A new feature for 2017 is wet testing at over, and under the magic 7c mark the tyre manufacturers recommend we change our tyres at.
Both the wet handling and wet braking tests were done at the two different temperatures, and both sets of results presented in full in the magazine. The conclusion? Not much changed between the two temperatures! The Michelin won all four sets of tests, the Kumho lost all four, the winter tyres performance did not change and the summer tyre lost around 1% of it's relative performance as the temperature dropped.
The other big take from the test is something we've also hinted at before. If you want the best "traditional all season" tyre on test, it's not just the Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen-2 you should be considering, but also the Continental WinterContact TS860. It might be classified as a full winter tyre, but its incredible breadth of performance make it as much a traditional all season tyre as any of the tyres included in this test.
Results
As per our agreement with Auto Express, you will only find very limited coverage below, so be sure to head over to the Auto Express website for full details!
The best balance of performance for the UK climate. Dominated in the dry and wet, and wasn't the worst all season tyre on test in the snow with more than enough performance for the UK winters
I had Vredestein Quatrac 3 and Quatrac 5. I went to get them here in NL at the end of november 2010 (QT3) and there was 10 cm snow with -5 C. went into a wrong b-road and got into serious trouble with the brand new summertires on them. Car: Toyota Corolla VVti 1.6 btw (latest version back then). So when I returned with the QT3 underneath the car, I of course went into the same road. Teh difference was spectacular. Went from SW Netherlands to Copenhagen near Christmas 2010. We had 20-30 cm snow and while most other parts had less, there was always snow on the road and temperatures between -3 and -8 C. The car behave great. Only in the Danish capital snow had tuned to pure ice and here there was a huge loss in grip. So in 2014 QT 5 were fitted after 60K on the front, the back were QT3. Result on ice: much more grip with the QT5. And now all have been changed into Goodyear vector4seasons gen2. These are extremely silent! My GF noted it immediately. On snow and slush however, my first experience the last week here in The Netherlands) with temperatures near freezing is that they seem to feel less steady than the Vredesteins. Much to my surprise. This is in thesize 195/60/15 88H btw. But it might be that I need to adapt somewhat. On the Vredesteins QT3 and QT5 I can say that the Qt3 version lasted a very long time. The back (I have FW drive) side lasted no less than 110.000 km. The Frontwheel 65.000. QT5 does not seem to have such a long life with 45.000 km on them. With the QT5 I went on a steep hill, very steep with lots of snow and had zero problems. So a long story short: I am now a little doubtfull if I made the right switch. GY V4season Gen2 seem to be consistently the best in tests, but I have to wait more serous snowfall to conclude. Well I can say they are of course far superior to any summertyre. On the QT5 Vredesteins I can say in 7 years and lots of drving in lots and lots of snow: they never ever failed me or gave me an insecure feeling. May be next time the QT7 will be my next tyre. The Michelins for me are not good enough in snow from tests. I am not too fond of companies that have always said allseasons are no good until they come out with their own version and now all of a sudden make a u-turn here. So not too sympathetic towards Michelin, which of ourse has little to do with how good their allseason performs.
Vresedestein Quatrac 5. Much underrepresented and underrated. Just changed from falken all season. Difference is night and day. It’s on a tiddly Yaris 1.3! . Wear very good. Still got 5mm + after gentle 8k miles around town. BTW also run hankook a/s tyres on 320d . They are almost on par with vredestein and wear also very good ~ 5mm after 7k miles. Both tyres are very progressive!
They have been featured in other 2017 tests (not sure if I am allowed to post a link to a russian website similar to this one). On one of them they are 4th place after CrossClimate+, Vector Gen2 and Nokian Weatherproof. On another one 6th and third one was a summer test where they are not recommended.
