Tyre Reviews Tyre Tests

Following on from the 52 winter tyre braking test, the top 20 winter tyres in 245/45 R18 have been put through the usual Auto Bild winter tyre tests, to discover the best performance winter tyre for the 2020 season.

The 2019 Auto Center winter tyre test is both good and bad. The positive is that out of ten 205/55 R16 patterns, it only includes two premium manufacturers. This means we get a much better look at the midrange bracket of winter tyres, which is great for those of us who want to save a little money, and all ten patterns on test have been tested for ice braking and traction which is now usually omitted from central European tyre testing.

Are cheap winter tyres safe? To find out, we travelled to Finland, twice, to do snow, ice, wet and dry testing.

All tests were done using two cars, a VW Golf wearing 205/55 R16 tyres, and a heavier, larger Volvo S90 fitted with 245/45 R18 tyres.

The 2019 Auto Express winter tyre test has tested ten 225/45 R17 winter tyres, and included a summer and all season product as a benchmark.

The newest winter tyre from Goodyear is shaping up to be an excellent winter product. Thanks to a near perfect all round performance, it wins another tyre test, narrowly beating the established king of winter motoring, the Continental WinterContact TS860.

While studded tyres don't have much use in the UK, for parts of the Nordic countries they are essential for safe mobility.

To find out which of the latest studded winter tyres are worth fitting, Swedish magazine Vi Bilagare have tested seven studded winter tyres in 225/50 R17, and included a studless nordic friction winter tyre as a comparison.

Winter tyre buying can be a confusing challenge, as there are now six types of tyre you can realistically fit to your car. But which is best? To find out, I test summer, all season, all weather, winter, extreme winter and studded tyres in dry, wet, snow and ice testing, covering handling, braking and grip.

Following on from the All Season tyre market overview, Auto Bild have published their winter version of the shootout style braking test.

For the winter test, Auto Bild have tested 53 winter tyres in 225/45 R17 in wet and snow braking. The two braking distances are combined, and the top twenty tyres go through to a full test covering all aspects of a tyres performance.

Warning, lots of data ahead! For the 2019 winter, Auto Motor und Sport have tested eleven of the best winter tyres in the 215/55 R17 crossover SUV size.

The biggest plus of this test is the sheer amount of data they've produced, as they've rated the tyres both objectively and subjectively in a lot of categories.

This year the German motoring organisation ADAC have tested sixteen winter tyres in the popular 185/65 R15.

While studded tyres aren't suitable for the normal UK winter, Tyre Reviews does have a lot of international readers, which is why we're covering this excellent studded winter tyre test from the Swedish publications Vi Bilägare.

Why this one? Well, they've used a Volvo V30 to test seven studded tyres in the very common 205/55 R16 tyre size, and they've also included a friction studless nordic winter tyre.

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

For 2018, the German publication Auto Zeitung have tested nine SUV / 4X4 winter tyre patterns in 235/60 R18 using an Audi Q5.

The tyres on test covered the premium and midrange segments, with a single budget tyre included, the Wanli Snowgrip S1083. The Wanli tyre was less than half the price of the most expensive tyres on test, so it will be interesting to see whether the Chinese manufactured tyre can improve on past performances.

The 2018 Auto Bild SUV / 4x4 winter tyre test has used an Audi Q5 to test ten 235/60 R18 winter tyres, with the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen-1 SUV proving to be the best tyre on test thanks to an excellent all-round performance.

Surprisingly Pirelli edged out Continental to second place, with a brilliant result for the Pirelli Scorpion Winter. This tyre has been on the market a number of years now, and historically hasn't tested as well as Goodyear or Continental, so there must have been and update for the 2018 winter season.

The Continental Winter Contact TS850P SUV rounded out the top three, with its only real weakness appearing during the important dry braking tests.

The weekly UK publication Auto Express has just published their 2018 winter tyre test! This year Auto Express have tested eight winter tyre patterns in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf.

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

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

Following on from the 51 winter tyre braking test, the excellent German publication Auto Bild have promoted the best 20 tyres to their full winter test, which covers every aspect of the winter tyres performance.

As always, an (unnamed) summer and all season tyre have been included as reference, and to make a change from the past few years, it isn’t the remarkable Continental WinterContact TS860 taking the top spot overall…

This year the German motoring orginisation ADAC have tested winter tyres in 175/65 R14 and 205/55 R16.

Both tests continue Continentals winter dominance, with two win for the Continental WinterContact TS860. 

This year the German motoring orginisation ADAC have tested winter tyres in 205/55 R16 and 175/65 R14. 

Both tests continue Continentals winter dominance, with two win for the Continental WinterContact TS860. 

Second and third places were taken by the sisters brand Goodyear and Dunlop, with all three of the leading tyres proving to offer an excellent balance of winter performances.

This year AutoBild have placed 51 195/65 R15 winter tyres through wet braking tests, with the top thirty tyres also being tested for snow braking performance. Only the top twenty have gone through to the full Auto Bild winter tyre test!

With the best winter tyre on test stopping the VW Golf in 34.3 meters, and the worst tyre on test at 49.8 meters, you can see why it's extremely important to judge a winter tyres performance as much on wet grip as it is snow grip.

While studded tyres aren't suitable for the UK climate, they are the best way of staying mobile in extreme winter conditions. Each tyre can have hundreds of studs, which bite into ice with far more grip than a studless friction winter tyre can give. There are of course drawbacks to studded tyres, they're very noisy, and they give up a lot of dry and wet performance when compared to a European winter tyre, but in climates such as Russia and the Nordic countries where you are likely to be driving on ice for weeks at a time, there's little alternative.