The German publication Auto Zeitung have just published their 2017 all season tire test, and it might be the most UK relevant tire test we've seen this year.
First, they're testing in the most popular 205/55 R16 size using a FWD Audi A3, which represents a large slice of our car market. Secondly, they've managed to include ten all season patterns, which is more than most all season tire tests manage, but the icing on the cake is the winter tire included for reference is the multiple award winning Continental WinterContact TS 860.
We've mentioned a number of times that the Continental WinterContact range is not only consistently the best tested winter tires on the market, but could also be considered as the best "winter-bias all season tire" available due to its remarkable ability to work well in the snow, and the wet. This test confirms that, but it faces close competition from the only summer-bias all season tire on the market, the Michelin CrossClimate
Dry
There are no surprises during the dry testing. The summer-bias Michelin CrossClimate makes good on its promise of behaving like a summer tire in dry conditions, and aces both the dry braking and dry handling tests by some margin.
BF Goodrich have a good showing, placing second under dry braking and third in dry handling, and the Continental WinterContact TS860 and Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 2 both finish mid pack in a closely contested group.
Dry Braking
Spread: 7.80 M (19.8%)|Avg: 44.73 M
Dry braking in meters (Lower is better)
Dry Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tire
Dry Handling
Spread: 1.20 s (2%)|Avg: 60.33 s
Dry handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Michelin CrossClimate
59.70 s
Vredestein Quatrac 5
59.80 s
BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2
60.00 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S
60.10 s
Toyo Celsius
60.10 s
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200
60.40 s
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
60.40 s
Continental WinterContact TS 860
60.60 s
Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason
60.70 s
Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert
60.90 s
Nokian WeatherProof
60.90 s
Wet
The wet braking confirms why the Continental WinterContact TS860 is currently unbeaten in winter tire testing, it wins the wet handling lap by over a second, and finishes joint first in wet braking. While the Michelin couldn't quite match the Continental and Goodyear during wet braking, it still finishes a respectable fourth place overall, and places second overall in wet handling.
Wet Braking
Spread: 11.20 M (20.7%)|Avg: 59.82 M
Wet braking in meters (Lower is better)
Wet Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tire
Wet Handling
Spread: 4.10 s (4.6%)|Avg: 91.55 s
Wet handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Continental WinterContact TS 860
88.70 s
Michelin CrossClimate
89.80 s
BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2
90.90 s
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200
91.40 s
Vredestein Quatrac 5
91.50 s
Toyo Celsius
92.10 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S
92.40 s
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
92.40 s
Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert
92.50 s
Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason
92.50 s
Nokian WeatherProof
92.80 s
Straight Aqua
Spread: 12.40 Km/H (16.7%)|Avg: 68.13 Km/H
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Continental WinterContact TS 860
74.30 Km/H
Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert
71.70 Km/H
Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason
71.10 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate
69.90 Km/H
Nokian WeatherProof
69.50 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy 4S
67.90 Km/H
BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2
66.60 Km/H
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200
66.20 Km/H
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
66.00 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac 5
64.30 Km/H
Toyo Celsius
61.90 Km/H
Snow
The Goodyear all season tire managed to beat the Continental winter tire during the snow braking test, and the Nokian all season tire just edges out the Continental during snow handling. The summer bias Michelin managed a respectable fifth place during the snow braking, despite its summer bias, but the lack of sipes were highlighted in the snow handling test, where the Michelin could only finish ninth overall.
Snow Braking
Spread: 3.70 M (17.5%)|Avg: 22.60 M
Snow braking in meters (Lower is better)
Snow Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tire
Snow Handling
Spread: 6.70 s (6.9%)|Avg: 101.18 s
Snow handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Nokian WeatherProof
97.00 s
Continental WinterContact TS 860
97.10 s
Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert
98.40 s
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
100.60 s
BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2
101.10 s
Toyo Celsius
101.90 s
Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason
102.90 s
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200
103.20 s
Vredestein Quatrac 5
103.50 s
Michelin CrossClimate
103.60 s
Hankook Kinergy 4S
103.70 s
Other
The Nokian proved to have the lowest fuel use on test, and all eleven tires were within 2db during the external drive by noise test.
Rolling Resistance
Spread: 2.01 kg / t (25.9%)|Avg: 8.72 kg / t
Rolling resistance in kg t (Lower is better)
Nokian WeatherProof
7.77 kg / t
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
7.87 kg / t
Continental WinterContact TS 860
8.16 kg / t
BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2
8.41 kg / t
Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason
8.63 kg / t
Michelin CrossClimate
8.67 kg / t
Vredestein Quatrac 5
8.75 kg / t
Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert
8.89 kg / t
Toyo Celsius
9.36 kg / t
Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200
9.64 kg / t
Hankook Kinergy 4S
9.78 kg / t
19,000 km
£1.45/L
8.0 L/100km
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Annual Difference
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Lifetime Savings
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Extra Fuel/Energy
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Extra CO2
Estimates based on typical driving conditions. Rolling resistance accounts for approximately 20% of IC vehicle fuel consumption and 25% of EV energy consumption. Actual savings vary based on driving style, vehicle weight, road conditions, and tire age. For comparative purposes only. Lifetime savings based on a 40,000km / 25,000 mile tread life.
