2018 AMS Winter Tire Test

Test Summary
Wet Braking	Continental WinterContact TS 860
Dry Braking	Continental WinterContact TS 860
Wet Handling	Giti GitiWinterW1
Wear	Continental WinterContact TS 860
Rolling Resistance	Nokian WR D4
Noise	Continental WinterContact TS 860 Giti GitiWinterW1 Kumho Winter Craft WP51 Goodyear UltraGrip 9
Snow Handling	Kumho Winter Craft WP51 Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 EVO Pirelli Cinturato Winter

The 2018 Auto Motor und Sport [AMS] winter tire test has tested eleven winter tire patterns in the popular 205/55 R16 winter tire size, using a Seat Ibiza.

As always, the full results and a summary of the data can be found below. Any questions or comments, please feel free to ask at the bottom of the page.

Dry

The Continental WinterContact TS860 had a big lead during the braking test, with Vredestein and Toyo in second and third places.

Toyo and Continental continued their strong dry performance, finishing second and third during dry handling. This time, Bridgestone took the top spot with the LM001 EVO. The Pirelli Cinturato Winter struggled, finishing last overall.

Wet

The wet testing once again allowed Continental to prove the TS860 is the best Central European winter tire on the market, winning both wet braking and wet handling. Goodyear placed a strong second in both tests, and Bridgestone rounded out the top three. This time Kumho struggled.

The Hankook had the best aquaplaning resistance of the test.

Snow

The cheapest tire on test, the Giti Winter W1 dominated the snow testing, beating the establish "snow master", the Nokian WRD4.

Environment

The Nokian had the lowest rolling resistance on test.

All eleven tires were separated by just 2.2 dB during the noise testing.

The Giti was the cheapest tire on test by a significant margin, at almost half the price of the test winning Continental.

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
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 62.9 Dry: 9.1 Wet: 9.9 Snow: 8.8 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 8 Noise: 9 Overall: 9.1 Good on snow, outstanding in the wet, safe in the dry. Slight understeer on snow. Test winner. Read Reviews
2nd: Goodyear UltraGrip 9
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 58.2 Dry: 7.8 Wet: 9.3 Snow: 7.9 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 9 Overall: 8.2 Good in snow, precise steering and good grip in dry and wet. A little unbalanced during snow handling. Highly recommended. Read Reviews Buy from £89.45
3rd: Nokian WR D4
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 56.8 Dry: 7.7 Wet: 6.2 Snow: 9.8 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 10 Noise: 9 Overall: 8.1 Best performance on snow, good balance in the dry, lowest rolling resistance. Average in the wet, a bit noisy. Highly recommended. Read Reviews
4th: Hankook Winter i cept RS2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 54.8 Dry: 7.6 Wet: 8.3 Snow: 8.9 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 5 Noise: 9 Overall: 8 Excellent snow grip and handling, safe balance in the wet and dry. Relatively long dry braking, high rolling resistance. Highly recommended. Read Reviews
5th: Pirelli Cinturato Winter
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 54.3 Dry: 7.1 Wet: 8.2 Snow: 9.1 Comfort: 7 Rolling Resistance: 5 Noise: 10 Overall: 7.9 Safe balance on snow, good comfort. Average dry performance, high rolling resistance. Recommended. Read Reviews
6th: Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 EVO
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 57.8 Dry: 8.2 Wet: 8.5 Snow: 6.5 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 8 Noise: 10 Overall: 8.6 Good in the dry. Poor snow cornering. Recommended. Read Reviews
7th: Vredestein Snowtrac 5
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 54.1 Dry: 8.4 Wet: 6.4 Snow: 8.6 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 8 Noise: 7 Overall: 7.7 Good winter traction, excellent snow braking, good dry performance. Poor wet braking. Recommended. Read Reviews
8th: Nexen Winguard Snow G WH2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 50.8 Dry: 7.3 Wet: 7.1 Snow: 8.1 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 4 Noise: 9 Overall: 7.3 Good in the snow, good wet braking. Unbalanced during wet handling, poor aquaplaning resistance, high rolling resistance. Recommended. Read Reviews
9th: Giti GitiWinterW1
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 53 Dry: 6.6 Wet: 5.3 Snow: 9.9 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 8 Overall: 7.2 Outstanding snow performance. Poor aquaplaning resistance, poor balance in the wet, poor steering feel. Recommended. Read Reviews
10th: Toyo Snowprox S953
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 52.3 Dry: 8.6 Wet: 5.2 Snow: 7.3 Comfort: 7 Rolling Resistance: 9 Noise: 8 Overall: 7.2 Good dry cornering. Average snow grip, very poor wet braking, oversteer during wet handling. Recommended. Read Reviews
11th: Kumho Winter Craft WP51
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 47.9 Dry: 6.6 Wet: 4.6 Snow: 8.3 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 3 Noise: 10 Overall: 6.4 Ok in snow. Weak in dry and wet, very high rolling resistance. Conditionally recommended. Read Reviews