Given
81%
while driving a
Renault Scenic
(185/65 R15 H) on
a combination of roads
for 0
spirited miles
I'm a bit delayed in writing this review, but I've finally got around to it!
As an opening summary, I liked these tires, they were dependable, pretty predictable, and safe year-round.
before I go any further I must add that my particular set were MO Mercedes suffix, whether or not this has much or any bearing on their performance I doubt I will ever know, but just to make a note.
So, first impressions... After the Continental they replaced which were rather too soft in their construction for my car, these were somewhat of a revelation. Steering response in particular was greatly improved as was the turn-in, going from far too much lock to be desirable in order to change and hold direction, to darting into a corner and nipping through without much complaint at all, within the realms of feasability for a winter compound of course.
Following on from this I was impressed by the stability of said winter compound, being much less 'mushy' than had been expected. In the dry there was little complaint, even when run out of season into the very late spring one year they didn't balk at such conditions. The stiffness of the carcass was clearly responsible to a notable degree, but even still those '3D' sipes seemed to do what they said on the tin, keeping things settled and composed.
Wet behaviour was and wasn't their achilles heel, being interestingly changeable but not seemingly related to ambient conditions or suchlike. Overall the wet grip was good and secure, not the best but not alarming. The thing I found was that at times they would feel almost as if covered by a layer of wax, tacky but slithery, they didn't let go completely at any time but would sometimes when shown a tight curve just understeer into a wide arc, skating across the surface, whilst most of the time being secure and dependable. I did get to know when this was likely to happen, certain road surfaces/ curves, etc. but it didn't always follow suit that it would happen! Temperature, moisture, time of day seemingly had no bearing. Don't take this out of context though, they were good in the wet, you knew how far to push them, and if you did overload them they would smear and drift rather than release and slide, which is always a favourable attribute in a tire!
Comfort was ok, a little harsher than the previous tires but nothing to bother about.
The tread wore well, much better than anticipated, and did see some usage well above the intended temperature realms. They did of course wear quicker in warm weather, but held up well with very little tearing or shreding of the tread blocks.
Winter performance wasn't sparkling but they did get me around absolutely fine including a 2 mile trek on an unploughed, very bumpy, undulating uphill country road 4" deep at the least in snow where we bounced and meandered along quite nicely with my other half rather pensive in the passenger seat! Braking and steering in the snow had to be done smoothly and carefully to avoid breaking traction, but my car is very nose heavy with keen brakes so basic physics dictate that this is likely with any tire, I would say that on a 'normal' car things will be much better indeed, but to what degree I don't know! In a nutshell, I found them a little lacking but nonetheless they got me around in some unsavoury conditions where I know a std tire would've seen me stranded even though I'm no fool when it comes to driving in the snow.
So, to summarise and conclude, If you want the best in the snow or in the wet unconditionally, look elsewhere. If you want a tire with sporty behaviour, safe in the wet, keeps a good amount of precision and stability in the dry, whilst keeping you mobile in the snow and ice, then these are worth putting on your shortlist.
They'd even make a decent 'all season' tire, as they behave better in the dry (on the steering axle at least) than the fabled Bridgestone A001, and feel nicer to drive too.