2017 All Season VS Winter Tyre Test

First, they're testing in the most popular 205/55 R16 size using a FWD Audi A3, which represents a large slice of our car market. Secondly, they've managed to include ten all season patterns, which is more than most all season tyre tests manage, but the icing on the cake is the winter tyre included for reference is the multiple award winning Continental WinterContact TS 860.

We've mentioned a number of times that the Continental WinterContact range is not only consistently the best tested winter tyres on the market, but could also be considered as the best "winter-bias all season tyre" available due to its remarkable ability to work well in the snow, and the wet. This test confirms that, but it faces close competition from the only summer-bias all season tyre on the market, the Michelin CrossClimate

Dry

There are no surprises during the dry testing. The summer-bias Michelin CrossClimate makes good on its promise of behaving like a summer tyre in dry conditions, and aces both the dry braking and dry handling tests by some margin.

BF Goodrich have a good showing, placing second under dry braking and third in dry handling, and the Continental WinterContact TS860 and Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 2 both finish mid pack in a closely contested group.

Wet

The wet braking confirms why the Continental WinterContact TS860 is currently unbeaten in winter tyre testing, it wins the wet handling lap by over a second, and finishes joint first in wet braking. While the Michelin couldn't quite match the Continental and Goodyear during wet braking, it still finishes a respectable fourth place overall, and places second overall in wet handling.

Snow

The Goodyear all season tyre managed to beat the Continental winter tyre during the snow braking test, and the Nokian all season tyre just edges out the Continental during snow handling. The summer bias Michelin managed a respectable fifth place during the snow braking, despite its summer bias, but the lack of sipes were highlighted in the snow handling test, where the Michelin could only finish ninth overall.

Other

The Nokian proved to have the lowest fuel use on test, and all eleven tyres were within 2db during the external drive by noise test.

Results

1^st

Continental WinterContact TS 860

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Excellent performance in the snow (better than any of the all-season tires), good braking and handling in the wet, low rolling resistance

Poor dry handling

Total: 845

Dry 113

Wet 149

Snow 140

Comfort 9

Rolling Resistance 22

Noise 10

Overall 402

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1^st

Michelin CrossClimate

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good acceleration and braking on snow, good in the wet, very short dry braking, excellent dry handling

Weak snow handling

Total: 750

Dry 138

Wet 124

Snow 96

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 18

Noise 9

Overall 358

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2^nd

Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Even better than the winter under snow braking, excellent snow traction, good wet braking, low rolling resistance

Relatively long dry braking and poor dry handling

Total: 747

Dry 110

Wet 118

Snow 126

Comfort 6

Rolling Resistance 24

Noise 9

Overall 354

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3^rd

BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good acceleration and braking on snow, good handling on wet and dry roads, low rolling resistance

Poor snow handling

Total: 728

Dry 123

Wet 111

Snow 111

Comfort 8

Rolling Resistance 20

Noise 10

Overall 345

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4^th

Nokian WeatherProof

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Almost as good as a full winter in the snow, good aquaplaning resistance, low rolling resistance

Average braking and handling in the wet

Total: 714

Dry 108

Wet 95

Snow 134

Comfort 6

Rolling Resistance 25

Noise 9

Overall 337

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5^th

Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good snow handling, good wet braking, good resistance to aquaplaning

Longest braking in the dry, and poor dry handling

Total: 676

Dry 95

Wet 103

Snow 123

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 17

Noise 10

Overall 321

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6^th

Vredestein Quatrac 5

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good wet and dry handling

Weak resistance to aquaplaning, poor lateral snow grip, loudest tyre on test

Total: 630

Dry 116

Wet 98

Snow 88

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 18

Noise 8

Overall 295

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7^th

Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good wet handling

Weak grip in the snow, long dry braking, high rolling resistance

Total: 596

Dry 90

Wet 112

Snow 82

Comfort 6

Rolling Resistance 12

Noise 10

Overall 284

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8^th

Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good resistance to aquaplaning and good wet braking

Understeer in the dry, longest braking distances in the snow

Total: 597

Dry 104

Wet 110

Snow 67

Comfort 8

Rolling Resistance 18

Noise 9

Overall 281

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9^th

Hankook Kinergy 4S

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

Good dry handling

Poor snow handling, longest wet braking, poor wet handling

Total: 584

Dry 111

Wet 85

Snow 82

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 12

Noise 9

Overall 278

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10^th

Toyo Celsius

205/55 R16

• 3PMSF: no

None mentioned

Poor snow handling, long dry braking

Total: 571

Dry 103

Wet 79

Snow 88

Comfort 7

Rolling Resistance 14

Noise 10

Overall 270

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