We're a little bit late with this one, as it's likely the UK has had most of its bad weather for winter 2017/18, however we can't resist covering a winter ultra high performance tyre test, especially when they use a RWD Toyota GT86 as the test car!
For this test, Sport Auto magazine fitted the GT86 with ten different patterns of 225/40 R18 sports winter tyres, and put the tyres through the normal dry, wet and snow testing.
Snow
Looking at the snow braking and snow handling tests, no tyre dominated. The Hankook Winter I*Cept Evo 2 won the snow braking test but could only manage fifth in snow handling, while the Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 won the snow handling tests but could only manage sixth during snow braking testing! The Continental WinterContact TS850 P, which has now been replaced buy the WinterContact TS860 S, had the best overall result finishing in the top three in both tests. The Nankang SV2 proved to be the weakest in both snow tests.
- Hankook Winter i cept evo2
- Yokohama W drive V905
- Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
- Nokian WR A4
- Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen
- Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
- Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
- Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
- Toyo Snowprox S954
- Nankang SV2
- Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
- Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
- Yokohama W drive V905
- Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen
- Hankook Winter i cept evo2
- Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
- Toyo Snowprox S954
- Nokian WR A4
- Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
- Nankang SV2
Wet
During wet testing, the Continental once again proved to be amongst the best along with the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen-1 and Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 dominating the top three. The Toyo Snowprox S954 had an extremely poor result, finishing in last place by quite a margin.
- Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
- Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen
- Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
- Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
- Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
- Yokohama W drive V905
- Nokian WR A4
- Hankook Winter i cept evo2
- Nankang SV2
- Toyo Snowprox S954
- Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
- Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
- Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen
- Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
- Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
- Yokohama W drive V905
- Hankook Winter i cept evo2
- Nokian WR A4
- Nankang SV2
- Toyo Snowprox S954
Dry
As with the snow testing, the best dry braking tyre didn't do well during the dry handling test, and the best dry handling tyre was the worst dry braking tyre! While this is unusual for dry testing and might highlight the difference between FWD and RWD for winter tyres, there were two brands which managed to score consistently - the Nokian WR A4 and Toyo Snowprox S954 finished top three for both tests.
- Nankang SV2
- Nokian WR A4
- Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen
- Toyo Snowprox S954
- Yokohama W drive V905
- Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
- Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
- Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
- Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
- Hankook Winter i cept evo2
- Hankook Winter i cept evo2
- Nokian WR A4
- Toyo Snowprox S954
- Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
- Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
- Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen
- Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
- Yokohama W drive V905
- Nankang SV2
- Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
Results
The limited coverage of the full results are below, please see the Sport Auto article for the full test data.
Excellent grip and stable behavior on snow and dry surfaces. low rolling resistance, very low noise level
Relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, relatively long braking distances on dry surfaces
Highly recommended
Total: 71.8
Dry
8
Wet
9.4
Snow
9.4
Subjective
8
Comfort
8
Rolling Resistance
10
Noise
10
Overall
9
Excellent grip and very good handling on wet surfaces, balanced and reliable behavior in the snow, balanced handling on dry roads
Slow steering response in the dry
Cost: Highly recommended
Total: 69.2
Dry
8.2
Wet
9.9
Snow
9.1
