Tire Rack Tire Test - All-Season vs. Winter Tires

[LapinPete]

Studded winter tires are the only ones I use during winter. Reading the comments here i doubt i would ever feel safe driving in winter in US. Laws of physics dont change no matter how HC-driver you are especially if there is an unexpected situation like moose/deer on the road, only thing that matters is your tires and maybe abs. Its also nice not to have to wait ten minutes to get out of traffic lights. ;)

[Jimpank90]

Try a winter in sweden with tyres like the silver BMW and you will get stuck and you will slide into the ditches quite often. All season tyres in sweden are worthless.

[mies1888]

@Jimpank90 Finland has same thing =)

[bmwrocks325]

now lets get an AWD or 4x4 and do the same text in 4wheel drive

[benoitcaron]

@bmwrocks325 tell you what, traction on all-season vs. winter tires on my Grand Cherokee = not much of a difference...but AWD does not help you stop....

[bmwrocks325]

@benoitcaron ya i throw my truck into Neutral for best stopping

[nationaltyre]

Interesting take on winter tyres 

[abdaim]

It all depends on the driver and his/her experience .Driver must drive according to the road conditions and not what he has on the wheel or what type of vehicle he is driving. Just use common sense. Only in winter mountain road driving Winter Tires are useful.

[mfitz1969]

@abdaim As someone who lives in the flatlands of Minnesota I can assure you that you are quite wrong. Winter tires help even when it is cold and the roads are dry - and flat!

[kfl21]

THS IS BULL SHIT

[Milehighsnake98]

@kfl21 How is this bullshit? Too technical for you?

[kfl21]

@Milehighsnake98 no because if i want to make something seem unpredictable and dangeorous i can do that on t.v as wel they could have made it look as if the tires had the same grip ... furthermore the are trying to sell something to you it is in their interest to make it look like winter tires are the alternative and this is bullshit I have all season michelin's on my audi and have tried winter tires and it is the same thing. the point is (that you are missing )that you can make it seem like se

[Milehighsnake98]

@kfl21 So in other words, you don't understand it, so it's bullshit. That's all you had to say, "I don't get it, so it's bullshit". Funny thing though, is I know the difference. I drove today in a powerful RWD car with snow tires today with no problem.

[josh666675]

Buying all season tires. Who cars about 30 ft snows problem not yours.

[iSpawnAtHome]

at 1:10 why does the silver cars tires still move when they should be stopped, and the car should be sliding?

thats usually the problem in the winter, you break, your wheels stop rotating but your car slides; at 1:10 the wheels were still rotating, this is fishy

[arktikgraywolf]

@iSpawnAtHome because of abs and tracktion control

[Milehighsnake98]

@iSpawnAtHome That's what ABS does. It's called ANTI-lock brakes. That is when a computer stops the wheels from locking up like you describe.

[RyuuMasato]

Winter Tires + AWD + Snow = Fun

[Milehighsnake98]

@RyuuMasato Snow tires + RWD + Snow = almost as much fun.

[adamslurch71]

I would love to see a all season vs winter vs all terrain tire test, can you do that one tire rack? get all possibilities in there not just a few.

[fartman10284]

need to do a Continental ExtremeContact DWS vs. General Altimax Arctic vs Continental ExtremeWinterContact test..... The DWS has achieved lengendary status and most feel they are just as good as true winter tires in the snow/ice.

[mfitz1969]

@fartman10284 I have driven the DWS against the Altimax Arctic and Extreme Winter Contact on the same day, in the same conditions (about 2" snow with ice underneath) on very similar FWD compact cars. The Extreme Winter was dramatically better than the DWS but only minimally better than the General. But it was an informal test. Same route, same conditions, similar roads but 1 drivers subjective seat-of-the-pants conclusions. The DWS ain't all that, just better than other UHP-AS

[Rabska]

wheres the comparison fuck heads lol, when do the winter tires slip off the road at the same speed!

[soccerpeve]

Moral of the story? Black BMW's stop faster than Silver ones!!!

[MrTTqUaTtRo]

@soccerpeve LOL wow

[mpwelk]

Just ordered 4 General Altimax and 4 Steelies for my honda element. Can't wait! Tire Rack is the shiiiiiiiiiii

[kipp0man]

good info & good video - I liked it - thanks.

[Serenoj69]

As many tests have shown, good all season tires simply outperform mediocre wintertires and in some cases are on par with a good (not excellent) wintertire. Goodyear Vector4 or 5, Hankook Optimo 4S and Vredestein Quatrac 3: in many test they do very well. Which ones were used here? We dont know. Compared to the Nokian wintertires, these AS tires do really well. I prefer Hankook, but have the Quatracs. Lots of snow here in all forms in The Netherlands. Slush, powder, blizzard: no problem at all!

