This years Tyre Reviews all season tyre test has 9 of the most popular all season tyres, and one of the best summer tyres, the Continental PremiumContact 7 and one of the best winter tyres, the Continental WinterContact TS870 P as reference tyres.
I'm also using a RWD Mazda MX-5 to find out whether rear wheel drive makes any difference to the established results!
Note, due to the timing of testing, sadly the Michelin CrossClimate 3 and 3 Sport were not able to be included in this test, if you'd like to know where they'd approximately place you can jump to the end of the video (using the YouTube link above) to see the data-led predictions.
Snow
As I've said many times now, an all-season tyre can't be the best tyre in every condition, and if you want amazing snow performance from your all-season tyre it reduces the wet and dry performance, and as I don't think the snow performance of an all-season tyre is the most important thing, I don't mind a slower tyre around the lap as they're still all way better than a summer tyre but as always, you can go to the link in the description to the final results table and change the score weighting to get you the best tyre for your own driving needs.
All that said, compared to the best all-season tyres, the Tomket and Cooper really were down on grip. The Tomket was particularly down on lateral grip, and I found myself reaching for the handbrake more than once on the tight corners, as even going in at seemingly walking pace I couldn't get the front to turn.
I tested blind and I wrote for the Cooper "felt a lot like set 8 just a little better. Pretty tricky to get around. rear would snap out pretty fast", and no prizes to work out who set 8 was. Yes, the Tomket.
The Linglong was a step up subjectively, and borderline good. It was a little peaky on the rear axle, but had fine grip.
Then we had a group of good tyres, the Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental. All these tyres were great, much more rounded grip circle than previous tyres, and the panic of trying to get around really disappeared. I marked the Bridgestone down slightly compared to the other two as the tyre slid out a little more quickly, but really they were all very good and I can recommend any of them for snow.
But, there were some tyres that were even better. Firstly, the Milever, the cheapest tyre in the test, was fast and well balanced. Does this mean cheap tyres are finally here? It beat Continental, Goodyear and Bridgestone. Maybe. Does it mean this is a winter tyre compound with an all-season name and will be bad in the wet? Also maybe. Only time will tell.
Then we had the Kleber, once again excellent in the snow. Perhaps a little more grip in traction and braking than turning, but very good.
And finally was the new Pirelli, well balanced, felt racey, and had good grip.
As promised in the intro, I really did drive a summer tyre around the snow lap and it was almost twice as slow and not a fun experience. There's also a small hill on the lap and without a lot of momentum I'd have never made it up there. And the winter tyre was the fastest, but perhaps not by the margin you'd expect as the best all-season tyres are now very close.
Snow Handling
Snow handling time in seconds [Average Temperature -2.5c] (Lower is better)
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
85.40 s
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
86.30 s
Kleber Quadraxer 3
86.60 s
Milever All Season Versat mc545
86.70 s
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
87.50 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
88.70 s
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
88.80 s
Linglong Sport Master 4S
90.80 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
92.30 s
Tomket Allyear 3
93.20 s
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
146.00 s
Snow traction was also led by the winter tyre, with the Continental AllSeasonContact 2 the best of the all-season tyres. The Milever continued its worryingly good run as the second best all-season tyre in traction and best all-season tyre in braking. Kleber, Goodyear and Bridgestone were also strong.
Snow Traction
Snow acceleration time (5 - 35 km/h) (Lower is better)
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
4.72 s
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
4.72 s
Milever All Season Versat mc545
4.93 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
5.10 s
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
5.12 s
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
5.21 s
Kleber Quadraxer 3
5.23 s
Linglong Sport Master 4S
5.47 s
Tomket Allyear 3
5.52 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
5.86 s
Snow Braking
Snow braking in meters (40 - 5 km/h) (Lower is better)
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
19.28 M
Milever All Season Versat mc545
19.43 M
Kleber Quadraxer 3
19.51 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
20.08 M
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
20.10 M
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
20.25 M
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
20.44 M
Tomket Allyear 3
20.73 M
Linglong Sport Master 4S
20.90 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
21.34 M
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
35.70 M
Wet
The slowest tyre around the wet lap was the Tomket. It was buckets of fun, if you're ever doing a wet drift day in an MX-5 this is the tyre for you, other than that I would say it does not have enough wet grip to be a good tyre. Similarly, the Milever was a little bit faster, but it was not as predictable as the Tomket giving the car a difficult balance to predict. Definitely one to avoid, even on a wet drift day.
