Winter tire test by Auto Motor und Sport (2024)

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport traditionally starts the season of testing winter tires in Europe, which this time tested tires in the size of 235/55 R18 for compact crossovers on snow, wet and dry asphalt.

The tests began in February in Scandinavia and ended in Germany, and in addition, control tests were carried out to confirm that the tires in their characteristics are identical to those available for sale.

When choosing participants, it was decided to focus on products from well-known brands, and the only novelty was the Bridgestone Blizzak 6, which replaces the repeatedly winning Blizzak LM005 tires and, as the manufacturer claims, has even higher operating characteristics and at the same time improved environmental friendliness. Also tested were Continental WinterContact TS 870 P, Falken Eurowinter HS02 Pro (presented last year), GT Radial WinterPro2 Sport, Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ SUV, Hankook Winter i*cept evo3 x and Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 SUV (in the selected size, the Alpin 7 model is already available, but at the time of the start of the tests, this was not yet known). Also included in the list of participants was the Nokian Snowproof 2 SUV released in Finland, i.e. manufactured by the company itself, and not by one of its contract manufacturing partners from Asia. Finally, the Pirelli Scorpion Winter 2 and Vredestein WintracPro tires, which, as recently announced, will be replaced by the WintracPro+ model, also took part in the tests.

As in 2023, the Kumho WinterCraft WP52 tires were excluded from the final score. Last year, the reason was that the results of the tire in the control tests differed too much, and it was disqualified, and this time AMS did not have the opportunity to conduct a "doping test". The fact is that tires are constantly being modernized, and Kumho reported that the tested version provided by the company itself will be available only from mid-September (unusually late for winter tires), i.e. with a high degree of probability, car owners will buy the previous version of the tires, and the test results will be irrelevant to them. After consulting with the manufacturer, the editorial office decided not to publish the results of the WP52.

Now for the test results. On snow, Michelin became the absolute leader, winning three out of four disciplines, and the worst performers were GT Radial and, somewhat unexpectedly, Nokian, although the company usually releases tires with very good "winter" characteristics.

In the tests on wet pavement, Hankook excelled, confidently outpacing the competition in tests for resistance to aquaplaning, both longitudinal and transverse. In one of the key disciplines for European-type winter tires - braking on a wet surface - the new Bridgestone novelty won, and Nokian took the last place.

On dry pavement, there were no clear leaders or outsiders, and, for example, Pirelli was second in the braking efficiency test and last in the handling tests.

Economy and external noise level (also important from an environmental point of view) were also evaluated, and GT Radial scored the most points, which simultaneously generate little noise and reduce fuel consumption. At the same time, this is clearly not enough to compensate for the reduced grip on snow.

Michelin took the first place in the overall standings, which were "almost flawless" on snow and also worked well on asphalt, and the Continental tires were only slightly behind, which have no significant drawbacks and also have very low resistance, making them an excellent choice for hybrid and electric vehicle owners. Bridgestone and Pirelli shared the third place, and if the new Japanese novelty had very high results on snow and wet asphalt, then the indicators on dry pavement were a disappointment, as the braking distance was clearly too long, and the reaction to steering wheel movements was sluggish and fuzzy. At the same time, Pirelli also performed well on snow, but there were small claims to handling on dry pavement, and the tires also had increased rolling resistance.

Goodyear and Hankook took the fourth and fifth places, respectively, which are similar not only in overall rating but also in their qualities. Hankook stops the car a little faster on snow, and they also have excellent resistance to aquaplaning, while Goodyear provides higher grip on wet roads, and both tires worsened their rating due to a relatively long braking distance on dry asphalt.

The GT Radial tires took the sixth place, which had average results on snow but good on asphalt, and as a pleasant bonus, they have low rolling resistance and noise. The same number of points was received by Falken tires, which in general showed themselves well, but do not work well enough on snow, and behind them are Nokian, which somewhat unexpectedly showed weak results for the Finnish brand on a snowy surface and also took last place in the test of braking properties on wet asphalt.

Finally, Vredestein took the last place, which have a long braking distance on snow and wet pavement, as well as a sluggish response to the driver's actions and increased rolling resistance. At the same time, WintracPro handle aquaplaning well and stop the car quickly on dry asphalt.

Since there were no budget products in the test, the tires did not receive final ratings worse than "Good", and the weight of the ratings in the final ranking is distributed as follows: snow - 20%, wet and dry asphalt - 35 and 30% respectively, environmental friendliness - 15%. What is interesting is that the results of the AMS test are also published by the Auto Strassenverkehr magazine, which changes the weight of the ratings, adding the price factor (5%) to the equation and slightly reducing the importance of the results on wet pavement (30%). Sometimes this can lead to a change in the rating, but this year all tires remained in their places.

Source: Auto Motor und Sport.