Subjective
8
Comfort
8
Rolling Resistance
8
Noise
9
Overall
9
Good results in the wet, good handling in the dry
Relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, long dry braking distances
Recommended
Total: 66.4
Dry
7.8
Wet
9.6
Snow
8.5
Subjective
8
Comfort
7
Rolling Resistance
8
Noise
9
Overall
8.5
Strong in the snow, good dry handling
Average wet performance, long braking distances in the dry and wet
Conditionally recommended
Total: 63
Dry
8
Wet
6.7
Snow
9.4
Subjective
10
Comfort
7
Rolling Resistance
6
Noise
8
Overall
7.9
Good snow braking, good wet handling
Slow steering reactions in the dry, relatively noisy
Conditionally recommended
Total: 57.8
Dry
7.6
Wet
7.9
Snow
8.5
Subjective
6
Comfort
6
Rolling Resistance
6
Noise
8
Overall
7.8
Good handling and grip in the wet
Slow steering reactions in the dry, relatively noisy
Conditionally recommended
Total: 59.9
Dry
7.3
Wet
8.4
Snow
7.5
Subjective
7
Comfort
7
Rolling Resistance
7
Noise
8
Overall
7.7
Very good in the dry with good grip and precise steering, short braking distances in the snow, low noise level
Unstable in the wet with high levels of oversteer
Conditionally recommended
Total: 66
Dry
9
Wet
6.6
Snow
6.8
Subjective
9
Comfort
9
Rolling Resistance
9
Noise
9
Overall
7.6
Good on wet surfaces, high levels of comfort
Poor steering and grip in the dry, low grip on snow
Conditionally recommended
Total: 61
Dry
7.4
Wet
8.6
Snow
6.6
Subjective
7
Comfort
9
Rolling Resistance
6
Noise
9
Overall
7.4
Very short braking distances and quick reactions to steering on dry surfaces, good resistance to aquaplaning
Very poor in the snow, noisy
Conditionally recommended
Total: 57.5
Dry
8.6
Wet
6.8
Snow
5.2
Subjective
8
Comfort
7
Rolling Resistance
6
Noise
9
Overall
6.9
Quick and accurate reactions to steering on dry roads
Poor on snow and in the wet
Recommended with caution
Total: 60.2
Dry
8.7
Wet
5.9
Snow
5.7
Subjective
10
Comfort
7
Rolling Resistance
8
Noise
8
Overall
6.9
I feel an utter disappointment with Nokian WR4!!
Both the "2017 Sport Auto Winter Tyre Test" & "AMS Performance 18 inch Winter Tyre Test" were right on the spot with the scores.
The WR4 are horrible on the wet surfaces!! I have a TT Mk3 and driving it on a highway at any levels of rain is utter horror show. I constantly get the feeling that the car is "floating" (aquaplaning). Overtaking anyone on a wet road is like driving on ice. Even on the dry surfaces, the tyres seem to force the car to "wander". You have to constantly make small steering wheel adjustments in order to have the car go straight. At first I thought that this was due to possible road imperfections" but now I know better.
VERDICT: "Not recommended"
Since people rarely drive fast & crazy during the winter, I recommend any other tyre. They might be good on dry, however in most places winter is mostly wet and icy than just being outright cold and dry. Get a tyre with good wet & snow stats.
There's a mistake. This is the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4, not the Alpin 4. These are two entirely different tyres.
Thanks for letting me know, I'll get that updated now.
Edit - we had the PA4 listed all along!
I have the Toyo in its second (winter)year now (done approx 25k km), and can't really say they're -that- bad in the wet, but they aren't great either. Dry is pretty good.
In snow I think they lose grip too quickly. A couple of weeks ago we finally had some deep snow and these certainly can't beat Goodyear and Vredestein. The little snow I had when I placed the review was nothing compared to a couple of weeks ago. In deep snow and sludge these tyres are simply disappointing.
The abysmal result in the wet here, should be for snow (in my opinion). Since I have never felt like I lacked grip in the wet, while I have had that feeling in snow, that I simply couldn't follow others because of understeer.
(Fwd 205 wide)
Worth keeping in mind snow performance drops off quite a lot with wear, and after 25k on a set of winters the driven wheel tyres must be getting rather tired! But you are right, they're no match for the best premium tyres available.
I have swapped them from front to rear. Those which were at the front in 2016-2017 winter, are at the back in this 2017-2018 winter. So the wear should become pretty even now.
But I see I in my logs ll mad a mistake with the amount of kms.. I thought I had swapped at 202k, but that was a service interval..
Winter 2016-2017 started at 27-10-2016 at 183k and ended at 193k at 28-2-2017.
Winter 2017-2018 started at 29-11-2017 at 211.500 and I'm at 218k now.. so 16,500km.
Also just checked the wear. Wear is 6.4mm left at the front, 6.1 at the rear. Which isn't too bad..