2017 235/55 R17 SUV Winter Tire Test

8 Premium Touring Winter tires tested in 235/55 R17 | Published October 12th, 2017 by Jonathan Benson

Test Summary
Wet Braking	Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV Nokian WR A4
Dry Braking	Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV
Wet Handling	Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV
Snow Handling	Goodyear UltraGrip Performance SUV Gen 1 Nokian WR A4
Ice Braking	Nokian WR A4

Sadly there's very little data available for this 235/55 R17 SUV tire test conducted by the European motoring bodies ACE / ARBO / GTU, nor are Michelin featured, but it's still worth a read if you drive a crossover vehicle such as the Ford Kuga or Volkswagen Tiguan which uses this tire size.

With Continental yet to update their SUV pattern to the most recent TS860, Dunlop takes an excellent test win. The Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV proved to be the best on test in the snow, on wet roads, and a joint winner in the dry.

The second and third placed Goodyear and Continental tires both came highly recommended thanks to a balanced performance of qualities, and Pirelli have improved their wet performance to take fourth overall.

Nokian narrowly beat Kumho to fifth place, and is the first of the "cheaper" sets of tires. While the Nokian couldn't quite manage the best in wet running, it did prove to be the best in the dry, so perhaps a winter tire more suited to year round running.

Seventh placed Hankook was strong in the snow, but like the Nokian struggled a little bit in the dry, and last placed Cooper was the only tire to be "conditionally recommended" due to a weak dry performance.

Full results below.

Results

Click here to view Results as a single table and adjust the score weighting based on your own driving needs!

1st: Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 203 Dry: 44 Wet: 65 Snow: 69 Noise: 5 Cost: 20 Cost:770 euros per set. Test winner. Read Reviews
2nd: Goodyear UltraGrip Performance SUV Gen 1
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 199 Dry: 42 Wet: 63 Snow: 66 Noise: 8 Cost: 20 Cost:768 euros per set. Recommended. Read Reviews
3rd: Continental Winter Contact TS 850 P SUV
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 190 Dry: 38 Wet: 58 Snow: 68 Noise: 5 Cost: 21 Cost:790 euros per set. Recommended. Read Reviews
4th: Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 190 Dry: 42 Wet: 56 Snow: 63 Noise: 7 Cost: 22 Cost:762 euros per set. Recommended. Read Reviews
5th: Nokian WR A4
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 187 Dry: 44 Wet: 45 Snow: 64 Noise: 8 Cost: 26 Cost:610 euros per set. Recommended. Read Reviews
6th: Kumho WinterCraft WP71
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 186 Dry: 42 Wet: 54 Snow: 59 Noise: 7 Cost: 24 Cost:526 euros per set. Recommended. Read Reviews
7th: Hankook Winter i cept evo2 SUV
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 181 Dry: 42 Wet: 49 Snow: 62 Noise: 6 Cost: 22 Cost:630 euros per set. Recommended. Read Reviews
8th: Cooper Weather Master SA2+
235/55 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 179 Dry: 37 Wet: 51 Snow: 61 Noise: 6 Cost: 24 Cost:496 euros per set. Conditionally recommended. Read Reviews