Winter tyre / tire review.

[andlid]

Snapped this from another place, a helpfull guy translated a Swedish test.

 

Enjoy

 

For your benefit I'm going to summarize a couple of Swedish cold weather tyre tests. Obviously in Sweden there is no debate whether using summer tyres is a good idea or not, so this is about which winter tyre to choose.

 

In Sweden there are three types of cold weather tyres available: Studded, Nordic friction, or European friction. We have the European friction tyres here in Ireland. All-weather tyres are dismissed as completely useless, by the way.

 

The evaluation weightings used:

Ice 30%

Snow 20%

Sleet 10%

Wet tarmac 20%

Dry tarmac 10%

Economy and comfort 10%

 

S means Studded, N means Nordic, E means European.

 

1. Nokian Hakkapellitta 7 (S): 7.4 (****)

2. Continental Conti IceContact (S): 7.3 (****)

3. Bridgestone Noranza 2 Evo (S): 7.0 (***)

4. Goodyear Ultragrip Extreme (S): 6.6 (***)

5. Michelin X-Ice North XIN2 (S): 6.6 (***)

6. Pirelli WinterCarving Edge (S): 6.6 (***)

7. Vredestein Arctrac (S): 6.6 (***)

8. Gislaved NordFrost 5 (S): 6.3 (***)

9. Yokohama IceGuard Ig35 (S): 6.0 (**)

10. Goodyear UltraGrip Ice+ (N): 6.0 (**)

11. Dunlop SP Ice Response (S): 5.9 (**)

12. Continental Conti-Viking Contact 5 (N): 5.9 (**)

13. Nokian Hakkapellitta R (N): 5.9 (**)

14. Hankook Winter I*Pike (S): 5.7 (**)

15. Sava Eskimo Ice (S): 5.6 (**)

16. Michelin X-Ice XL2 (N): 5.6 (**)

17. Bridgestone Blizzak Nordic WN-01 (N): 5.5 (**)

18. Yokohama IceGuard ig30 (N): 5.0 (*)

19. Continental ContiWinter ContactTS830 (E): 4.9 (*)

20. Dunlop Graspic DS-3 (N): 4.6 (*)

21. Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 2 (E): 4.6 (*)

22. Insa Turbo T-2 Green Line (S): 4.5 (*)

23. Kenda Icetec (N): 4.5 (*)

24. Pirelli Winter 210 Sottozero Serie II (E): 4.5 (*)

25. Cordlant Sno-Max (S): 4.3 (*)

26. Vredestein Snowtrac 3 (E): 4.2 (*)

27. Sava Eskimo S3 (E): 4.0 (-)

28. Toyo Snowprox S953 (E): 3.5 (-)

 

The result here is probably mostly of interest to me and anyone else who has driven on studded tyres. I was quite surprised about how poor the European friction tyres are in comparison and this test obviously explains that. The best tyre that we can buy here ends up in 19th place with a one star rating.

 

So the test above included everything and was weighted towards harsh conditions. Having said that, because the authorities in Ireland usually don't do anything about snow for a day or two we get very nasty compacted snow that turns to ice so our driving conditions are actually worse than those in Sweden.

 

In any event, let's have a look at a test that only tests European friction tyres and only take snow, wet tarmac, and dry tarmac into account, all weighted equally. So icy conditions are not considered here.

 

1. Goodyear UltraGrip 7+: 264 (*****)

2. Michelin Alpin 4: 259 (*****)

3. Continental WinterContact TS830: 257 (*****)

4. Fulda Kristall Control HP: 244 (****)

5. Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D: 242 (****)

6. Pirelli W210 Sottozero II: 234 (***)

7. Vredestein Snowtrac 3H: 233 (***)

8. Nokian WR G2: 232 (***)

9. Bridgestone Blizzak LM 32: 221 (***)

10. Kumho I'zen KW23: 196 (**)

 

It should be noted that the Continental WinterContact is the best European friction tyre on ice, which is why it came out highest in the previous comparison but not this one where ice performance was not evaluated.

[Lexx]

Moved to correct sub-forum.

 

Useful info though

[andlid]