The Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme is a Central European winter performance tyre with strong owner approval for snow traction and generally favourable dry grip and refinement. Wet-road confidence is less consistent, and its limited test record does not establish a measured grip advantage.
Snow traction is the clearest attraction of the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme, with broadly favourable owner experiences also covering dry grip, low road noise, comfort and ice grip. Some later-life accounts support useful tread life. These reports suggest appeal for a driver prioritising winter mobility, but wet grip is less uniformly endorsed: praise is more frequent than criticism, yet a meaningful minority report poor traction in rain. One repeat owner maintains that concern across two end-of-life accounts.
The independent record is much narrower, consisting of 31st of 49 in the 2014 Auto Bild winter braking overview in 225/50 R17. With no discipline results or measured margins, that below-midfield placing cannot confirm the owners’ snow-grip impressions or identify a particular braking weakness. Of 60 reviews from 54 owners, 53 lack a stage of use, limiting conclusions about lifespan and grip retention. Repeat contributors do not show one shared ageing pattern, and one later-life noise complaint is insufficient to establish a general change with wear.
The quick answer
Owners say77%from 64 owner reviews92% would buy againRead the reviews
Strengths & weaknessesSnow tractionTread life in some later-life accountsWet-road confidence for a minority of ownersSummarised from the tests and owner reviews
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tyre - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated January 2025.
How many miles does the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme last?
Based on test and owner data, the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme is expected to last around 27,228 miles (43,819 km).
What do owners say about the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme?
Across 64 owner ratings the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme averages 77%. Owners rate Wear highest at 8.7 out of 10 and Ice Grip lowest at 5. 29 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 90% of owners score it 70% or better.
How comfortable and quiet are the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme?
Owners rate the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme 8.6 out of 10 for comfort and noise across 60 reviews.
How well do the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme wear, according to owners?
Owners rate the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme 8.7 out of 10 for wear across 60 reviews. 29 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles, and the typical review covers 8,000 miles.
Would owners buy the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme again?
92% of owners say they would buy the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme again, based on the 62 owner reviews that answered the question. 61% of them gave it the highest possible answer.
More questions about the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme(4)
What do owners say about the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme's snow traction?
Of the 58 owner reviews analysed for the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme, 43 mention snow traction: 43 praise it (strong snow traction) and 0 criticise it (weak snow traction). One owner wrote: "on snow and ice are supreme". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme's tread life?
Of the 58 owner reviews analysed for the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme, 25 mention tread life: 25 praise it (long-lasting) and 0 criticise it (wears quickly). One owner wrote: "they have done 40,685 miles. They may simply be too hard to grip in the wet". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme's wet grip?
Of the 58 owner reviews analysed for the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme, 23 mention wet grip: 16 praise it (confident wet grip) and 7 criticise it (weak wet grip). One owner wrote: "they grip extremely well in the wet & clear standing water better than any other tyre I've ever experienced too". Read those reviews
Questions and Answers for the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme
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The Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme receives its clearest owner praise for snow traction, with dry grip, low noise and comfort also generally favoured. Wet grip is more often praised than criticised, but a meaningful minority report poor traction in rain, including one repeat owner whose concern persists across two end-of-life accounts. Some later-life reports support useful tread life, although 53 of 60 reviews lack a stage of use, limiting a general lifespan claim. The 60 reviews come from 54 owners, and repeat contributors do not show one shared ageing pattern. A lone end-of-life report of increasing noise does not establish a recurring change with wear.
What owners mention most counted across 58 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 64 ratings
Owner score77%
Wear87%
Comfort86%
Wet Grip86%
Dry Grip83%
Road Feedback82%
Handling77%
Snow Grip50%
Ice Grip50%
Featured reviews
Most helpful
“I have been using Wintrac Xtreme since 2012. I drive from Ireland via Stena ferry to Cherbourg then to Megeve and return 5 weeks later. The the tyres are superb in all weathers and on snow and ice are supreme...”
“Awful Tyre when coming from Michelin Alpin 5 and Conti TS860. The Vredestein don't come anywhere near. It's a Dutch brand, so driving when them in the Dutch wintery conditions, you would say they're made for it. They...”
“I use these on a Toyota Sienna minivan. The 1st and 2nd winter, these tires were AMAZING! Better than Nokian, Michelin, Gislaved, and other winter tires I have used, not by a margin but exceeded all brands by a wide...”
I have been using Wintrac Xtreme since 2012. I drive from Ireland via Stena ferry to Cherbourg then to Megeve and return 5 weeks later.
The the tyres are superb in all weathers and on snow and ice are supreme. Instilling great confidence without being foolish!
I used to change them after winter ( 2 sets of wheels/ winter/ summer. But now I leave them on all year round. 100,% in all weathers. I drive a Nissan X trail tekna. Anyone who buys these tyres will not be disappointed!
Awful Tyre when coming from Michelin Alpin 5 and Conti TS860.
The Vredestein don't come anywhere near.
It's a Dutch brand, so driving when them in the Dutch wintery conditions, you would say they're made for it. They are not.
If you're looking to buy these tires, just spend maybe €10 more per tire and buy Michelin or Conti. Or buy Uniroyal or Hankooks if you want to save money.
The Vredestein are useless, especially in wet conditions.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
Bought these last year, & to be honest they are one of the best winter tyres I've used.
All round good grip & feedback levels. Progressive when they start to let go in the wet.
Brilliant when used in snow combined with 4x4 traction. They just bite & go!
Used on a Tiguan & made a few trips up the hills in Scotland to go ski-ing & never failed to get through.
Swapping to these from Pirelli Scorpion's for the rest of the year, there is little noticeable difference in road noise or comfort.
