| Test Summary | |
| Wet Braking |
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P |
| Dry Braking |
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P |
| Wet Handling |
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 |
| Wear |
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P |
| Rolling Resistance |
Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen 1 |
Due to the limited number of patterns in the test, and no all season or summer comparison, we'll forgo the usual commentry and just present the results below.
Results
Outstanding wet grip, very direct steering when dry, good braking in all conditions.
Slight weakness in aquaplaning and comfort.
Total: 44.9
Dry
9.2
Wet
9.6
Snow
8.4
Rolling Resistance
8.7
Overall
9
Excellent snow and dry braking, very low rolling resistance, good steering feel and best aquaplaning results.
Slightly noisy.
Total: 44.5
Dry
8.8
Wet
8.6
Snow
8.9
Rolling Resistance
9.4
Overall
8.8
Shortest snow braking distances, with sporty snow handling. Good balance in the wet.
High rolling resistance, noisy
Total: 41.9
Dry
8.7
Wet
9.2
Snow
8.4
Rolling Resistance
7
Overall
8.6
Best tyre overall in snow with good braking in wet and dry.
Average handling in wet and dry, low aquaplaning resistance.
Total: 42.7
Dry
8.2
Wet
7.9
Snow
9.4
Rolling Resistance
8.7
Overall
8.5
Good snow traction and braking, quiet.
Poor snow handling, weaker than the best in the wet.
Total: 36.4
Dry
8
Wet
7.3
Snow
7.2
Rolling Resistance
6.5
Overall
7.4
Good snow braking, sporty in the dry.
Very weak in the wet, especially wet braking.
Total: 35.3
Dry
8.1
Wet
5.3
Snow
6.4
Rolling Resistance
8.7
Overall
6.8
Vredestein have really lost the plot these days. Few years ago they were pretty much dominating the market and spooking the big boys, now, theyre just a mid-range brand again, but with a much higher price tag. Shame, always liked vred's...
The general consensus is their new owners Apollo have moved all the smart people to the Apollo brand, and will leave Vredestein as a second brand. It's sad they have fallen, as you pointed out they used to be up there with Nokian in terms of winter tyres.
Indeed, I've said before it is since apollo have taken over. Makes little sense, keep the good brand with the sound reputation maling their name, then use the revenue and r&d team to develop the budget brand into something also market leading. Yes the budget brand are the owning company and im sure theyd like their name to be as good as Vredestein was, but this way you'd win twice, rather than reduce reputation and sales of the successful company to mildly bolster a relatively unknown budget brand... My two penneth anyway!