Given
76%
while driving a
Honda Civic Type R
(235/40 R18)
on
a combination of roads
for 22,000
easy going miles
Life cycle end review of the Wintrac Pro.
4th season, about 35000km, maybe a bit more, various countries, road conditions and driving styles, mostly smooth, relaxed touring.
High speed stability is great. Only tested it once, during the 3rd season. Speed rating W, so up to 270km/h(168mph), got it up to 262km/h without any problems.
Handling is good, not great, but it's predictable and you feel, when it starts to wash out. Strange rubbing noise, when they do though. Rubber got noticably harder over the 4 years. Stones quickly break parts of the thread out or squishes them down permanently, leaving holes in the otherwise prestine rubber blocks. Smaller stones get stuck easily and cause for quite some noise, especially in corners.
Dry grip is great, once the tyres are warm. When cold, grip levels are mediocre, fine for city driving. Sporty driving is not recommended until they have at least some warmth in them. Curvy b roads make for a good place to warm them up.
Wet grip is similar to dry grip. Slightly difficult, when greasy. The tyres will grip after washing out a bit, making the turn in a bit jerky at slightly higher speeds or when still cold.
Aquaplaning is hardly an issue, once the tyres have warmed up, at least at speeds, that are common on roads. 120km/h in pouring rain is doable. There are enough grip reserves, but any higher than that is not recommended, except for short amounts of time to overtake the truck, that sprays your wind screen.
Snow grip is astonishingly good, only a few problems there. Up to 100km/h, the tyres are predictable in a straight line, and safe to change lanes, when there is slush and snow between lanes. Braking is good, especially at lower speeds. Rear wheels might break out in corners, easy to do lift of oversteer in a FWD car. Snow grip didn't get much worse over the 4 seasons, than it was in the beginning. Tyres prefer deep, fresh snow, rather than flattened one from other drivers.
Ice grip is not good. Even thin layers of ice on the road can quickly lead to the front washing out, even in low speeds. Definitely not recommended. If the ice is rough, the rubber grips a bit better, but still makes for an unpleasent ride.
Ice driving requires very gentle stearing input and thinking at least 100m ahead.
Comfort and tyre noise is good, gets splightly worse over time, but not unbearibly so. Mostly due to the rubber becoming harder and the thread blocks developing holes from stones, that squished and deformed them permanently.
Thread wear is absolutely fantastic. 35000km and still 6mm of thread left on all 4 tyres. Mostly gentle, economic driving, very few hard accelerations or braking.
Greasy, none road surfaces are astonishingly hardly a problem. Went on a ferry to Sweden, where other tyres struggled for grip, the Wintrac Pro made it up the damp ramps easily. Sweden's rough road surface didn't inpact the thread wear at all, as it seems. Measured the thread depth before and after the 2500km trip, no difference measurable.
Noise levels rose a bit, naturally. Steering was not impacted though.
22° decline on wet cobble stone was also no problem. Very little slip, if any.
For middle European winter conditions, I'd give them an 8/10. Best for climates with little ice and either lots of fresh snow or hardly any snow. Winter climates with lots of rain are absolutely no problem whatsoever. Sporty driving is also no problem, but you have to be aware of understeer and sudden gains of grip. Excelent for long road trips.