The only winter tyre I have used in the past better than these were Continental Winter Contact's, but they do cost a fair bit more.
All in all, I highly recommend these tyres for the cold seasons!
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I was advised to get these tyres by my local tyre dealer as a cheaper alternative, and by and large they are good tyres in the snow, BUT, they are very poor in the wet.
The original car that they were fitted to was the Jaguar 5.0 v8 with 385 BHP and they were ok, but when I put them on my Jaguar XFR with 510 BHP the wet grip went from OK to dangerous. Losing traction at 70 MPH on a motorway in the rain whilst going uphill and round a slight bend was not fun.
I suspect that they are OK on lower powered cars, but can't recommend them on higher powered cars.
UPDATE:- I have now spent a winter on some new tyres which are an order of magnitude better than these tyres in the wet and slightly better in the snow.
I have tried 3 brands of winter tyre and the Vredstein has been head and shoulders above the others. Having travelled through the alps in winteron fresh and packed snow, I have never been stuck with these. Ford Galaxy 2wheel drive.
So drive on these everyday all year round on the front, motorway, A and B roads, now getting to the wear bar at 18000 miles.
They break traction at roundabouts if there is grit of salt on the road when you pull out, That's about the only real issue I have found.
Drove through some atrocious rain storms on the A1 last year and never felt the car move around at all, and I do not hang about.
Ok they are getting noisier as we get towards the end of their life, but on an icy January morning or with a little snow on the ground I know I am getting to work !
There seems to be more grip from these than the summer Continentals on the works car.
Would I have another set, yes as I cannot find any all seasons tyres to fit the bill.
I fitted these tyres, initially to my V8 XF Jaguar and then onto my V8 XFR Jaguar.
The grip in the snow is excellent, which is what you need with a powerful rear wheel drive car, but the wet weather handling was always suspect. But when I put these tyres onto the XFR the wet weather handling issues became dangerous. even using winter mode on the car and barely touching the accelerator I would get wheel spin on all uphill starts, and I live in the hills in the North of England so that is inevitable. But the breaking point for me was when the rear wheels broke traction, in the rain, going uphill on the M1 at 70 MPH when I crossed the white line changing lanes. That got my attention and so I have removed these tyres even though they have over 4mm of tread left.
Having said that the wear rate if phenononal, I said 4mm of tread left and they have done 40,685 miles. They may simply be too hard to grip in the wet.
In March 2014 we purchased our first VW Touareg 3.0 V6 Diesel, we previously had a Mercedes ML and had some issues with the tyres. We wanted a four season tyre for our 275/45 R20 wheels but couldn't seem to find any for such large wheels.
We went onto the web to try and find an appropriate tyre, but just ended up more confused! I spoke to my local tyre fitting expert Jeff Fowkes Wheels Ltd in Ibstock Leicestershire and he suggested that I take a look at the Vredestein Wintrac Extreme.
I immediately expressed surprise as spring had sprung and summer was coming, I was told that they could be left on all year round and they would still perform well. I was a little sceptical but went ahead with the purchase and we have now enjoyed just over 26,000 on the same set of tires, they are not particularly noisy and we haven't had any issues with performance at all.
Apparently the front tyres have around another 3,000 miles or so left in them (6mm left on the rears and 5mm on the fronts) before we need to think about replacing them, we were advised to run them at around 40 psi rather than the 35 psi we were running them at to give a bit more support to the side walls, the front passenger side one has worn the outside edge away (apparently this is a Touareg thing) and we were advised to have the tracking checked and corrected which we did. It was also suggested that we should have rotated the tyres (front to rear) each twelve months to equalise the wear, which we didn't do, but will in future.
the Wintrac Extreme has now been replaced by the Wintrac S Extreme and we will be fitting another pair of these on the front in around three months time and will continue to run these "winter" tyres all year round. For those who are fortunate enough to have the space to store winter and summer wheels, the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti is an excellent summer tyre, good value and also lasts for a good few miles!
I hope that this helps people who are having the same dilemma as we did!
superb in snow and ice circa -2degs-4degs C . in the lake district . gives total confidence and tractability . no problems with grip even on steep down gradiuents . Will buy again the same or equivalent when necessary . Equally impressive on normal dry/ wet roads above o degs too. Went for new small wheels ; 16 inch with 215 , 65 ,16inch H speed on on audi Q3 quattro . Exellent ride quality .mike m.
These are the second set of Vredestein winter tyres after I had a set of snowtrac 3s a couple of years ago. I've only had a couple of weeks worth of driving in the snow with them but they are an excellent tyre for those conditions. Car behaves well, pulls well and stops well. I've never once gotten stuck even in relatively deep snow. In normal road conditions they behave almost as well as the Bridgestones I use in summer, not quite as good in fast flowing corners but you'd have to go some to get them to break traction. For someone who is looking for a set of winter tyres that are good in the snow and good in average road conditions I would recommend these tyres. Wear is pretty decent I've used them for over 12k miles and wear is barely 2mm across all four tyres.
I fitted these to my Freelander 2 Just before winter and grip in cold/icy/snowy conditions is exceptional. I have kept them in on in the summer and you would never know they are winter tyres. Not done enough miles yet, but they look like they aren't wearing overly fast either! However Fuel economy has taken a hit. They are a good 10% down over Continental cross contact UHP's. It might not sound like much, but on a run I used to get 43mpg and now get 38mpg and it adds up. That said, come the winter they are exceptional.
First winter tyres I'd ever used. Very good in the snow on my MG ZT V8.Very good in the wet too.
However all four tyres have now split on the inside walls - they are dated 2010.