We've covered all but one of those :) The Auto Navigator test didn't really have a strong conclusion, but looking at the data and how we can now present live charts I'll aim to cover it next week
I used them for years. Excellent tyres. Still went for GY 4seasons Gen2. Wait and see. first indications are ot better than Vredestien actually. But very silent! If I had to make the call right now, I would have chosen the Vredestein but it is very early days. Just 2 days on 10 cm snow, slush and iced up roads....
Good choice. I think vehicle weight and driven wheels have to be taken into consideration too. I run Dunlop winter sport 4d on Gt86 in cooler months. Goodyear eagle f1 asym 3 in warmer months. Worth it if you have space to store spare wheels as you effectively get twice the longevity!
Problem here in NL is that each time your chnge your tires you have to pay for the calibration of the pressuresensors which costs you (I think) 50 euro..per tyre. Times two = 400 a year. During the lifespan of your tyres (your mileage as they say may vary) that is 1600 euro. No thanks. I drove with QT5 on 30 cm in my flatland NL for weeks I go to the nearby Ardennes where I drove on steep hills and up to 50 cm of snow. I never ever encountered any problem. The best winter and the best summertyre will do better than an allseason like the Goodyear for sure. But not by much and not enough for me. And as a winterweather and snowweatherfreak I drive a lot on snow. And as a stormchaser in summer I drive through heavy downpours.To each their own and good there are choses we can make. Why don't you use allseasons btw? Just interested. Thx for your reply!
Shame the Conti AllSeasonContact missed the cut, it feels extremely well suited so far to British Autumnal weather. If I only used one set of rubber year round it would be a pair of these and a pair of Michelin CrossClimate and just switch axles April and November on a FWD car.
I also believe cold weather test are at around 4-5, and other tests are not more than 15 degrees. That's why there are almost no differences in the results.
Sadly the magazines don't publish the temperatures, but I know in the past getting wet testing below 3c is difficult due to freezing. Our own testing has found summer tyres performance doesn't degrade much between 7c and 3c.
Between 7 and 3 I can understand. But as I said, it would be very interesting to find out how different types of tyres (winter, summer, all season) handle and brake at different temperatures (as low as - 20, 0, to 20, 40 degrees) on wet and dry. For a test like that I would actually pay to see the results. :)
I had Vredestein Quatrac 3 and Quatrac 5. I went to get them here in NL at the end of november 2010 (QT3) and there was 10 cm snow with -5 C. went into a wrong b-road and got into serious trouble with the brand new summertires on them. Car: Toyota Corolla VVti 1.6 btw (latest version back then).
So when I returned with the QT3 underneath the car, I of course went into the same road. Teh difference was spectacular. Went from SW Netherlands to Copenhagen near Christmas 2010. We had 20-30 cm snow and while most other parts had less, there was always snow on the road and temperatures between -3 and -8 C. The car behave great. Only in the Danish capital snow had tuned to pure ice and here there was a huge loss in grip.
So in 2014 QT 5 were fitted after 60K on the front, the back were QT3. Result on ice: much more grip with the QT5.
And now all have been changed into Goodyear vector4seasons gen2. These are extremely silent! My GF noted it immediately. On snow and slush however, my first experience the last week here in The Netherlands) with temperatures near freezing is that they seem to feel less steady than the Vredesteins. Much to my surprise. This is in thesize 195/60/15 88H btw. But it might be that I need to adapt somewhat. On the Vredesteins QT3 and QT5 I can say that the Qt3 version lasted a very long time. The back (I have FW drive) side lasted no less than 110.000 km. The Frontwheel 65.000. QT5 does not seem to have such a long life with 45.000 km on them.
With the QT5 I went on a steep hill, very steep with lots of snow and had zero problems.
So a long story short: I am now a little doubtfull if I made the right switch. GY V4season Gen2 seem to be consistently the best in tests, but I have to wait more serous snowfall to conclude. Well I can say they are of course far superior to any summertyre. On the QT5 Vredesteins I can say in 7 years and lots of drving in lots and lots of snow: they never ever failed me or gave me an insecure feeling. May be next time the QT7 will be my next tyre. The Michelins for me are not good enough in snow from tests. I am not too fond of companies that have always said allseasons are no good until they come out with their own version and now all of a sudden make a u-turn here. So not too sympathetic towards Michelin, which of ourse has little to do with how good their allseason performs.
