2018 AMS Winter Tyre Test

As always, the full results and a summary of the data can be found below. Any questions or comments, please feel free to ask at the bottom of the page.

Dry

The Continental WinterContact TS860 had a big lead during the braking test, with Vredestein and Toyo in second and third places.

Toyo and Continental continued their strong dry performance, finishing second and third during dry handling. This time, Bridgestone took the top spot with the LM001 EVO. The Pirelli Cinturato Winter struggled, finishing last overall.

Wet

The wet testing once again allowed Continental to prove the TS860 is the best Central European winter tyre on the market, winning both wet braking and wet handling. Goodyear placed a strong second in both tests, and Bridgestone rounded out the top three. This time Kumho struggled.

The Hankook had the best aquaplaning resistance of the test.

Snow

The cheapest tyre on test, the Giti Winter W1 dominated the snow testing, beating the establish "snow master", the Nokian WRD4.

Environment

The Nokian had the lowest rolling resistance on test.

All eleven tyres were separated by just 2.2 dB during the noise testing.

The Giti was the cheapest tyre on test by a significant margin, at almost half the price of the test winning Continental.

Results

1^st

Continental WinterContact TS 860

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good on snow, outstanding in the wet, safe in the dry.

Slight understeer on snow.

Test winner.

Total: 62.9

Dry 9.1

Wet 9.9

Snow 8.8

Comfort 9

Rolling Resistance 8

Noise 9

Overall 9.1

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2^nd

Goodyear UltraGrip 9

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good in snow, precise steering and good grip in dry and wet.

A little unbalanced during snow handling.

Highly recommended.

Total: 58.2

Dry 7.8

Wet 9.3

Snow 7.9

Comfort 9

Rolling Resistance 7

Noise 9

Overall 8.2

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3^rd

Nokian WR D4

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Best performance on snow, good balance in the dry, lowest rolling resistance.

Average in the wet, a bit noisy.

Highly recommended.

Total: 56.8

Dry 7.7

Wet 6.2

Snow 9.8

Comfort 6

Rolling Resistance 10

Noise 9

Overall 8.1

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4^th

Hankook Winter i cept RS2

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Excellent snow grip and handling, safe balance in the wet and dry.

Relatively long dry braking, high rolling resistance.

Highly recommended.

Total: 54.8

Dry 7.6

Wet 8.3

Snow 8.9

Comfort 8

Rolling Resistance 5

Noise 9

Overall 8

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5^th

Pirelli Cinturato Winter

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Safe balance on snow, good comfort.

Average dry performance, high rolling resistance.

Recommended.

Total: 54.3

Dry 7.1

Wet 8.2

Snow 9.1

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 5

Noise 10

Overall 7.9

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6^th

Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 EVO

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good in the dry.

Poor snow cornering.

Recommended.

Total: 57.8

Dry 8.2

Wet 8.5

Snow 6.5

Comfort 8

Rolling Resistance 8

Noise 10

Overall 8.6

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7^th

Vredestein Snowtrac 5

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good winter traction, excellent snow braking, good dry performance.

Poor wet braking.

Recommended.

Total: 54.1

Dry 8.4

Wet 6.4

Snow 8.6

Comfort 8

Rolling Resistance 8

Noise 7

Overall 7.7

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8^th

Nexen Winguard Snow G WH2

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good in the snow, good wet braking.

Unbalanced during wet handling, poor aquaplaning resistance, high rolling resistance.

Recommended.

Total: 50.8

Dry 7.3

Wet 7.1

Snow 8.1

Comfort 8

Rolling Resistance 4

Noise 9

Overall 7.3

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9^th

Giti GitiWinterW1

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Outstanding snow performance.

Poor aquaplaning resistance, poor balance in the wet, poor steering feel.

Recommended.

Total: 53

Dry 6.6

Wet 5.3

Snow 9.9

Comfort 9

Rolling Resistance 7

Noise 8

Overall 7.2

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10^th

Toyo Snowprox S953

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good dry cornering.

Average snow grip, very poor wet braking, oversteer during wet handling.

Recommended.

Total: 52.3

Dry 8.6

Wet 5.2

Snow 7.3

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 9

Noise 8

Overall 7.2

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11^th

Kumho Winter Craft WP51

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Ok in snow.

Weak in dry and wet, very high rolling resistance.

Conditionally recommended.

Total: 47.9

Dry 6.6

Wet 4.6

Snow 8.3

Comfort 9

Rolling Resistance 3

Noise 10

Overall 6.4

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