[BarrySt]

This month's Evo tests Winter / All season / summer tyres. Summary of best for winter conditions:

Overall Top Five:

1. Continental ContiWinterContact TS 830 P (90.5%)
2. Michelin Alpin A4 (90.4%)
3. Pirelli Sottozero W240 Serie 2 (90.1%)
4. Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 2 (89.5%)
5. Vredestein Quatrac 3 (all-season) (89.0%)

Full details in mag or online.

Rgds, Barry

[creepy coupe]

Nothing between the percentage wise then.

[SelSol]

Awesome, 7 page report condensed in 9 lines

Nah, I've read that, confirms that even the cheapest winter tyres outperform the summer ones in winter, in everything except aquaplaning, where the summer tyre was miles ahead for some reason.

Stopping distances on ice were comical, something like 20 metres for the winter tyres and 73 for the summer one.....

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by BarrySt

1. Continental ContiWinterContact TS 830 P (90.5%)

Yay!

[BarrySt]

[QUOTE=SelSol;10698836]Awesome, 7 page report condensed in 9 lines

Thanks! Couldn't stop smiling at your comment - I guess I could have given some more info but I think your post hit the nail on the head re the ice/snow comparison

[dxb335d]

Nice one Bazza!!

[Kerr]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

Nothing between the percentage wise then.

I've not read the review as yet but quite often I feel that people writing percentage reviews don't really use the entire 100% well.

It always been a gripe reading reviews where an excellent product is 95% and something that is good only gets marked down a couple of percent in comparison.

As soon as it gets into the 70% bracket there seems to be major issues with whatever they are reviewing.

Surely it should be 90%+ for exceptional items, 65-90 for very good 40-70 average etc.

Most reviews end up reading to close on paper as they don't mark down hard enough.

Moan over for this hour.

[kaishang]

I read the print edition: seems the benefit of winter tyres at UK winter temperatures is marginal UNLESS there is snow and ice on the road (as we found out last winter) where summer tyres are really bad.

The cold wet road stopping distance on winter tyres is better, but the aquaplaning performance is worse.

Plus winter tyres aren't magic; it still takes a long time to stop from 25mph on ice even on winter tyres.

Ice may make cars with summer tyres undriveable but there is still plenty of scope to crash into things or for something to crash into you if you drive over refrozen ice on winter tyres.

And it might not snow.

[flying_scotsman]

Originally Posted by BarrySt

This month's Evo tests Winter / All season / summer tyres. Summary of best for winter conditions:

Overall Top Five:

1. Continental ContiWinterContact TS 830 P (90.5%)
2. Michelin Alpin A4 (90.4%)
3. Pirelli Sottozero W240 Serie 2 (90.1%)
4. Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 2 (89.5%)
5. Vredestein Quatrac 3 (all-season) (89.0%)

Full details in mag or online.

Rgds, Barry

All very well but they forgot about the Nokian tyres that win all the tests in Skandanavia????

[HighlandPete]

I know tests give comparisons, whether against competing tyres and/or the winter vs. summer tyres. But I'm not too sure there are enough tests to give all the benefits of a tyre type, or make complete conclusions.

An example would be braking on ice, we know a summer tyre does not have any control at all when braking on ice, so easy to spin a car. I would say from experience, on winter tyres, when braking to avoid an accident mid corner, there was so much more control as well as a shorter braking distance.

I would susggest this also applies to wet braking in cold conditions, there is more stability than we would typically get on a summer tyre. It is not just the braking either, motive traction is more predictable in cold wet conditions.

Anyone else found this?

HighlandPete

[briers]

Yes

The year before in another car on summers I nearly slid onto a roundabout sideways as I braked on ice from about 10mph

Same conditions on winters and it stopped without breaking traction.

I tried braking and accelerating on winters and it did so without abs or much wheel spin. I. My wife's car on summers on the same stretch of road I could barely move and braking was comical, perhaps 4 times the braking distance.

As for cornering, I never pushed it on the road but an empty car park and I was amazed at the grip. I still take it easy on the road just incase but I have a lot more confidence with stability, grip and traction. Plus it gets up hills from a standing start without drama.

[briers]

Originally Posted by kaishang

Plus winter tyres aren't magic; it still takes a long time to stop from 25mph on ice even on winter tyres.
.

They aren't magic no but the stopping distance on compacted ice was hugely reduced on winters.

Same stretch of road, I tried my car and the wife's on summers. Hers took about 4 times further to stop with abs fighting to stop the wheels. Mine stopped without any abs coming on at all and I would argue it stopped not that much slower than if it were snow and ice free.

And I'm talking about a road that was pure compacted snow and ice which had been frozen for at least a week at about -10.

But I detected no difference in dry stopping time with winters and the ride was also a million times better. Even though the Bridgestone run flats are hard at the best of times, they behave stupidly when it gets cold. Like hockey pucks, skipping all over the shop.

[ALF_E90]

It was an interesting test, most of the premium winters came out pretty well.

I tend to read between the lines a lot for winter tyre tests for UK conditions ad wet and dry road performance/feel will be arguably more important in the UK - as people have said, all the true winter tyres were really close on snow/ice performance, budgets aside (even they were many times better than summers). The Nokian WRG2's I use review well in this regard and certainly feel good in normal conditions.

Interesting to see that the Vred Quattrac 3 all seasons seem to be much closer to a true winter tyre in snow/ice performance than most all-seasons. We just fitted them to my wife's Golf Plus 1.6 which is relatively light and slow and does not get driven hard - so far they feel great in normal driving and they will keep it mobile in snow. They were not much more than a quarter of what I paid for my WRG2's as well!

[gIzzE]

I went with the Michelin Alpins as they were regarded as a better than average winter tyre that also performed well against summer tyres in the warmer dryer conditions, having far more feedback than most of the winters.
Perfect for the UK imho.

[SO8]

I have Bridgestone Blizzaks on my 330d ... and none of these tests seem to test them Still, kind of irrelevant now as I have them and they are now on the car ....

[BarrySt]

Originally Posted by SO8

I have Bridgestone Blizzaks on my 330d ... and none of these tests seem to test them Still, kind of irrelevant now as I have them and they are now on the car ....

Me too, these tyres were on the BMW wheel/tyre winter package I bought last year, and I see they are still offered this year: Seemed OK in winter conditions but on motorways need regular corrections to keep on course. Heard a couple of others mention of this re winter tyres, but unsure if its brand related.

[Frosticles]

Just bought the continentals. Chuffed.

[Cocktails]

Getting delivery this week of Pirelli Sottozero W240 Serie 2
2 of 225/40/18
2 of 255/35/18

Will swap onto the 193's when the temp drops in a couple of weeks.....

[elucid]

I went for a set of Dunlop SP WinterSport 4D tyres in 225/40/18. They came first in the 2011 Auto Bild Performance Winter Tyre Test but 6th in the Evo test...

Looking to get a set of non-staggered 18" alloys for them now.

[edowen]

Just ordered a set for the "ed" from tyretraders.com

GOODYEAR 205/55R16 91H ULTRA GRIP 8 M&S

4 for £341 inc vat and delivery.

[willhollin]

These winter tyres any good?