comfort, high rolling resistance. The Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV performed great in the dry, great in the wet though was a little down in wet braking, and while it wasn't the best in snow handling, it certainly started and stopped really well. It lacked a little in comfort, and its rolling resistance was pretty high, but otherwise a good performance overall.
Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6th: Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very good in the dry, well balanced and predictable in the dry and wet, low noise and good comfort. Extended wet braking, lower snow grip than top performers (but significantly better than a summer tire), high rolling resistance. The Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 was one of the best in the dry and was a nice tire to drive, but somehow it just didn't get it together in the wet, snow, or the rolling resistance tests. I feel it has underperformed in this test, I've tested it twice before and while it's never been the best in the snow, it has always been better in the wet, maybe it's a quirk of the size. Still, it's not a bad tire, it just slightly missed the mark this time.
Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th: Westlake All Season Elite Z401 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Low rolling resistance, good comfort. Extremely long dry and wet braking distances, extremely poor aquaplaning performance, low levels of snow traction, highest noise levels. The Westlake All Season Elite Z401 had an excellent rolling resistance and was ok in comfort (but not noise), but in almost every other test it was firmly in last place. This test has 16 categories, so that's amazing consistency to be last in all but two of them. Dangerously long wet braking is the only headline you should really need to avoid this tire. Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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