Once again, the test highlights the fact that current all season tires, with the exception of the Michelin CrossClimate, should be considered as slightly tweaked winter tires and have all the drawbacks of the winter rubber in warm dry and wet conditions.

Braking Performance

With the UK motorist spending the majority of time on dry or wet roads, an all season tire which comprises dry and wet braking is the wrong choice for year round motoring.

During dry braking the summer Continental Premium Contact 5 stopped the car in 37.8 meters, and the winter Dunlop Winter Sport 5 a fairly distant 45.7 meters. The average of the all season tires was 45 meters, with the test winning Nokian stopping the car 44.1 meters. The summer optimised Michelin CrossClimate stopped the car in 41.2 meters, a car length ahead of the next nearest all season tire.

In the wet braking tests the results were similar. The summer tire stopped the Golf in 52 meters, the Michelin CrossClimate was the closest all season tire at 55.8 meters, with the next best all season tire at 58.7 meters and the winter tire at 60 meters.

On snow, the winter tire needed 25 meters top stop the car, the best all season tire 27 meters, and the Michelin at 29 meters. When you consider the worst all season tire stopped the car in over 35 meters, you can see the blend of performance offered by the Michelin is very suited to the UK climate.

The Results

ACE magazine awarded first place to Nokian with the WeatherProof, second to Goodyear with the Vector 4Season Gen 2, and third place to the Michelin CrossClimate.

The Nokian and Goodyear tires excelled in the snowy conditions of the winter tests, behaving like full winter tires, but unfortunately also behaved like a full winter tire in the dry and wet testing. While these tires would be excellent for climates which see a lot of freezing weather and snow, we feel they are too extreme for the majority of the UK climate, where snow is a rare occurrence.

The Michelin CrossClimate finished third, once again delivering on its promise of being a summer, rather than winter optimised all season tire. The balance of performance was much more preferable for year round motoring in the UK, with the only real weakness being aquaplaning results. This can largely be explained by the 7mm tested tread depth, rather than the 8-9mm of the other tires, but Michelin assure us the mileage delivered by the CrossClimate will be the best on test.

The mid range brands covered fourth to eighth place, with the Hankook and Vredestein tires offering the better balance of performance for the UK climate.

Pirelli will be disappointed with ninth place overall, with the Cinturato AllSeason offering a good dry and wet performance, but a very weak snow and ice result, with the Bridgestone A001 shadowing the Pirelli result, just a little weaker in all areas.

For reference, the summer tire scored 55 dry points, 65 wet points, 0 snow points. The winter tire scored 40 dry points, 52 wet points and 69 winter points. This would have put the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 winter tire as the third best "all season" tire overall had it been included in the results.

Full Results

1st: Nokian WeatherProof
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 203 Dry: 42 Wet: 62 Snow: 67 Rolling Resistance: 32 An excellent all round all season tire. Most points in the wet overall, almost as strong as the winter tire in the snow, slightly below average in the dry. Read Reviews
2nd: Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 194 Dry: 43 Wet: 50 Snow: 69 Rolling Resistance: 32 An equal to the winter tire in almost all areas, the Goodyear is a great choice for extremely cold and snowy climates Read Reviews    Buy from £80.27
3rd: Michelin CrossClimate
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 182 Dry: 48 Wet: 53 Snow: 50 Rolling Resistance: 31 Best wet and dry braking, with only aquaplaning stopping it winning every test other than snow. Surprisingly capable with snow traction and braking makes the CrossClimate the ideal choice for climates which don't see a lot of snow Read Reviews
4th: Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 168 Dry: 39 Wet: 46 Snow: 53 Rolling Resistance: 30 Read Reviews
5th: Hankook Kinergy 4S
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 164 Dry: 44 Wet: 45 Snow: 47 Rolling Resistance: 28 Read Reviews
6th: Sava Adapto HP
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 164 Dry: 40 Wet: 41 Snow: 51 Rolling Resistance: 32 Read Reviews
7th: Kumho Solus HA31
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 160 Dry: 42 Wet: 37 Snow: 50 Rolling Resistance: 31 Read Reviews
8th: Vredestein Quatrac 5
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 160 Dry: 44 Wet: 41 Snow: 44 Rolling Resistance: 31 Read Reviews
9th: Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 147 Dry: 44 Wet: 51 Snow: 23 Rolling Resistance: 29 Read Reviews    Buy from £95.99
10th: Bridgestone A001
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 127 Dry: 43 Wet: 42 Snow: 14 Rolling Resistance: 28 Read Reviews