All-season tyres are a highly discussed topic in the industry – each relevant manufacturer reacted to the demand in the market and added a tread to the portfolio in the meantime. In the framework of its Winter Tyre Test units, ADAC also tested seven all-season products. The result is devastating. Concerning the seasonal experts, the Goodyear UltraGrip9 stands out in the small and compact class.
The current ADAC Winter Tyre Test proves again that all-season tyres are not able to compete with pure winter tyres. Anyone who signs up for convenience with regard to changing tyres will have to lower their sights to a large extent. Only the Vredestein Quatrac 5 and the Michelin CrossClimate XL received just a “satisfactory” from the responsible people of the most important European tyre test. The Quatrac 5 convinces in the test dimension 205/55 R16V with “relatively low fuel consumption”, but shows weaknesses on dry and wet roads. Apparently, the Michelin rubber turns out to be rather weak on snow. Nonetheless, top ratings concerning consumption and wear will not work as selling argument. During the past weeks, many industry players have mentioned that all-season tyres have been able to reduce the quality gap with the seasonal experts. However, the ADAC test still confirms the significant differences in the most important performance criteria.
The Nokian Weatherproof XL, the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons G2 XL and the Pirelli Cinturato All Season can be found in the rating category “unsatisfactory”. Nokian, the Finnish product receives the best rating on snow – of course. According to ADAC, it is weak on dry roads. This is also true for the Goodyear all-season tyre of the second generation, although it is able to show off with a top rating on wet roads – much more important in our areas than snow performance. In contrast to this, the Pirelli All Season demonstrates high performance on icy roads. Nevertheless, the consumers will have to lower their sights on dry roads as concerning all the all-season tyres.
The ADAC result looks like a disaster for the Bridgestone A001 and the Hankook Kinergy 4S H740. The Japanese and Korean tyres are extremely weak on wet roads. Finally, the total result is only “insufficient”; the Hankook Kinergy 4S H740 is at the end of the rating.
Good Goodyear Ultra Grip 9
The ADAC testers clearly recommend the use of pure winter tyres with their results. The Goodyear Ultra Grip 9 positions itself with a “good” rating at the top of the small and compact size 185/65 R15 88T. According to the final results, it is a “very balanced winter tyre with top ratings for fuel consumption”, furthermore “extraordinarily well on snow” and also “in wet conditions”. The Michelin Alpin $, which also receives a “good”, follows closely. The French rubber demonstrates top ratings for wear. All in all it is considered to be “very balanced”.
The broad field of “satisfactory” tyres is lead by the Nokian WR D4, which is “only slightly weaker on wet roads”. The Vredestein Snowtrac 5 can be found in the fourth position with the following final result: “Good on dry roads, but weaker on wet, snowy or icy roads”. The Esa-Tecar Super Grip 9 has again a strikingly good position with weaknesses in wet and icy conditions. According to ADAC, the Hankook i*cept RS2 W452 has a totally similar range of weaknesses, although it also shows a weaker performance on snow. Nonetheless, the Hankook tyre is able to show off with the top rating on dry roads. Further “satisfactory” rubbers follow like the Bridgestone LM001 (“good on snow”, "weaker on dry and wet roads“), the Pirelli Cinturato Winter (“top rating on ice”, “some weaknesses on dry roads“), the Dunlop SP Winter Response2 (“top rating on wet roads“, “relatively weak on dry roads” and the Nexen Winguard Snow`G WH2 (“top rating on dry roads“, “weak on wet roads“). The Uniroyal MS Plus 77 (“top rating on snow“, “slight weaknesses on ice”), the Barum Polaris 3 (“minimal wear”, “weak on wet roads“) and the Viking SnowTech II (“weak on wet roads) have just also managed to reach the “satisfactory” rating area.
Concerning the size 185 the Firestone Winterhawk 3 and the Kleber Krisalp HP2 from Michelin failed the test because of severe weaknesses on wet roads. ADAC classifies both tyres as “insufficient”.
Dunlop wins in test size 225/45 R17 H
While ADAC tested the dimensions 205/55 R 16 for compact vehicles and 165/70 R 14 for small vehicles in last year’s winter tyres test, this year, 13 winter tyres for the middle class in size 225/45 R17 H had to show their performance on a VW Golf VII. It is striking that Bridgestone’s second brand Firestone achieves with the Winterhawk 3 the third position in the test and is thus better than the Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 (position eight). The Dunlop Winter Sport 5, which was already in some tyre tests among the best tyres last year, is the winner of the ADAC middle class test size. The Dunlop tyre is the only one getting the school mark “good”. The Dunlop Winter Sport 5 is characterized as “very balanced” and the ADAC testers also especially praise its performance on snow and in wet conditions, but also on dry and icy roads.
The Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 ranks second at a certain distance and with school mark “satisfactory”. The ADAC testers call it a “good all-rounder”, which seems to be slightly weaker on dry, wet, snowy and icy roads. Then four tyres follow with a similar rating (3.0): The Firestone Winterhawk 3 receives “the best rating on ice”, on dry and wet roads, however, it is slightly weaker. The Goodyear UltraGrip Perform. 1 achieves “the best ratings on snow and ice and for fuel consumption”. Its performance on dry roads, however, costs some points. The Hankook i*cept evo2 W320 XL convinces the tyre testers on dry roads, but is said to be weaker on wet roads. The tyre testers praise the Nokian WR D4 XL because of its performance on snowy, icy and dry roads, but there are some weaknesses in wet conditions and concerning wear.
Finally, the Uniroyal MS plus 77 follows in the broad middle field and gets “the best ADAC rating on wet roads”. According to ADAC, it shows weaknesses on dry roads and on ice, whereas the Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 is able to show off on dry roads. It gets “the best rating on dry roads” from the ADAC tyre testers, but is weaker on snow. Three further tyres can be found in the group rated with “satisfactory”: the Viking Snow Tech II (“rather good on snow, relatively weak on dry and wet roads”), the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme S (still “especially good on wet roads”, but “weak on snow“) and the Yokohama W.drive V905 (“good on dry roads and on snow, rather weak in wet conditions and higher consumption”). Two tyres finish the test with “sufficient”. The Matador MP92 Sibir Snow is able to convince the testers on snow, but not on wet roads. The BF Goodrich G-Force Winter drives with “the best rating for wear”, but this will not make much of a difference, as it only gets the mark 3.9 as worst tyre of the test in wet conditions. According to information of the tyre manufacturer, there is, however, already a successor.
(kle/akl)
