The 2014 Auto Bild winter tyre test tested sixteen 225/50 R17 winter tyres across fifteen disciplines, covering snow grip, wet grip, dry grip, rolling resistance and comfort.
Starting with fifty different tyre models, Auto Bild put every tyre through a winter tyres toughest test - wet braking. Auto Bild then took the top twenty winter tyres from wet braking through to snow braking, and once it had combined the wet and snow braking distances for the top twenty, it chose the top sixteen tyres for this more thorough "full" test.
The Summer Tyre
In addition to the results below, Auto Bild included a summer tyre on test for comparison purposes.
Unsurprisingly, in the snow, the summer tyre was useless, stopping over 31 metres longer than the best winter tyre in snow braking, and unable to gain enough traction to even complete the snow handling tests!
Dry testing also presented no surprises, with the summer tyre convincingly besting every winter tyre on test, stopping 4.6 metres shorter than the best winter tyre in dry braking, with a similar advantage in dry handling. The compromises a winter tyre has to make for snow performance means with todays technology, a winter tyre will never outperform a summer tyre during dry braking.
Most interesting was the wet scoring. The summer tyre put on a good show during wet braking, beating fifteen of the winter tyres, and just beaten by the Pirelli winter for second place, but finished ninth in wet handling and was considerably down in the aquaplaning tests too. Unfortunately we don't know what temperatures the wet testing was carried out, but this marks an improvement for winter tyres over previous years.
The Results
Dunlop SP WinterSport 4D
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6 |
| Wet | 8 |
| Snow | 9 |
| Comfort | 6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 8 |
| Cost | 7 |
Total: 50
Michelin Alpin A4
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6 |
| Wet | 7 |
| Snow | 8 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 6 |
| Cost | 10 |
Total: 48
Continental WinterContact TS 850
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 5 |
| Wet | 8 |
| Snow | 8 |
| Comfort | 6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 6 |
| Cost | 9 |
Total: 48
Nokian WR D3
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8 |
| Wet | 6 |
| Snow | 7 |
| Comfort | 6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 5 |
| Noise | 7 |
| Cost | 5 |
Total: 44
Goodyear UltraGrip 8 Performance
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 5 |
| Wet | 8 |
| Snow | 9 |
| Comfort | 8 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 7 |
| Cost | 6 |
Total: 49
Bridgestone Blizzak LM32 S
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 5 |
| Wet | 7 |
| Snow | 8 |
| Comfort | 4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 5 |
| Noise | 8 |
| Cost | 8 |
Total: 45
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6 |
| Wet | 7 |
| Snow | 8 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7 |
| Noise | 4 |
| Cost | 3 |
Total: 40
Semperit Speed Grip 2
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6 |
| Wet | 6 |
| Snow | 7 |
| Comfort | 7 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7 |
| Noise | 7 |
| Cost | 6 |
Total: 46
Hankook Winter i cept RS
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6 |
| Wet | 5 |
| Snow | 7 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 6 |
| Cost | 5 |
Total: 40
Uniroyal MS+ 77
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 4 |
| Wet | 5 |
| Snow | 9 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7 |
| Noise | 6 |
| Cost | 3 |
Total: 39
Barum Polaris 3
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 5 |
| Wet | 4 |
| Snow | 7 |
| Comfort | 6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7 |
| Noise | 6 |
| Cost | 5 |
Total: 40
Fulda Kristall Control HP
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 4 |
| Wet | 4 |
| Snow | 9 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 8 |
| Cost | 4 |
Total: 40
Kumho IZen KW27
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 4 |
| Wet | 6 |
| Snow | 6 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| Rolling Resistance | 5 |
| Noise | 6 |
| Cost | 3 |
Total: 35
Westlake SW 608
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 3 |
| Wet | 7 |
| Snow | 4 |
| Comfort | 3 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 9 |
| Cost | 2 |
Total: 34
Goodride SW608
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 3 |
| Wet | 7 |
| Snow | 4 |
| Comfort | 2 |
| Rolling Resistance | 6 |
| Noise | 9 |
| Cost | 1 |
Total: 32
Cooper WM SA2
225/50 R17
All discipline results (7)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 3 |
| Wet | 6 |
| Snow | 6 |
| Comfort | 2 |
| Rolling Resistance | 3 |
| Noise | 7 |
| Cost | 1 |
Total: 28
Guys, what would you advice me to get for older Mercedes E-klasse (W210 E320 CDI) diesel in 215/55R16 dimension? I live in Hampshire. I commute to work on motorbike all-year-round except 5 inches of snow on roads. The car is for weekends, really bad weather (last year I went on the bike home from work at Xmas time midnight when the worst wind had hit M3 and made it safely) and vacation - I would like to go skiing once or twice this winter, probably driving across Europe. So the tyre shouldn't wear too quickly, for English Winter it should be hard enough to not melt in 12C temperatures, it should be good for lots of water, sleet and ice - yeah we do get black ice here, although the salt usually prevents it. I don't mind if it's noisier or less comfy. But it should have good grip in all conditions, only deep snow NOT being a concern.
I was advised to get Dunlop 4D - but they might wear a bit too quickly? So how about Michelin A4? They are the most expensive, but they're known for endurance and low fuel consumption, but I can't confirm that on my experience.
Thanks a lot for the tips... I have seen the tests, but each time you're testing, the very same tyres end up in totally different order and one is asking, how much objective or rather paid off these tests were indeed!
Continental WinterContact TS850. Originally they seemed to have poor wear, but in this years tests that seems to have improved.
Fair play on all year bike use! I wish we could say the same, but after just 600 warm miles this year the bike has been put away for winter!!
The new Vredestein Snowtrac 5 has been already tested e.g. in the Autozeitung (205/55 R16 H): http://www.autozeitung.de/w...
Thank you for the link :)
The old 4D in first place?they are still good tyre but i do not like them,i waiting to be tested the new Snowtrac 5 what do you thing about that tire?i now have Conti TS850 and i want to change it is very good,but i like to test every year another tire:) Michelin Alpin 5,Nokian WRD3,A3,(they are a little old) or Vredestein Snowtrac 5,in your opinion?:)205/55r16 size
Thx
The 4D has always seemed to work better in the larger sizes, and there's nothing to say Dunlop haven't updated the compound for this year.
Sadly we know nothing about the Snowtrac 5 outside of the press releases, we don't currently have a relationship with Vredestein / Apollo.
What do you want from your winter tyre? If it was us, we'd probably pick the Nokian WR A3, but that's because it works for the UK winters which is mostly dry / wet.
Here in eastern europe most for wet and snow:)
D3 over A3 then if you go the Nokian route :)
Goodyear UltraGrip 9 is worth a look too!
http://www.tyrereviews.co.u...
Dunlop update 4D in 2013? I had Dunlop 4D from 2012 and they have poor wear.
The manufacturers put small updates in their tyres all the time. There's a good chance it will have been updated since 2012.