2018 ACE All Season and Winter Tire Test

Test Summary
Wet Braking	Michelin CrossClimate Plus
Dry Braking	Continental WinterContact TS 860 Goodyear UltraGrip 9
Wet Handling	Kenda Wintergen 2 KR501
Wear	Continental WinterContact TS 860
Rolling Resistance	Continental AllSeasonContact Nokian WR D4 Nokian WeatherProof
Snow Handling	Kenda Wintergen 2 KR501 Continental AllSeasonContact
Ice Braking	Kenda Wintergen 2 KR501

As in 2017, the German club ACE have tested all season and winter tires in exactly the same tests! On test are nine 185/65 R15 winter tire patterns, and three all season tires in the same size, and they used an Opel Corsa as the test vehicle.

All twelve tires were put through identical dry, wet and snow testing, and to further highlight the point that most all season tires are interchangeable with winter tires, the all season tires finished second, fifth and ten places overall.

All Season VS Winter

The Continental WinterContact TS860 winter tire won the test, with the Continental AllSeasonContact all season tire placing second. Interestingly, the Continental winter tire proved to be better in the dry, wet and snow, making it more "all season" than the Continental all season tire.

The Nokian Weatherproof all season tire, finishing fifth place overall, had a very similar balance of performance to the Goodyear UltraGrip 9 winter tire which finished in fourth place. They had equal points in the dry, and similar in the wet and snow.

As we've seen before, the Michelin CrossClimate+ all season tire, which finished tenth place overall was the standout tire in the dry, a full 9 points clear of the next best tire in the dry tests. Sadly it could only manage mid pack in the wet and was the worst tire in the snow (although still an order of magnitude better than a summer tire would be.)

One other fact worth highlighting is that the cheapest tire on test, the Kenda WinterGen 2 was the best tire in the snow, but was marked dangerous in the wet, needing 41 meters to stop the car during the wet braking test compared to 34 meters for the Continental. This means, where the test winners stop, the car with the worst tires fitted will have an accident at around 30 km / h.

Results

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

1st: Continental WinterContact TS 860
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 412 Dry: 43 Wet: 68 Snow: 66 Rolling Resistance: 16 Noise: 7 Cost: 6 Overall: 206 Read Reviews
2nd: Continental AllSeasonContact
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 400 Dry: 41 Wet: 62 Snow: 64 Rolling Resistance: 19 Noise: 8 Cost: 6 Overall: 200 Read Reviews Buy from £70.83
3rd: Nokian WR D4
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 390 Dry: 40 Wet: 58 Snow: 65 Rolling Resistance: 19 Noise: 6 Cost: 7 Overall: 195 Read Reviews
4th: Goodyear UltraGrip 9
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 382 Dry: 40 Wet: 68 Snow: 57 Rolling Resistance: 17 Noise: 3 Cost: 6 Overall: 191 Read Reviews
5th: Nokian WeatherProof
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 378 Dry: 40 Wet: 63 Snow: 55 Rolling Resistance: 19 Noise: 5 Cost: 7 Overall: 189 Read Reviews
6th: Dunlop Winter Response 2
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 372 Dry: 39 Wet: 57 Snow: 62 Rolling Resistance: 16 Noise: 6 Cost: 6 Overall: 186 Read Reviews Buy from £75.84
7th: Kumho Winter Craft WP51
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 366 Dry: 40 Wet: 56 Snow: 60 Rolling Resistance: 13 Noise: 5 Cost: 9 Overall: 183 Read Reviews
8th: Bridgestone Blizzak LM001
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 364 Dry: 43 Wet: 53 Snow: 58 Rolling Resistance: 15 Noise: 6 Cost: 7 Overall: 182 Read Reviews
9th: Nexen Winguard Snow G WH2
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 362 Dry: 42 Wet: 51 Snow: 60 Rolling Resistance: 14 Noise: 5 Cost: 9 Overall: 181 Read Reviews
10th: Michelin CrossClimate+
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 360 Dry: 52 Wet: 52 Snow: 50 Rolling Resistance: 17 Noise: 4 Cost: 5 Overall: 180 Read Reviews Buy from £80.35
11th: Pirelli Cinturato Winter
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 354 Dry: 36 Wet: 59 Snow: 56 Rolling Resistance: 14 Noise: 6 Cost: 6 Overall: 177 Read Reviews Buy from £91.99
12th: Kenda Wintergen 2 KR501
185/65 R15 3PMSF: no	Total: 346 Dry: 39 Wet: 36 Snow: 67 Rolling Resistance: 13 Noise: 8 Cost: 10 Overall: 173 Read Reviews