Hi, what about Kleber Quadraxer 2? I need new tyres 245 45 r18, but can't decide...
Also good, new model.
Vresedestein Quatrac 5. Much underrepresented and underrated. Just changed from falken all season. Difference is night and day. It’s on a tiddly Yaris 1.3! . Wear very good. Still got 5mm + after gentle 8k miles around town. BTW also run hankook a/s tyres on 320d . They are almost on par with vredestein and wear also very good ~ 5mm after 7k miles. Both tyres are very progressive!
It's a shame the Quatrac 5 wasn't included in this test, it would have been great to see how it did.
They have been featured in other 2017 tests (not sure if I am allowed to post a link to a russian website similar to this one). On one of them they are 4th place after CrossClimate+, Vector Gen2 and Nokian Weatherproof. On another one 6th and third one was a summer test where they are not recommended.
Feel free to link, though we've covered 3 other tests they have been included in:
http://www.tyrereviews.co.u...
http://www.tyrereviews.co.u...
http://www.tyrereviews.co.u...
:)
http://colesa.ru/vredestein...
Look down to ТЕСТЫ or use translate :) Then use translate again, but some graphic tables won't get translated of course.
We've covered all but one of those :) The Auto Navigator test didn't really have a strong conclusion, but looking at the data and how we can now present live charts I'll aim to cover it next week
I used them for years. Excellent tyres. Still went for GY 4seasons Gen2. Wait and see. first indications are ot better than Vredestien actually. But very silent! If I had to make the call right now, I would have chosen the Vredestein but it is very early days. Just 2 days on 10 cm snow, slush and iced up roads....
Good choice. I think vehicle weight and driven wheels have to be taken into consideration too. I run Dunlop winter sport 4d on Gt86 in cooler months. Goodyear eagle f1 asym 3 in warmer months. Worth it if you have space to store spare wheels as you effectively get twice the longevity!
Problem here in NL is that each time your chnge your tires you have to pay for the calibration of the pressuresensors which costs you (I think) 50 euro..per tyre. Times two = 400 a year. During the lifespan of your tyres (your mileage as they say may vary) that is 1600 euro. No thanks.
I drove with QT5 on 30 cm in my flatland NL for weeks I go to the nearby Ardennes where I drove on steep hills and up to 50 cm of snow. I never ever encountered any problem. The best winter and the best summertyre will do better than an allseason like the Goodyear for sure. But not by much and not enough for me. And as a winterweather and snowweatherfreak I drive a lot on snow. And as a stormchaser in summer I drive through heavy downpours.To each their own and good there are choses we can make. Why don't you use allseasons btw? Just interested. Thx for your reply!
Shame the Conti AllSeasonContact missed the cut, it feels extremely well suited so far to British Autumnal weather. If I only used one set of rubber year round it would be a pair of these and a pair of Michelin CrossClimate and just switch axles April and November on a FWD car.
I also believe cold weather test are at around 4-5, and other tests are not more than 15 degrees. That's why there are almost no differences in the results.
Over and under 7. More specific? 8 and 6 degrees? :)
It's hard to believe that there is no difference in 30 and 0 degrees wet handling/braking.
Sadly the magazines don't publish the temperatures, but I know in the past getting wet testing below 3c is difficult due to freezing. Our own testing has found summer tyres performance doesn't degrade much between 7c and 3c.
Between 7 and 3 I can understand.
But as I said, it would be very interesting to find out how different types of tyres (winter, summer, all season) handle and brake at different temperatures (as low as - 20, 0, to 20, 40 degrees) on wet and dry.
For a test like that I would actually pay to see the results. :)
Good luck finding wet testing at -20c, water tends to turn into ice ;)
Well, ice is kind of wet :))