Together with its partners, the European motoring association conducted a test of all-season tires on Finnish snow and under the Spanish sun.
List of models tested:
- Berlin All Season 1
- Bridgestone Weather Control A005 Evo
- Continental AllSeasonContact
- Cooper Discoverer All Season
- Goodyear Vector 4Seasons gen-3
- Michelin CrossClimate 2
- Nokian Seasonproof
- Toyo Celsius
- Vredestein Quatrac Pro
In its next test, the European motoring association (ACE), together with the Austrian motoring club (ARBÖ) and the German Society for Technical Supervision (GTÜ) compared nine all-season, conducting tests on two Nokian test facilities — «White Hell» in Ivalo, Finland, and the recently-opened Hakka Ring Track Facility in Tarancon, Spain. The tires were tested inn size 205/55 R17, which fits such passenger cars and crossovers as Kia Ceed, Mazda3, Renault Megane, Skoda Kamiq, Volkswagen T-Cross, etc.
The snow tests in Finland’s Lapland were conducted at a temperature of about -4 degrees Celsius, which is perfect for tests of all-season tires, and this part of the competition was won by Michelin, Nokian, and Continental. All the three tires demonstrated acceptable performance in all of the disciplines, and the Michelin model had the shortest braking distance — 16.5 meters when braking from 38 km/h (the braking distances of Nokian and Continental being 16.6 and 17 meters respectively). The tires in top positions also ensured strong lateral grip and good handling performance on snow, even though the Nokian model was clearly prone to oversteer.
Snow Braking
- Nokian
- Michelin
- Continental
- Berlin
- Toyo
- Goodyear
- Vredestein
- Cooper
- Bridgestone
Info! Points.
Snow Handling
- Nokian
- Michelin
- Continental
- Berlin
- Toyo
- Goodyear
- Vredestein
- Cooper
- Bridgestone
Info! Points.
The tires that lagged behind were Toyo and Berlin, which do not provide as strong a lateral grip and are more prone to oversteer, and the last line of the tournament bracket was occupied by the Bridgestone model, whose stopping distance was significantly longer than the competition — 19 meters. In addition to this, the Bridgestone received low subjective scores due to poor lateral; stability and due to the fact that the driver always had to combat the strong understeer during acceleration.
The second part of the tests was conducted in the hot Spain at the track temperature ranging between 22 and 29 degrees Celsius, and the Bridgestone model proved that, although it was not particularly impressive on snow, its wet traction surpassed the entire competition. The 80 km/h stopping distance of the Bridgestone model was 27.9 meters, which is close to the result of the reference summer tire used in the test (27.4 meters); then followed the Vredestein and Continental with stopping distances of 28.2 and 29.5 meters respectively.
Wet Braking
- Vredestein
- Bridgestone
- Continental
- Nokian
- Michelin
- Goodyear
- Cooper
- Berlin
- Toyo
Info! Points.
Wet Handling
- Vredestein
- Bridgestone
- Michelin
- Goodyear
- Continental
- Nokian
- Cooper
- Berlin
- Toyo
Info! Points.
At the bottom of the bill again was the Toyo tire, which, just as the Berlin, had a poor hydroplaning resistance and could not ensure good handling performance because of a fuzzy steering response, unstable behavior, and being prone to understeer during acceleration. In addition, if you let go of gas in a corner, a rather strong oversteer will pop up, and ultimately the Toyo tire came last in this part of the test.
On a dry track, the differences in the tire performance, as is often the case, grew smaller, and at 80 km/h braking the shortest stopping distance was demonstrated by Michelin (24.4 meters), and the longest by Toyo (29.2 meters). In addition, most tires were able to provide good stability and handling, but this does not apply to the Cooper and Berlin, which had the lowest grip, which is why they often started to slip and go from understeer to oversteer.
Dry Braking
- Bridgestone
- Michelin
- Cooper
- Vredestein
- Continental
- Goodyear
- Nokian
- Berlin
- Toyo
Info! Points.
Dry Handling
- Michelin
- Vredestein
- Goodyear
- Nokian
- Toyo
- Continental
- Berlin
- Bridgestone
- Cooper
Info! Points.
Verdict
Summing up the results, the ACE experts noted that «there is no such thing as a perfect all-season tire, but there are very good options out there, which fit the conditions of Central Europe." The best tire on test was pronounced to be the Michelin Crossclimate 2, which did not have any prominent issues and possessed a really well balanced performance; second and third places were occupied by the Continental AllSeasonContact and Nokian Seasonproof respectively, which also got away with the «Recommended’ verdict — something that proved impossible for the Bridgestone Weather Control A005 Evo because, despite excellent wet handling response and good results on dry pavement, the Japanese tire had really poor results on snow. The Cooper and Berlin tires were also able to achieve a high rating, and the worst tire was pronounced to be the Toyo Celsius, which, according to the experts, poses a safety threat, especially on wet surfaces, and for this reason it became the only tire in the test that is not recommended for purchasing.
1st place: Michelin / CrossClimate 2
Quick Take
Michelin CrossClimate 2
- No prominent issues found, good results on all types of surfaces
- Great snow grip
- Low noise emission
- Low rolling resistance
- Minor gripes about wet handling response
- Highly recommended
2nd place: Continental / AllSeasonContact
Quick Take
Continental AllSeasonContact
- Acceptable snow performance
- Good results on dry pavement
- Good hydroplaning resistance
- Minor gripes about wet handling response
- Recommended
3rd place: Nokian / Seasonproof
Quick Take
Nokian Seasonproof
- Short braking distance and good handling response on snow (albeit slightly prone to oversteer)
- Good results on dry pavement
- Good price/quality ratio
- Minor gripes about wet handling response
- Recommended
4th place: Goodyear / Vector 4Seasons Gen-3
Quick Take
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3
- Good results on wet and dry pavement
- Relatively weak results on snow
- Recommended
5th place: Vredestein / Quatrac Pro
Quick Take
Vredestein Quatrac Pro
- Good results on wet and dry pavement
- Relatively weak results on snow
- Reduced straight hydroplaning resistance
- Recommended
6th place: Bridgestone / Weather Control A005 Evo
Quick Take
Bridgestone Weather Control A005 Evo
- Very good results on wet pavement
- Excellent hydroplaning resistance
- Good results on dry pavement
- Very poor grip and poor handling performance on snow
- Conditionally recommended
7th place: Berlin / All Season 1
Quick Take
Berlin All Season 1
- Acceptable braking performance on dry pavement
- Low price
- Long braking distance and less-than-perfect handling response on snow and wet pavement
- Poor handling response in the dry
- Conditionally recommended
7th place: Cooper / Discoverer All Season
Quick Take
Cooper Discoverer All Season
- Excellent hydroplaning resistance
- Acceptable braking performance on dry pavement
- Poor snow performance
- Poor handling response in the wet and in the dry
- Conditionally recommended
9th place: Toyo / Celsius
Quick Take
Toyo Celsius
- Acceptable handling response on dry pavement (even if slightly prone to oversteer)
- Relatively weak results on snow
- Poor grip and poor wet handling response (the tires pose a threat to the driving safety)
- Not recommended
- Not recommended