[jonkolo13]

@Serenoj69 They look like my Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60's. I love them! Any good winter tire will have a softer compound then any all season tire has therefore they provide more traction on cold dry or wet pavement, ice, and snow. Any good winter tire has the mountain snowflake symbol, and very few all season tires have that marking. If you can find one then fine, it is probably a good all season tire for winter use, but they are rare.

[Serenoj69]

@jonkolo13 AW with snowflake symbol? Vredestein, goodyear, hankook etc. On dry snow or ice, good winters do better. Nokian developed a reproducable slushtest. The AWtires (Vredestein especially) did better than any other tire. In many countries, like mine, slush is common. Slush is also the factor that causes most accidents of all conditions. Good AWtires? In my opinion: "Good on all surfaces, master of few!" if that is a compromise, there is little in life you can buy that isn't I think...

[Marcinrkl]

How is it that at 0:58 they take corner at 30MPH and at the same corner 1:58 at 25MPH one of the bmws gets all retarted and crashes into the snow...someone explain that to me!

[Marcinrkl]

Sorry. I mean 1:45

[jonkolo13]

@Marcinrkl 0:58 was not @ 30MPH until they accelerated slightly after the corner. Once they hit the straight away they increased their speed to 30 then braked. The benefits of winter tires are huge. My RWD 2011 Mustang equiped with Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60's will stop shorter, corner better, and accelerate just as fast or faster then pretty much any car with all season tires excluding the acceleration of AWD vehicles. This video is not fake. Trust me, you would have to see it to believe it!

[phunkblister]

STILL...CAUTIOUS DRIVING IS BEST..STAY IN IF YOU CAN..DONT TRY THAT HILL YOUR NOT SURE ABOUT....DONT LET SNOW DEMONS BOTHER YOU ...AND YOU CAN'T STOP OTHERS FROM HITTIN YOU. I HAD SOME FREAKIN CHEAP RUNWAY TIRES ONCE AND MADE IT THROUGH LAKE TAHOE SNOW...HA

[luisdelariva]

I live in Minnesota my car has all season goodyears no complaints, some people here have winter tires, but is so expensive. I rely on always having enough time to go where I have to. And only driving if needed in the snow. We only get an average of 17 snow falls per winter. All season works fine for me.

[Serenoj69]

@luisdelariva We already have had 11 snowfalls this winter in The Netherlands. And as I wrote, the allseason tires did very well. They should have said which tires they used. Just saying winter and All season tire is not enoigh, given the huge differences between brands. The Goodyears are very good though! Good choice! In The Netherlands they were tested as an excellent winter tire. In a couple of years, I wil also try the Hankook and the Goodyears..

[Serenoj69]

Wintertires are better, but you cannot say: wintertire versus all season tire. Test over here in The Netherlands gave these results.Wintertires stop (brake) at 30m, allseason: 35m and summertires 65m. That puts things in another perspective. Moreover one brand fares much better than the other. Hankook Optomo all season doing very well under all conditions, Sava Adapto HR being close to it and others doping horribly...

[sonicpet]

Try visiting Finland, Sweden or Norway during the winter. Then you will find out why everyone (except a few in the southernmost parts of the countries) drive with studded winter tires...

[MrSlowSkyline]

4/20 drive in the snow with bald summer tires every day.

[Energetik981]

EDIT: I don't mean wrong test, but as I see from video, this is no all-season tyre, but just average summer tyre. True all-season tyre has many sipes in the centre of tread.

[Energetik981]

I don't know which type of all-season tyres you have in USA, but all-season tyres in Europe are specialists for snow, adapted for summer weather. Goodyear Vector4seasons is as good on snow/ice as any pure winter tyre. So this video is obsolete or wrong.

[TofuProductionCinema]

Because I have no choice, I have to drive my rear wheel drive in the winter, but luckily I have different wheels as well as tires for the winter. I currently run Dunlop SP Winters but since they are directional winter sport tires, I grip fine going forward but reverse is a whole other story. Which is why I will be replacing my rear tires soon to the Blizzak LM25's. Great video.

[ivancalderonez]

i survived a bad winter with all season tires by just driving safely, i believe 4 wheel abs and stc did help alot also. if you have to go out use common sense and don't fear too much if your car is equipped well enough without a new set of winter tires.

[shawnheather323i]

@ivancalderonez Disagree, you must not live where there is a lot of snow!