Quite a bit ahead we had the Cooper which was really snappy when cold, but after a lap it felt a little better, which is an odd quality for an all-season tyre, and then the Linglong and Kleber.
Both these tyres had acceptable levels of grip, and of the two the Kleber was the safer more stable tyre, but given Linglong is the butt of all jokes, it was an impressive performance for the once bottom-of-the-barrel brand.
And then we had the 4 premium tyres, all significantly ahead of the others, in a group of their own.
Bridgestone, Continental and Pirelli were all within 1% of each other, and all felt great. Of the three you could tell the Pirelli had the most grip, but the limit wasn't communicated quite as well as some of the other tyres. Not that it would matter on the road, but that was the negative there. The Bridgestone was good, and the Continental was very nicely balanced front and rear, in fact on a light little car like this it worked really well.
But, there was one tyre that was even better, 1.7% ahead of the second placed Pirelli, and that was the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3. I think this is the oldest tyre in the test, but it still proves to be excellent. It wasn't quite as stable as the Continental, or as reactive as the Pirelli, but it was a fabulous tyre to drive.
As for the reference tyres, well, the winter tyre was lovely. Really well balanced and not that far off the best of the all-season tyres. This is aided by the fact we're testing at 4°C air, but the Continental WinterContact TS870 is always very good in the wet, and handling is a lot easier for a more heavily siped tyre than braking, which we'll see in a minute.
And the summer tyre, well, I thought the all-season tyres were good, but this was excellent. Loads of grip, predictable, sporty, BUT not that far ahead of the best all-seasons. Again, that's down to the temperature and the fact this is a relatively light car.
Wet Handling
Wet handling time in seconds [Average Temperature 4c] (Lower is better)
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
82.70 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
85.10 s
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
85.80 s
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
86.50 s
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
86.90 s
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
87.50 s
Kleber Quadraxer 3
89.40 s
Linglong Sport Master 4S
90.50 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
91.10 s
Milever All Season Versat mc545
93.70 s
Tomket Allyear 3
98.10 s
Wet braking was another impressive display for the Bridgestone, with The Pirelli in a very close second. Both lagged behind the summer tyre and the heavily siped winter tyre struggled to slow the car, but still beat 3 of the all-season tyres.
Wet Braking
Wet braking in meters (80 - 5 km/h) (Lower is better)
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
28.80 M
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
30.90 M
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
31.00 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
31.40 M
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
31.90 M
Linglong Sport Master 4S
32.90 M
Kleber Quadraxer 3
33.80 M
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
33.90 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
34.50 M
Milever All Season Versat mc545
37.70 M
Tomket Allyear 3
38.10 M
The impressive Pirelli led both aquaplaning tests with Bridgestone taking second place in both.
Straight Aqua
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
83.90 Km/H
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
82.80 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
82.70 Km/H
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
81.50 Km/H
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
81.20 Km/H
Kleber Quadraxer 3
79.70 Km/H
Cooper Discoverer All Season
79.20 Km/H
Linglong Sport Master 4S
77.30 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
76.80 Km/H
Tomket Allyear 3
70.80 Km/H
Milever All Season Versat mc545
69.80 Km/H
Curved Aquaplaning
Remaining lateral acceleration (Higher is better)
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
3.15 m/sec2
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
3.11 m/sec2
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
3.03 m/sec2
Cooper Discoverer All Season
2.95 m/sec2
Linglong Sport Master 4S
2.91 m/sec2
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
2.85 m/sec2
Kleber Quadraxer 3
2.76 m/sec2
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
2.68 m/sec2
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
2.68 m/sec2
Tomket Allyear 3
2.22 m/sec2
Milever All Season Versat mc545
1.87 m/sec2
Dry
As usual I did a lot of sub-limit handling, lane changes etc, and also a lap time which is somewhat less relevant on these tyres but still fun to do.
