The German SUV specialist publication Auto Bild Allrad have become the second magazine in 2021 to publish their all season tyre test, and the first to include the new Michelin CrossClimate 2 (much to our disappointment, we wanted to be first!)
While the Allrad tests aren't quite as in depth as the industry leading Auto Bild tests, they're still an excellent reference point for the market, and especially useful if you drive an SUV, or are interested in how an all season tyre compares to a summer and winter tyre, as both are included as references.
The tested size is 215/65 R17, which fits many popular SUVs such as the VW Tiguan test vehicle, the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLA, Nissan Qashqai and many others. It's worth remembering that sometimes SUV tyre sizes have different constructions to their regular cousins, meaning that surprising results can be a feature in this sort of test!
Read on to find out exactly what all season tyre was good at each category of test!
Dry
Dry braking was unsurprisingly led by the summer tyre, with the Michelin CrossClimate 2 taking its usual spot of the best of the all season tyres.
The new Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2 performed well in dry braking to place second of the all season tyres, and Maxxis rounded out the top three.
The Continental AllSeasonContact performed poorly, as did the Bridgestone WeatherControl A005 EVO, something we're not used to seeing, but another reminder that SUV sizes sometimes throw up unique results!
Dry Braking
Dry braking in meters (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
35.40 M
Michelin CrossClimate 2
38.20 M
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
40.30 M
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
40.60 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
40.70 M
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
41.90 M
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
42.00 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
42.90 M
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
43.30 M
Imperial All Season Driver
43.40 M
Continental AllSeasonContact
43.60 M
Reference Winter
46.40 M
The summer tyre and Michelin CrossClimate 2 again led the group in dry handling, but this time the Vredestein Quatrac Pro and new Hankook Kinergy 4S2 X rounded out the top three.
Dry Handling
Dry Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Reference Summer
105.70 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate 2
105.50 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
105.20 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
104.90 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
104.80 Km/H
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
104.60 Km/H
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
104.50 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact
104.20 Km/H
Cooper Discoverer All Season
104.10 Km/H
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
103.70 Km/H
Imperial All Season Driver
103.70 Km/H
Reference Winter
103.50 Km/H
Wet
Wet braking was again led by the summer tyre, which indicates the testing was done at warm temperatures. Continental, which was the worst tyre in dry braking, was the best in wet braking, with the Vredestein a close second.
Wet Braking
Wet braking in meters (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
46.40 M
Continental AllSeasonContact
48.30 M
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
48.60 M
Reference Winter
49.50 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
49.90 M
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
50.40 M
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
50.70 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
51.00 M
Michelin CrossClimate 2
52.00 M
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
53.00 M
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
53.90 M
Imperial All Season Driver
60.80 M
Vredestein continued its strong performance in the wet, having the fastest wet handling lap.
Wet Handling
Wet Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
66.20 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
65.70 Km/H
Reference Summer
65.60 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact
65.50 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
65.10 Km/H
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
64.70 Km/H
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
64.10 Km/H
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
63.60 Km/H
Reference Winter
63.30 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate 2
63.20 Km/H
Cooper Discoverer All Season
62.80 Km/H
Imperial All Season Driver
61.30 Km/H
Goodyear had the highest levels of safety in the straight aquaplaning test.
Straight Aqua
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
86.80 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact
86.00 Km/H
Reference Winter
86.00 Km/H
Cooper Discoverer All Season
85.50 Km/H
Reference Summer
84.40 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
83.60 Km/H
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
83.50 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate 2
82.00 Km/H
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
81.50 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
81.00 Km/H
Imperial All Season Driver
76.70 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
75.00 Km/H
Snow
The winter tyre led the way in snow braking, with the Hankook and Continental again performing well. The new Michelin CrossClimate has obviously improved snow performance, placing third.
Snow Braking
Snow braking in meters (Lower is better)
Reference Winter
23.00 M
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
23.80 M
Continental AllSeasonContact
23.90 M
Michelin CrossClimate 2
24.40 M
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
24.50 M
Cooper Discoverer All Season
24.60 M
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
24.60 M
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
24.60 M
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
24.90 M
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
25.00 M
Imperial All Season Driver
25.30 M
Reference Summer
57.20 M
Hankook, Michelin and Continental were again the best in the snow traction test, but this time with Michelin beating its German rival.
Snow Traction
Pulling Force in Newtons (Higher is better)
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
3518.00 N
Reference Winter
3514.00 N
Michelin CrossClimate 2
3493.00 N
Continental AllSeasonContact
3486.00 N
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
3478.00 N
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
3444.00 N
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
3376.00 N
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
3339.00 N
Cooper Discoverer All Season
3230.00 N
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
3177.00 N
Imperial All Season Driver
3163.00 N
Reference Summer
1306.00 N
And finally for the grip tests, snow handling was won by Hankook, Continental and Michelin, with all three tyres showing an impressive performance in the snow, and close to the full winter tyre.
Snow Handling
Snow handling average speed (Higher is better)
Reference Winter
44.00 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
43.60 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate 2
43.40 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact
43.40 Km/H
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
42.90 Km/H
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
42.60 Km/H
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
42.50 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
42.40 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
42.30 Km/H
Cooper Discoverer All Season
42.00 Km/H
Imperial All Season Driver
41.30 Km/H
Reference Summer
32.00 Km/H
Environment
The new Pirelli was the quietest tyre on test with an impressively low noise.
Noise
External noise in dB (Lower is better)
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
70.80 dB
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
71.70 dB
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
72.20 dB
Reference Summer
72.30 dB
Cooper Discoverer All Season
72.40 dB
Michelin CrossClimate 2
72.50 dB
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
72.60 dB
Continental AllSeasonContact
72.70 dB
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
72.70 dB
Imperial All Season Driver
73.50 dB
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
73.80 dB
Reference Winter
74.20 dB
The CrossClimate 2 led the group again during the rolling resistance test, with Continental and Pirelli close behind.
Rolling Resistance
Rolling resistance in kg t (Lower is better)
Reference Summer
6.66 kg / t
Michelin CrossClimate 2
7.11 kg / t
Continental AllSeasonContact
7.20 kg / t
Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2
7.32 kg / t
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 E
7.86 kg / t
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
7.88 kg / t
Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X
7.90 kg / t
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 SUV
7.93 kg / t
Reference Winter
8.01 kg / t
Imperial All Season Driver
8.01 kg / t
Maxxis Premitra All Season AP3 SUV
8.39 kg / t
Cooper Discoverer All Season
9.32 kg / t
Finally, the Michelin were the most expensive to buy, however as there's no wear testing in this test, it doesn't tell us anything about the value of the tyres.
The new Hankook Kinergy 4S 2 X is the test winner with excellent driving characteristics in all weather conditions, stable, safe wet and dry handling, precise steering, high aquaplaning safety, low noise, well priced.
The new Michelin CrossClimate 2 is an excellent all round tyre with exemplary driving properties on snow and dry roads, short dry braking distances, petro saving rolling resistance.
Top performance on snow covered and wet roads, high steering precision, dynamic snow and wet handling, short wet braking distances, low rolling resistance.
High traction and short braking distances in the snow, precise steering behavior and dynamic driving qualities in the wet, good safety reserves for longitudinal aquaplaning.