2012 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Test

A modern all season tyres can offer 95% of the snow ability of a dedicated winter tyre, but with the promise to be able to run it year round. They could be the perfect tyre for the UK climate, but which tyre works best? To answer this question, Auto Bild have tested ten all season tyres in 175/65 R14, and included a winter and summer tyre in the group for comparison purposes.

The Summer and Winter Comparison

How did the winning all season tyre (Goodyear Vector 4Seasons) compare against it's summer and winter rivals? In snow braking, the Goodyear stopped the car in 17.9 meters from 40 km/h, where the winter managed 16.5 meters. This seems like quite a gap, until you consider the summer tyre took nearly double the distance, at 33.3 meters. It was a similar story in the other snow tests, with the Goodyear just a shade behind the dedicated winter, and the summer tyre next to useless.

In the wet, both the winter and Goodyear all season performed better in the aquaplaning results than the dedicated summer, it wasn't until wet braking the summer started to show its advantage, stopping in 56.1 meters, compared to 58.6 meters for the Goodyear and 60.7 meters for the winter from 100 km/h.

In the dry, the summers advantage was further stretched, stopping in just 39.6 meters from 100 km/h, where the Goodyear took 45.3 meters and the winter 48.6.

Both the Goodyear and the summer tyre had nearly identical rolling resistance scores, and very similar drive by noise scores.

Other All Seasons

While we focused on the test winning Goodyear Vector 4Seasons for the above, there's another all season tyre which might be better suited to the UK climate. The Bridgestone A001 had a comparatively poor snow braking performance, stopping the car in 19.6 meters (still 13.7 meters before the summer tyre!), but actually managed to beat the summer tyre in wet braking, and was a meter closer to the summer in the dry.

Does the all season really work best for all seasons?

Every tyre is a compromise of its intended abilities, and an all season tyre has an extra compromise to make over a dedicated summer or winter.


If you can only run one tyre year round, an all season tyres offers the best overall braking performance for the year, however the optimum and safest way to cover 12 months motoring is still with a dedicated summer and winter tyre.

Results

View Results as a single table and adjust the score weighting

1st: Goodyear Vector 4Seasons
175/65 R14	Total: 43 Dry: 7 Wet: 7 Snow: 7 Comfort: 7 Rolling Resistance: 8 Noise: 7 The model all-season tyre. Balanced safe driving characteristics on snowy slopes. Short wet braking distances and high aquaplaning safety-reserves. Pleasantly quiet, exemplary ride comfort and low rolling resistance Read Reviews    Buy from £95.99
2nd: Sava Adapto
175/65 R14	Total: 42 Dry: 7 Wet: 7 Snow: 7 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 9 Noise: 6 Multitalented tyre. Precise steering and stable running in all weather conditions. Dynamic sporty handling with short braking distances on wet roads and exemplary low fuel consumption Read Reviews
3rd: Hankook Optimo 4S
175/65 R14	Total: 40 Dry: 7 Wet: 7 Snow: 6 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 7 A good all round tyre with precise steering and stable handling properties on dry slopes; short wet and dry braking distances, low rolling resistance Tendency to understeer Read Reviews
4th: Kumho Solus 4 All Weather
175/65 R14	Total: 40 Dry: 7 Wet: 6 Snow: 7 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 6 Noise: 8 Good all-season tyres, with balanced handling on snowy and dry roads, short snow braking distances and a low pass-by noise Only satisfactory handling Read Reviews
5th: Vredestein Quatrac Lite
175/65 R14	Total: 46 Dry: 7 Wet: 6 Snow: 6 Comfort: 7 Rolling Resistance: 10 Noise: 10 Safe handling qualities with stable turning and good feedback on a wet track, short dry braking distances and lowest rolling resistance in the test Average on snow, poor aquaplaning result Read Reviews
6th: Bridgestone A001
175/65 R14	Total: 40 Dry: 7 Wet: 9 Snow: 3 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 5 Noise: 7 The rain professional with a dynamic sporty handling - excellent driving qualities on both wet and dry conditions, best safety reserves to aquaplaning, shortest braking distances in the wet Average snow performance Read Reviews
7th: Kleber Quadraxer
175/65 R14	Total: 39 Dry: 4 Wet: 5 Snow: 8 Comfort: 10 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 5 Balanced safe driving characteristics and short braking distances on snowy slopes, pleasant ride comfort Poor steering behavior and extended braking distances in wet and dry conditions Read Reviews
8th: Star Performer Winter AS
175/65 R14	Total: 33 Dry: 4 Wet: 6 Snow: 7 Comfort: 5 Rolling Resistance: 4 Noise: 7 Good traction and short braking distances on snow-covered slopes, safe wet handling qualities, quiet noise level Average safety reserves to aquaplaning, long wet and dry braking distances, delayed steering response Read Reviews
9th: Tyfoon Tyfoon All Season
175/65 R14	Total: 40 Dry: 6 Wet: 3 Snow: 10 Comfort: 4 Rolling Resistance: 9 Noise: 8 Winter tire with a low rolling resistance and rolling noise Very bad in the wet Read Reviews
10th: Herse Herse 4Season
175/65 R14	Total: 22 Dry: 7 Wet: 2 Comfort: 2 Rolling Resistance: 4 Noise: 7 Acceptable in the dry Poor wet performance and dangerous in the snow. High rolling resistance Read Reviews