For steering response and lane change stability there were basically three groups. The Cooper's steering was not ideal, it had nonlinear ramp-up of steering force and was vague on the lap with oversteer balance. I'd also categorize the Kleber in this bottom group, but for different reasons. Its steering was nice sub-limit, but when pushed really hard during a lane change or on the lap the grip ran out quickly.
Then there was the Pirelli. Its steering was fine, but on the lane change the rear came into play a little more than ideal, but the grip was amazing, and then the Goodyear and Milever, both feeling great on lane changes, but just a little imprecise. Then there was the Tomket, Linglong, Continental and Bridgestone, and in terms of steering feel, all of these were great, however the Bridgestone and Continental were better around the lap.
If I was to pick one tyre as the most summer-like, it would once again be the Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6. But obviously the most summer-like was the summer tyre, 1.5 seconds ahead of the Pirelli and feeling quite lovely. Interestingly the winter tyre was faster than a bunch of the all-season tyres in the dry too, though we do know the TS870 is a strong winter tyre in the dry.
Dry Handling
Dry handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
52.30 s
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
53.65 s
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
53.65 s
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
53.93 s
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
54.04 s
Linglong Sport Master 4S
54.15 s
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
54.22 s
Kleber Quadraxer 3
54.55 s
Tomket Allyear 3
55.03 s
Milever All Season Versat mc545
55.10 s
Cooper Discoverer All Season
55.38 s
Dry braking had the Pirelli back at the front, with the Linglong and Bridgestone close behind. None of the all-season tyres could match the summer tyre though, and the extra siping of the winter tyre once again hindered braking performance showing the careful balance a tyre manufacturer has to make when developing all-season tyres.
Dry Braking
Dry braking in meters (100 - 5 km/h) (Lower is better)
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
35.60 M
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
38.90 M
Linglong Sport Master 4S
40.10 M
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
40.20 M
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
41.90 M
Kleber Quadraxer 3
42.40 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
42.70 M
Tomket Allyear 3
43.60 M
Milever All Season Versat mc545
43.70 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
43.80 M
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
44.60 M
Comfort
Noise and comfort testing was led by Kleber and Cooper, but the Continental was very comfortable too and the Pirelli very quiet. As always it was a close group overall, apart from the cheapest tyres in the test really showing a lack of refinement in comfort, even if the noise levels were good.
Subj. Comfort
Subjective Comfort Score (Higher is better)
Cooper Discoverer All Season
10.00 Points
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
10.00 Points
Kleber Quadraxer 3
10.00 Points
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
10.00 Points
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
10.00 Points
Linglong Sport Master 4S
9.75 Points
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
9.50 Points
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
9.50 Points
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
9.50 Points
Tomket Allyear 3
9.00 Points
Milever All Season Versat mc545
8.50 Points
Noise
External noise in dB (Lower is better)
Cooper Discoverer All Season
69.70 dB
Kleber Quadraxer 3
69.70 dB
Tomket Allyear 3
69.80 dB
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P Ref
70.20 dB
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
70.30 dB
Milever All Season Versat mc545
70.30 dB
Linglong Sport Master 4S
70.60 dB
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3
70.70 dB
Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6
71.00 dB
Continental PremiumContact 7 Ref
72.00 dB
Continental AllSeasonContact 2
72.60 dB
Value
Impressively the Continental was the lowest in the rolling resistance testing, with Kleber the next best. The Pirelli was 10% worse than the Continental, which in the real world would be about 2% more fuel use when the tyres are new, but that gap would shrink as the tyres wear.
Best in dry braking, quickest dry handling lap, almost best in wet braking, very good wet handling lap, best in both aquaplaning tests, best in snow handling, low noise.
Slightly peaky on the rear axle during high speed lane changes, average snow traction, average rolling resistance.
The Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 wins another test. There's not much this tyre can't do. It had the best grip in the dry with the shortest dry braking and quickest dry handling lap, it was essentially tied best in wet braking and very close in wet handling, it had the best aquaplaning resistance in both straight and curved, it had the best snow handling, one of the lowest noise levels and good comfort. I guess to answer my own question, it can't be best in rolling resistance as it was 5th overall, 10% off the conti, and it was 8% off the conti in snow traction but everything else was excellent.
