2011 Auto Bild Winter Tyre Test

Auto Bild, well known for their excellent tyre tests, have recently tested 11 premium winter tyres and 1 premium all season tyre in the popular 225/45 R17 to create their 2011 winter tyre test.

As always, the tyres were put through their paces on snow, wet roads and dry roads, with their wear rate, noise and comfort measured objectively and subjectively.

As always with winter European tyre tests, the scoring was bias towards raw snow and wet performance, with subjective handling and dry performance given a lower weighting in the final results.

We'll have a full write up soon, but for now here are the overview results with testers comments on each tyre.

The Results

	1st: Michelin Alpin A4 Positive: World class all round performance with excellent mileage. Safe handling, good ride comfort Negative: Slight weakness with aquaplaning
	2nd: Bridgestone Blizzak LM32 Positive: All round talent with excellent traction on snow. Best handling with precise steering on wet and dry roads. Excellent low rolling resistance Negative: Average wear
	3rd: Dunlop SP WinterSport 4D Positive: Fantastic snow performance with safe handling on both dry and wet roads. Shortest wet braking distance Negative: Slight weakness with aquaplaning
	4th: Goodyear Ultra Grip Performance 2 Positive: Good winter tyres with good traction and stable cornering on snow. Excellent steering response on wet roads Negative: Quite high pass by noise, average wear
	5th: Uniroyal MS plus 66 Positive: Stable cornering and safe handling qualities on snow, high mileage, good value for money Negative: Only average wet performance
	6th: Toyo Snowprox S953 Positive: Convincing winter tyre with dynamic handling on snow. Good aquaplaning Negative: High wear, increased rolling resistance, lots of understeer on wet roads
	7th: Continental WinterContact TS 830 P Positive: Safe handling with stable corning in all weather conditions. Good braking on wet roads Negative: Poor dry braking, average wear
	8th: Nokian WR D3 Positive: The snow king. Low rolling resistance, low noise Negative: Average aquaplaning, poor wear
	9th: Pirelli Sottozero Serie II Positive: Good lateral grip on snow and wet roads, good aquaplaning results, low rolling resistance Negative: Poor wet and dry braking, high wear
	10th: Nexen Winguard Sport Positive: Good price to performance ratio, low rolling resistance Negative: Low traction and long stopping distances in snow, poor handling and long braking on wet roads
	11th: Kumho IZen KW17 Positive: Good rolling resistance, low price Negative: Low grip on the snow, poor steering response and long stopping distances on wet roads. Poor ride comfort
	12th: Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Positive: Dynamic handling and short braking distances in the dry, very good value for money Negative: When compared to a full winter tyre, poor snow performance. Average ride quality

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