2017 Sport Auto Winter Tyre Test

Test Summary
Wet BrakingNokian WR A4
Dry BrakingGoodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen 1
Wet HandlingContinental WinterContact TS 850 P
Hankook Winter i cept evo2
WearContinental WinterContact TS 850 P
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen 1
Rolling ResistanceContinental WinterContact TS 850 P
NoiseCooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
Nokian WR A4
Snow HandlingToyo Snowprox S954
Hankook Winter i cept evo2
Snow HandlingContinental WinterContact TS 850 P
We're a little bit late with this one, as it's likely the UK has had most of its bad weather for winter 2017/18, however we can't resist covering a winter ultra high performance tyre test, especially when they use a RWD Toyota GT86 as the test car!

For this test, Sport Auto magazine fitted the GT86 with ten different patterns of 225/40 R18 sports winter tyres, and put the tyres through the normal dry, wet and snow testing.

Snow

Looking at the snow braking and snow handling tests, no tyre dominated. The Hankook Winter I*Cept Evo 2 won the snow braking test but could only manage fifth in snow handling, while the Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 won the snow handling tests but could only manage sixth during snow braking testing! The Continental WinterContact TS850 P, which has now been replaced buy the WinterContact TS860 S, had the best overall result finishing in the top three in both tests. The Nankang SV2 proved to be the weakest in both snow tests.

Wet

During wet testing, the Continental once again proved to be amongst the best along with the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen-1 and Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 dominating the top three. The Toyo Snowprox S954 had an extremely poor result, finishing in last place by quite a margin.

Dry

As with the snow testing, the best dry braking tyre didn't do well during the dry handling test, and the best dry handling tyre was the worst dry braking tyre! While this is unusual for dry testing and might highlight the difference between FWD and RWD for winter tyres, there were two brands which managed to score consistently - the Nokian WR A4 and Toyo Snowprox S954 finished top three for both tests.

Results

The limited coverage of the full results are below, please see the Sport Auto article for the full test data.

1st: Continental WinterContact TS 850 P

Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 71.8
  2. Dry: 8
  3. Wet: 9.4
  4. Snow: 9.4
  5. Subjective: 8
  6. Comfort: 8
  7. Rolling Resistance: 10
  8. Noise: 10
  9. Overall: 9
Excellent grip and stable behavior on snow and dry surfaces. low rolling resistance, very low noise level
Relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, relatively long braking distances on dry surfaces
Highly recommended

Read Reviews

1st: Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen 1

Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen 1
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 69.2
  2. Dry: 8.2
  3. Wet: 9.9
  4. Snow: 9.1
  5. Subjective: 8
  6. Comfort: 8
  7. Rolling Resistance: 8
  8. Noise: 9
  9. Overall: 9
Excellent grip and very good handling on wet surfaces, balanced and reliable behavior in the snow, balanced handling on dry roads
Slow steering response in the dry
Cost:Highly recommended

Read Reviews

3rd: Michelin Pilot Alpin 4

Michelin Pilot Alpin 4
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 66.4
  2. Dry: 7.8
  3. Wet: 9.6
  4. Snow: 8.5
  5. Subjective: 8
  6. Comfort: 7
  7. Rolling Resistance: 8
  8. Noise: 9
  9. Overall: 8.5
Good results in the wet, good handling in the dry
Relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, long dry braking distances
Recommended

Read Reviews

4th: Hankook Winter i cept evo2

Hankook Winter i cept evo2
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 63
  2. Dry: 8
  3. Wet: 6.7
  4. Snow: 9.4
  5. Subjective: 10
  6. Comfort: 7
  7. Rolling Resistance: 6
  8. Noise: 8
  9. Overall: 7.9
Strong in the snow, good dry handling
Average wet performance, long braking distances in the dry and wet
Conditionally recommended

Read Reviews

5th: Yokohama W drive V905

Yokohama W drive V905
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 57.8
  2. Dry: 7.6
  3. Wet: 7.9
  4. Snow: 8.5
  5. Subjective: 6
  6. Comfort: 6
  7. Rolling Resistance: 6
  8. Noise: 8
  9. Overall: 7.8
Good snow braking, good wet handling
Slow steering reactions in the dry, relatively noisy
Conditionally recommended

Read Reviews

6th: Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3

Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 59.9
  2. Dry: 7.3
  3. Wet: 8.4
  4. Snow: 7.5
  5. Subjective: 7
  6. Comfort: 7
  7. Rolling Resistance: 7
  8. Noise: 8
  9. Overall: 7.7
Good handling and grip in the wet
Slow steering reactions in the dry, relatively noisy
Conditionally recommended

Read Reviews    Buy from £158.28

7th: Nokian WR A4

Nokian WR A4
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 66
  2. Dry: 9
  3. Wet: 6.6
  4. Snow: 6.8
  5. Subjective: 9
  6. Comfort: 9
  7. Rolling Resistance: 9
  8. Noise: 9
  9. Overall: 7.6
Very good in the dry with good grip and precise steering, short braking distances in the snow, low noise level
Unstable in the wet with high levels of oversteer
Conditionally recommended

Read Reviews

8th: Cooper Weather Master SA2+

Cooper Weather Master SA2 Plus
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 61
  2. Dry: 7.4
  3. Wet: 8.6
  4. Snow: 6.6
  5. Subjective: 7
  6. Comfort: 9
  7. Rolling Resistance: 6
  8. Noise: 9
  9. Overall: 7.4
Good on wet surfaces, high levels of comfort
Poor steering and grip in the dry, low grip on snow
Conditionally recommended

Read Reviews

9th: Nankang SV2

Nankang SV2
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 57.5
  2. Dry: 8.6
  3. Wet: 6.8
  4. Snow: 5.2
  5. Subjective: 8
  6. Comfort: 7
  7. Rolling Resistance: 6
  8. Noise: 9
  9. Overall: 6.9
Very short braking distances and quick reactions to steering on dry surfaces, good resistance to aquaplaning
Very poor in the snow, noisy
Conditionally recommended

Read Reviews

9th: Toyo Snowprox S954

Toyo Snowprox S954
  • 225/40 R18
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 60.2
  2. Dry: 8.7
  3. Wet: 5.9
  4. Snow: 5.7
  5. Subjective: 10
  6. Comfort: 7
  7. Rolling Resistance: 8
  8. Noise: 8
  9. Overall: 6.9
Quick and accurate reactions to steering on dry roads
Poor on snow and in the wet
Recommended with caution

Read Reviews


Discussion:

comments powered by Disqus