Balanced performance across all tests, excellent subjective handling, strong in the dry, wet and snow with the best snow traction, excellent comfort, lowest rolling resistance on test.
Dry braking not class-leading, below average aquaplaning performance, increased noise levels.
In second place was the Continental AllSeasonContact 2. As always this tyre is super consistent across all tests. Its only 'wins' were snow traction, rolling resistance and comfort tests, and as we've previously found its aquaplaning performance was weaker than the best, but in terms of dry, wet and snow grip, it was excellent. All season tyres should be consistent in all categories and the Continental does that really well. Super impressive tyre.
Excellent dry handling, very good in all wet tests, stronger than usual in the snow.
Slightly reduced comfort, higher than average noise, high rolling resistance.
In third place overall was another really strong result for the Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6. This tyre tied for the best in the dry, feeling the most summer like, had the best wet braking, a good lap time and good aquaplaning resistance and it was better than usual in the snow! Its comfort was not the best but it wasn't bad, but its rolling resistance was pretty high. Given that was its only weakness, I'm again highly recommending this tyre.
Excellent dry handling, good wet braking with best wet handling, good snow performance, well balanced tyre.
Long dry braking, high rolling resistance.
Next up was the Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen-3, so you know we're in the REALLY good section of tyres already. As usual, the goodyear was not the best in dry braking, but worked well in dry handling, it was great in the wet, it was solid in the snow, and had good comfort, if I'm honest I'm shocked it was only 4th. Its overall placement was impacted by its rolling resistance, where it was 8th and 16.3% behind the lowest, but it's still a great tyre.
Very strong snow performance, excellent comfort, low noise, low rolling resistance.
Below average dry and wet performance.
The Kleber Quadraxer 3 finished in fifth, and as we always find with the Kleber it was a powerhouse in the snow, it had excellent comfort, and a very low rolling resistance. I personally would like more dry and wet grip from an all season tyre, but I know there are lots of people who love this snow heavy balance, and if that's your thing, this is a great option.
Excellent in the dry, reasonable wet braking, good comfort, low noise.
A little peaky in wet handling, below average snow performance, higher rolling resistance.
A fairly significant step ahead was the Linglong Sportmaster 4S, which is the new name for the GripMaster 4S. Linglong were one of the original budget manufacturers, but they have been making a huge investment in development and it's paying off with a sixth place finish overall, significantly ahead of the cheap tyres and almost matching the premiums. Linglong has chosen a dry / wet bias for this tyre, which I'm all for in an all season tyre as it was the best in the dry overall. In the wet it was still a 6% back in wet braking and a little peaky in wet handling, and it definitely was not the best in the snow, but it was way better than a summer tyre. It rounded out the test with good comfort levels, average noise but a pretty high rolling resistance. If you're tight on cash, you could do a lot worse than this tyre.
Good aquaplaning resistance, excellent comfort, lowest noise on test.
Below average dry, wet and snow performance, high rolling resistance.
The Cooper is a brand most of us have heard of, however in this test the Discoverer All Season did not really perform like that. It was a little better in the dry and wet compared to the previous two tyres, but still 10% off in wet braking which is less than ideal. It also had the highest rolling resistance and the worst snow performance of all the all season tyres, it was a difficult test for the Cooper. Though it was comfortable.
Excellent all round snow performance, ok rolling resistance, low noise.
Long dry and wet braking distances, lower grip in dry and wet handling, worst comfort of the test.
The Milever All Season Versat MC545 was also weak in the dry and wet, but did have winter tyre levels of grip in the snow. You can tell this is basically a winter tyre with an all season sidewall, so if for some strange reason you really want an all season tyre just to run in the snow, this might be the pick. But if you do want that, erm, buy a winter tyre?.
Good dry balance, but lacking grip, ok rolling resistance, low noise.
Generally too weak all round, very long wet braking, poor snow grip, low comfort.
The Tomket Allyear 3 finishing in last place was a little disappointing to me as while it is classified as a budget tyre, it isn't an ultra cheap chinese budget. Its dry performance was nice subjectively however it did not have the grip to match, over 10% down in dry braking, nearly 20% in wet braking and also not that great in snow, though a lot better than a summer tyre. Its rolling resistance was ok.