[Pimpjit85]

@ivancalderonez People around the world get into accidents witout snow. Winter tires were not invented to improve common sense. Accidents occur due to a multitude of reasons; winter tires try to eliminate 1 of the main causes in winter - snow&ice. Instead of imagining winter driving scenarios, think summer and substitute winter conditions. Can u make a full stop in winter with all-seasons and avoid hitting a child if he runs into the street? That's 1 simple example, but I hope a made my point.

[MXSLICK]

the problem with winter tires is it gives a false sense of security...people tend to drive faster and follow closer and more often then not they are the ones getting into accidents. The people with all seasons drive defensively and stay out of trouble.

[mzb007]

you need a car with a manual gearbox. to engage or disengage the clutch if it is slippery.

[djt2012]

1:51 The guy driving the silver car is drunk.

[Mantronix10]

Tire Rack should be called Tire Rats. Don't buy tires from them. They don't stand behind their warranty. I had a new tire blow out and the other 4 were bad when examined. Tire Rack won't warranty them and neither will the tire company. Don't make the mistake of buying tires online. Tire were meant to be bough locally. Trust me. In the long run, it's worth the extra money you might pay at your local tire shops.

[5959512]

conflict of intrest, they want to sell you aftermarket snows .27 seconds, and 1:55 sec was done for effect because any idot who knows how to drive a rear wheel drive car would have kicked out the rear end an do a slight drift, instead of straight drove off the road. I bought really expensive studded snow tires and they were worse then my factory all seasons

[informant007]

I've lived in the NY metropolitan area (CT/NJ/NY) for many years with just all-season tires. Yes, when a major snow storm hits, I am out of luck in that I have to drive like a granny to be safe. But that's about one day out of each storm, because shortly thereafter the roads have been plowed. Now if I were driving up to the north on a regular basis during the winter, e.g. skiing in Vermont, I'd definitely get a set of snow tires. Otherwise, all-season can do just fine.

[mzb007]

@informant007 - you must one of the ignorant people alive. all-season tires are deadly, it is dangerous in the summer and in the winter. almost nobody in norway uses all-season tires for one reason. the winters are bigger and worse in the NY area. i would never drive an inch with a car that have all-season tires.

[informant007]

@mzb007 You sling a heck of a lot of judgment. "One of the most ignorant people alive", displays far more ignorance on your part. If all-season tires were deadly, THEY WOULDN'T BE SOLD. Nobody would recommend them. Many people would have reported accidents due to them. I can attest to them being fine, capable tires. Your arrogance is uncalled for. Take some time and think about it...

[dieselboy77]

funny how i avoided an accident saturday thanks for my winter tires, also i went thru 8 inches of snow and didnt get stuck

[bomberfun1]

Rule of thumb, I don't trust the manufacturer promises. I just drive at a safe threshold, when I know there is enough distance to stop and there is enough traction to make a turn.

[bomberfun1]

But I have been driving with ALL-SEASON goodyear tires all year round and thanks God, I haven't had any problems turning, maybe not at 40 mph, but generally speaking, I never ended up twisting my car 180 degrees on an intersection. If there are bad conditions, both All-season and Winter tires end up in a ditch, at least in Canadian winters.

[AlwaysWrenching]

I have 4 studded winter tires from Tire Rack on my Volkswagen TDI. I feel like a God among mortals in the snow and ice. I've been comfortably cruising at the speed limit in the left hand lane in virgin snow while passing 25mph 4x4's and sport-utes riding in the tracks in the right lane. The comparison between true winter tires and All-Season tires in the snow is like shooting a bullet and throwing it.

[iraqifreak]

its very smart to test both cars at the same time, so that in case a car slides it would definitely crash into the other :D

[dieselboy77]

bomber my car can turn in corner 40 mph without sliding in a snow with my winter tires

[parsley0120]

I don't think this test is all that fair. I mean getting aftermarket winter tires and keeping the OEM all seasons on the other one. OEM tires are usually crap tires that don't last long at all and hardly perform well in rain. Of course the winter tires will be better but I think it would be a little more fair if they got some better all seasons and then did this test.

[rifleslol]

the entire point is that most people that think of driving as just getting from point a to point b, and have no real driving skills or knowledge, are going to buy a car and then drive it, not even thinking about the tires. this test shows the differences between the tires that most people are using, vs what they should be using.

[bomberfun1]

@ 1:54 the second car did not even attempt to turn. It's just a commercial. I drive all season and I can turn like other cars on winter tires. It's minuscule difference. Who corners at high speeds in Winter regardless of winter or all-season tires?

