With the promise of one tyre to work in all conditions, all season tyres are a rapidly growing market segment.
To find out which of these all season tyres is best, and whether they can match a summer and winter tyre, the 2020 Tyre Reviews all season tyre test has tested nine of the best 225/45 R17 all season tyres on the market, and included a summer and winter tyre as reference.
Each set of tyres will be tested for their levels of grip in the dry, wet and snow, have their noise and comfort levels assessed, and their rolling resistance measured, meaning this test should be a complete overview of a tyres performance.
Unfortunately we were unable to conduct wear testing for this test, but it's something we will be working on for next years testing.
The overall score weighting was based on 30% wet, 25% dry, 25% snow, 10% noise and comfort, and 10% rolling resistance. Further details of the breakdown can be found in the video.
Dry
The biggest negative quality of any all season tyre is usually the dry performance, as a softer compound combined with more blocks and sipes means less grip, and this has proven to be the case again.
The "summer optimised" Michelin CrossClimate+ delivered on its promise and proved to be the best of the all season tyres in the dry, both objectively and subjectively, but still stopped the VW Golf 1.2 meters behind the summer tyre during dry braking testing.
Another 1.4 meters back was the next best all season tyre, totalling 2.6 meters behind the summer tyre.
Dry Braking
Dry braking in meters (100 - 1 km/h) (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
35.00 M
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
36.20 M
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
37.60 M
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
37.90 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
38.50 M
Continental AllSeasonContact
39.10 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
39.20 M
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
39.30 M
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
40.00 M
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
40.00 M
Reference Winter
41.10 M
The summer tyre also had a significant lead during dry handling, being the only tyre to break the 100 second mark. The rest of the all season tyres were extremely close to each other, with just 1.4 seconds separating the group.
Dry Handling
Dry handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
99.92 s
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
101.04 s
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
101.04 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
101.22 s
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
101.35 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
101.36 s
Continental AllSeasonContact
101.59 s
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
102.20 s
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
102.72 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
103.43 s
Reference Winter
103.55 s
Subjectively, the summer tyre felt the best during dry handling.
Subj. Dry Handling
Subjective Dry Handling Score (Higher is better)
Reference Summer
10.00 Points
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
9.50 Points
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
9.20 Points
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
9.00 Points
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
8.80 Points
Continental AllSeasonContact
8.80 Points
Cooper Discoverer All Season
8.80 Points
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
8.80 Points
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
8.50 Points
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
8.50 Points
Reference Winter
7.50 Points
Wet
Wet braking is a key safety quality for an all season tyre, and three of them proved to be more effective than the summer tyre, even at the high test temperatures.
The Bridgestone, Hankook and Goodyear all stopped the car within 0.4 meters of each other, with the next best all season tyre 1.4 meters further on.
Wet Braking
Wet braking in meters (80 - 1 km/h) (Lower is better)
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
36.50 M
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
36.80 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
36.90 M
Reference Summer
37.70 M
Reference Winter
38.00 M
Continental AllSeasonContact
38.30 M
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
38.60 M
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
38.80 M
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
39.50 M
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
40.40 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
41.20 M
Wet handling returned the advantage to the summer tyre, but the margin was small, with the Bridgestone, Hankook and Goodyear trio staying in the top three places.
Wet Handling
Wet handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
70.69 s
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
70.72 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
70.83 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
71.08 s
Continental AllSeasonContact
71.62 s
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
71.75 s
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
72.12 s
Reference Winter
72.31 s
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
72.60 s
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
72.94 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
73.91 s
While the Michelin couldn't match the grip of the best all season tyres, it did feel excellent subjectively.
Subj. Wet Handling
Subjective Wet Handling Score (Higher is better)
Reference Summer
10.00 Points
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
9.50 Points
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
9.50 Points
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
9.20 Points
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
9.20 Points
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
9.20 Points
Continental AllSeasonContact
9.00 Points
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
9.00 Points
Reference Winter
8.50 Points
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
8.50 Points
Cooper Discoverer All Season
7.00 Points
Continental, Hankook and Cooper all performed well in the deep water aquaplaning testing.
Straight Aqua
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Continental AllSeasonContact
84.28 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
82.91 Km/H
Cooper Discoverer All Season
81.96 Km/H
Reference Winter
81.31 Km/H
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
79.68 Km/H
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
79.03 Km/H
Reference Summer
75.97 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
75.66 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
73.99 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
72.91 Km/H
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
71.98 Km/H
Curved Aquaplaning
Remaining lateral acceleration (Higher is better)
Cooper Discoverer All Season
2.32 m/sec2
Reference Summer
2.17 m/sec2
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
2.15 m/sec2
Reference Winter
2.12 m/sec2
Continental AllSeasonContact
2.06 m/sec2
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
2.01 m/sec2
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
1.99 m/sec2
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
1.96 m/sec2
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
1.82 m/sec2
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
1.80 m/sec2
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
1.79 m/sec2
Snow
The snow testing really highlighted just how poor a summer tyre is in adverse weather, with the summer tyre performing dangerously in all three tests.
