It's the test we look forward to all year, the Auto Bild winter tyre shootout.
2014 sees Auto Bild testing fifty different winter tyres in 225/50 R17. As usual, they test all fifty tyres in wet braking from 50 mph, then take the top twenty through to a snow braking test from 31mph. The top fifteen from this test then go on to the full winter tyre test, where Auto Bild crown the best winter tyre of 2014.
As usual, there's a huge disparity between the best and the worst winter tyres in the wet braking test, with the winning Pirelli stopping in 35.7 meters and the worst budgets at 52.7 meters, a huge 17 meters, or nearly two double decker busses further. For a predominately wet winter climate like the UK, the wet braking tests are really worth concentrating on.
For comparison purposes, Auto Bild also included an undentified summer tyre in the wet and snow braking tests. The summer tyre matched the bset winter tyre on test, stopping in just 36 metres in the wet, but took a huge 58.2 metres in the snow, 30.3 metres longer than the best winter tyre from 31 mph.
The Braking Results
Please note: Places 20-50 were not tested in snow braking, our results show 0.1 metres for formatting reasons. Position 45 was PneuVranik Everest HPL in 45.1 metres, and Position 50 was Sonny WOT 18 in 52.7 metres. Neither tyre feature in our database as there is no brand information online.
Total: 63.6 Total: 63.8 Total: 64.1 Total: 64.3 Total: 65 Total: 65.2 Total: 65.9 Total: 66.5 Total: 66.7 Total: 66.9 Total: 66.9 Total: 67 Total: 67.3 Total: 67.3 Total: 67.5 Total: 67.8 Total: 68 Total: 68.2 Total: 69.6 Total: 69.6 Total: 40.6 Total: 40.7 Total: 40.7 Total: 40.8 Total: 40.8 Total: 40.9 Total: 40.9 Total: 41.1 Total: 41.1 Total: 41.6 Total: 41.6 Total: 41.7 Total: 41.9 Total: 41.9 Total: 42 Total: 42.7 Total: 42.7 Total: 42.8 Total: 43.5 Total: 44.2 Total: 44.5 Total: 44.5 Total: 44.8 Total: 45.1 Total: 46.1 Total: 48.3 Total: 48.3 Total: 50.6Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
225/50 R17
All discipline results (2)
Test Result Wet 35.7 Snow 27.9 Goodyear UltraGrip 8 Performance
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 36.4 Snow 27.4 Dunlop SP WinterSport 4D
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 36.5 Snow 27.6 Continental WinterContact TS 850
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 36.1 Snow 28.2 Bridgestone Blizzak LM32 S
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 36.9 Snow 28.1 Michelin Alpin A4
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 36.8 Snow 28.4 Nokian WR D3
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 37.5 Snow 28.4 Cooper WM SA2
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 37.9 Snow 28.6 Semperit Speed Grip 2
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 38 Snow 28.7 Hankook Winter i cept RS
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 38.5 Snow 28.4 Kumho IZen KW27
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 38.3 Snow 28.6 Uniroyal MS+ 77
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 39.9 Snow 27.1 
Fulda Kristall Control HP
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40 Snow 27.3 Goodride SW608
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 37.6 Snow 29.7 Westlake SW 608
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 37.9 Snow 29.6 Barum Polaris 3
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 39.7 Snow 28.1 Falken Eurowinter HS449
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 37.8 Snow 30.2 Roadstone Win guard Sport
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 37.8 Snow 30.4 Apollo Alnac Winter
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.1 Snow 29.5 Nexen Winguard Sport
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 39.1 Snow 30.5 BFGoodrich gForce Winter
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.5 Snow 0.1 Nankang SV2
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.6 Snow 0.1 Sava eskimo hp
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.6 Snow 0.1 Accelera X Grip
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.7 Snow 0.1 Toyo Snowprox S953
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.7 Snow 0.1 GT Radial CHAMPIRO WT AX
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.8 Snow 0.1 Ovation W 586
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 40.8 Snow 0.1 Firestone Winterhawk 2 EVO
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41 Snow 0.1 Star Performer Winter AS
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41 Snow 0.1 Kleber Krisalp HP2
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41.5 Snow 0.1
Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41.5 Snow 0.1 Sonar PF2
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41.6 Snow 0.1 Matador MP 92 Sibir Snow
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41.8 Snow 0.1 Yokohama W Drive V902B
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41.8 Snow 0.1 Sunny SN3830
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 41.9 Snow 0.1 Ceat Formula Winter
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 42.6 Snow 0.1 Evergreen Winter EW66
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 42.6 Snow 0.1 Hifly Win Turi
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 42.7 Snow 0.1 Fortuna Fortuna Winter
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 43.4 Snow 0.1 Maxxis Presa Snow Wintermaxx
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 44.1 Snow 0.1 Marangoni Meteo HP
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 44.4 Snow 0.1 Wanli Snowgrip S1083
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 44.4 Snow 0.1 Minerva IcePlus S210
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 44.7 Snow 0.1 Syron Everest 1
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 45 Snow 0.1 Rockstone Eco Snow
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 46 Snow 0.1 Imperial Snowdragon 3
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 48.2 Snow 0.1 Maxtrek TREK M7
225/50 R17
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Test Result Wet 48.2 Snow 0.1 Hercules Winter HSI L
225/50 R17
All discipline results (2)
Test Result Wet 50.5 Snow 0.1
At what temperature were the tests carried out?
Sadly that's never published, though we understand it was below 7c.