Changing between summer and winter tires twice a year is annoying and, given the sharp rise in tire prices, it is more expensive than ever. More and more people are therefore considering using all-season tires instead of the specialists. This can definitely be a viable alternative, as the current test of all-weather tires in size 205/55 R 17 shows.
The three test partners ARBÖ, ACE and GTÜ tested nine brands in summer and winter weather. As the clear winner, the Michelin Crossclimate 2 was the only one to receive the rating “highly recommended”. However, it is not the best in all test areas. And against a good special tire in the right weather conditions, even the test leader will lose out. Squaring the circle Building a perfect all-weather tire is just as impossible as squaring the circle – the necessary properties are opposed to each other. “All-season tires are always a compromise because they combine the different properties of summer and winter tires,” says Erich Groiss, technical coordinator at ARBÖ: “All-season tires have to cover all weather conditions. Therefore, the winter or summer specialist will always be a bit better on the specific road surface than the all-season tire.” The tires essentially get their driving characteristics from their rubber compound and the profile on their tread. Both influence the grip and thus also the driving and braking behavior. “Summer tires have to scoop more water aside and therefore have more and wider longitudinal grooves than winter tires, as well as a coarser profile and a harder rubber compound for less wear on dry roads. Winter tires, on the other hand, boast a softer rubber compound and additives such as silica. They make the tires elastic in the cold and prevent them from becoming brittle. A profile with a pronounced, fine lamellar structure ensures better grip on snowy ground and ice,” explains ARBÖ. The properties of all-season tires are somewhere in between, they are not as good as those of winter or summer tires. Depending on the mix of materials and profile structure, some all-season tires have strengths in summer, others in winter. However, all-weather tires tend to get better and better.The winter test in the snowIn the snow tests in Finland, the tires from Michelin, Nokian and Continental particularly stood out. They deliver decent results in every winter discipline: The Michelin offers the shortest braking distance at 16.5 meters from 38 km/h, closely followed by the Nokian (16.6 meters) and the Continental (17.0 meters). They all also have good grip in the snow, so they have good cornering. Its steering behavior and controllability are also superior. When cornering, this significantly reduces the risk of the rear end breaking out (oversteer) or the front wheels losing traction (understeer) and pushing the car to the edge of the curve. The Bridgestone brings up the rear on snowy roads. It has by far the longest braking distance (19.0 meters) and shows serious shortcomings in subjective handling: imprecise overall, weak cornering and the test driver has to fight against the pronounced understeer when accelerating.The test on wet roadsThe Bridgestone shows a completely different result On wet roads: When braking in the wet from 80 km/h, the Bridgestone shows the best performance with 27.9 meters and is therefore close to the summer tire reference (27.4 meters). Vredestein (28.2 meters) and Continental (29.5 meters) follow. In general, this is the job of the Bridgestone, which delivered the best performance in contrast to the winter test. In complete contrast to the Toyo, which, together with the Berlin, weakens when it comes to aquaplaning and handling: They exhibit less precise steering than the rest of the test field, drive much more unsteadily and tend to understeer when accelerating.The test on a dry roadIn the dry tests the test tires are generally closer together. When braking from 80 km/h, the Michelin showed the shortest braking distance (24.4 meters) and is also convincing in terms of handling. So he can secure the points victory in the category ahead of the Bridgestone. Most tires offer good cornering stability, precise steering behavior and are easy to control on dry roads. Only the tires from the Berlin and Cooper brands are weakening a bit and still have some catching up to do. Conclusion“The perfect all-season tire does not yet exist. But they are definitely good ones that are suitable for average Central European weather and weather conditions,” summarizes Erich Groiss. The Michelin Crossclimate 2 mastered the hell of a ride over the test routes best and became the test winner. It didn’t show any serious weaknesses and was confident, balanced and easy to drive in snow, wet and dry conditions. While the Bridgestone Weather Control was the best at handling wet conditions and performing well on dry roads, it was the weakest in winter. Therefore, he only gets a “conditionally recommendable“. According to the test team, it is not recommended for proper winter use. The tires from Cooper and Berlin are also not outstanding overall and only achieve a “conditionally recommendable”. The test loser is the Toyo Celsius. It showed too many sources of danger, especially when handling wet, and was the only tire in the test to receive a “not recommended”.
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