While none of the all season tyres could match the winter tyre on snow, the Giti, Continental and Goodyear all performed extremely well during snow braking.
Snow Braking
Snow braking in meters (Lower is better)
Reference Winter
23.22 M
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
23.75 M
Continental AllSeasonContact
23.84 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
23.87 M
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
24.73 M
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
24.91 M
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
25.15 M
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
25.75 M
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
26.64 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
26.70 M
Reference Summer
40.94 M
Goodyear, Continental and Giti confirmed their straight grip advantage by also claiming the top three for snow traction.
Snow Traction
Snow acceleration time (Lower is better)
Reference Winter
21.32 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
21.56 s
Continental AllSeasonContact
21.95 s
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
22.48 s
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
22.62 s
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
22.74 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
24.17 s
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
24.98 s
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
27.05 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
28.03 s
Reference Summer
68.66 s
Pleasingly, the snow handling test kept the Giti, Goodyear and Continental in the top three, but the winter tyre could really show its design advantage, offering much more grip when cornering and beating the all season tyres by a significant margin.
Snow Handling
Snow handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Reference Winter
72.81 s
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
80.21 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
81.35 s
Continental AllSeasonContact
81.43 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
81.92 s
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
83.22 s
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
83.87 s
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
86.15 s
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
88.51 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
92.98 s
Reference Summer
124.30 s
Subj. Snow Handling
Subjective Snow Handling Score (Higher is better)
Reference Winter
10.00 Points
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
8.00 Points
Continental AllSeasonContact
7.50 Points
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
7.00 Points
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
7.00 Points
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
6.80 Points
Cooper Discoverer All Season
6.00 Points
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
6.00 Points
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
5.00 Points
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
5.00 Points
Reference Summer
1.00 Points
Comfort
The subjective comfort of all the tyres on test was extremely close, with only Bridgestone having a small advantage over the group.
All the all season tyres proved to have higher comfort levels than the summer tyre, which is well regarded as a comfortable summer tyre.
Subj. Comfort
Subjective Comfort Score (Higher is better)
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
10.00 Points
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
9.80 Points
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
9.80 Points
Reference Winter
9.50 Points
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
9.50 Points
Cooper Discoverer All Season
9.50 Points
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
9.50 Points
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
9.50 Points
Continental AllSeasonContact
9.20 Points
Reference Summer
9.00 Points
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
9.00 Points
Noise testing was conducted on two surfaces, at different speeds, with the dB curves averaged out.
Noise
Internal noise in dB (Lower is better)
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
57.30 dB
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
57.50 dB
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
57.60 dB
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
57.60 dB
Reference Winter
57.70 dB
Reference Summer
57.80 dB
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
58.40 dB
Continental AllSeasonContact
58.40 dB
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
58.90 dB
Cooper Discoverer All Season
59.10 dB
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
59.10 dB
Rough Noise
Internal rough surface noise in dB (Lower is better)
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
66.50 dB
Cooper Discoverer All Season
66.90 dB
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
66.90 dB
Reference Winter
66.90 dB
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
67.00 dB
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
67.10 dB
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
67.20 dB
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
67.70 dB
Reference Summer
67.90 dB
Continental AllSeasonContact
67.90 dB
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
68.40 dB
Cost
The new Goodyear narrowly beat the Bridgestone for the lowest rolling resistance of the all season tyres, however if rolling resistance is your priority, the summer tyre has a significant advantage.
Rolling Resistance
Rolling resistance in kg t (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
7.00 kg / t
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
7.96 kg / t
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
8.01 kg / t
Continental AllSeasonContact
8.48 kg / t
Giti GitiAllSeason AS1
8.54 kg / t
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
8.57 kg / t
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
8.77 kg / t
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
9.26 kg / t
Reference Winter
9.30 kg / t
Nexen N Blue 4 Season
9.32 kg / t
Cooper Discoverer All Season
9.72 kg / t
The premium summer tyre was cheaper than the cheapest all season tyre, with the Michelin proving to be the most expensive.
Good in the dry, best on test in the wet, very low rolling resistance, highest levels of comfort, low noise.
Low grip in the snow for an all season tyre, average aquaplaning resistance.
The WeatherControl A005 excels in the dry and wet, and has the highest levels of comfort. It is the all season tyre to pick if you live in a climate which sees very little snow.
Best on test in the dry with good handling and short dry braking.
Average wet braking, most expensive tyre on test, higher levels of noise.
The CrossClimate+ excels in the dry and is fine in the snow, but couldn't match the latest generation of all season tyres in the wet. The CrossClimate 2 will be coming to market in 2021.