[aznxkilla22]

@bomberfun1 nooo but my car slides everywhere and its fwd with all season tires, and i cant turn if i go faster than 20, the traction control always on, if its off my car would be off da road many times, i thik u can actually see the wheel of the second car turned too

[ChupoCro]

@bomberfun1 Exactly as you've said, everyone can see the second driver PURPOSELY turns the wheel too late. All three tests are the worst fake I've ever seen :-)))))) Look how the driver fakes he has problems with keeping the straight line in the first test. Reminds me of old car chase movies when car drives 40 km/h and meanders from left to the right edge of the road. Who'd buy this propaganda?? Disgusting :-(

[sidehop]

Even with my small FWD Mazda Protege5 was going through 4" of heavy snow like nothing with snow tires. It won't make you invincible but it makes a world of difference. Granted the road is not plowed than I had some slipping going on but we'll see how switching to Yokohama Ice Guard IS20 will do against the Icebear W300 which was okay...but could be better.

[jtbo]

I Recommend Continental ExtremeContact or Michelin X-Ice, those I know being pretty good in Europe, so should be good in US too, even models are probably bit different.

I have some Yokohamas at my Pontiac, but those don't have a lot of grip really.

Found out those tires being available when checked from tire rack site.

[Guitarnoob99]

holy shit im geting winter tires ! i do not want to crash !

[8motion]

Best tires...are Nokian... I have them..on the cars tested in this review...the best..( and they are runflats)..

[Poorestgump]

more traction, better handling substitute road noise and speed for safety. AWD, stability control, slip assistance etc.. can only go so far. Winter tires does all the work on snow. I've seen videos of cars compared on snow but they never considered stating winter tires installed, what a bunch of nonsense. Install winter tires on any SUV then compare them, that's where you get result. Tirerack is the best I only order my tires on them wide selection and cheap tires.

[jschreiberxxxxxj]

yeah you need snow tires!

[yout10101012]

with snow tires, you'll stop in a much shorter distance and miss hitting the car in front of you, but will get rear-ended by the 18 year old driving his Grand Am with balding tires behind you.

[Poorestgump]

haha! true

[Barrettfloyd82]

But the accident wouldn't be counted against you.

[sunnyjason]

@yout10101012 or. you could turn the steering and get away.

[pooponjcena]

@yout10101012 lol damn winter driving

[CemetaryGatesML]

@yout10101012 im guessing you bought winter tires, and got rear ended by a dumbass driving a grand am? LOL

[bustedpiggybank]

@yout10101012 at least its not your fault and thats what insurance is for

[rimplecord]

@bustedpiggybank

and what about the millions of people with no insurance

[rimplecord]

@bustedpiggybank

and what about the millions of people with no insurance, then what? your still screwed, at best, they will pay your deductible, but more than likely you are SCREWED

[disengagejam]

@yout10101012 -- haha, how true this is ...

[suburbanator91]

@yout10101012, Pretty detailed, can I safly assume that this is exactly what happened to you?

[Eclipse1988]

@yout10101012 And the insurance will blame him for hitting you, rather than you for hitting the dick in front of you, and you can get a nice new paint job :)

[rumswigger]

@yout10101012 then it's his fault though haha

[kowal789]

@yout10101012 but see, if only it was a responsable 16 year old behind you with REAL winter tires on his car instead... i love my winter tires, they help SO much at intersections. i have a RWD car, and its more heavier then usual too. 1985 oldsmobile cutlass supreme. i cant imagine me recieving the worst of the damage of any car accident i may encounter this winter. its a tank. and if not careful, tanks are hard to stop!

[arktikgraywolf]

@kowal789 The heavier the car, the better thracktion it provides (if good tires are used)

[rotarydialz]

People without snow tires slow the rest of the traffic to a crawl. They also like to form their tailgating convoys in the lane with the least ice and snow.

[BornZombie]

@rotarydialz - you must be kidding?? This winter as second/winter car I'm driving Golf II on all season tiers and trust me even here in Sweden I'don't drive under 60mph some times 80mph+, I can't remember how many times I was stuck in traffic because of some "good" driver with equipped winter tires still doing 30mph on highway.. So winter tires, abs,tsc got nothing to do with your driving skills, it's all up to driver.. ;)

[mississauga0909]

aside from wearing out faster, is there any other reasons why I could.t keep my snows on all winter and summer? I have a civic that I only use fo local trips. Labour cost of changing them will be eliminated.

[MESAeng]

how is this video valid with two different model cars? Only identical cars would yield useful results.

[mrloganthinks]

are you kidding me? Both cars are the same, BMW 3 series, but they are only a different colour. I'm sure you are a woman.

[Victortrotska]

@mrloganthinks Everybody knows the black color makes car more performant! That's just basic physics man! LOL

[FuriousHondaBoy]

@mrloganthinks Yeah but black is much hotter on winter sun :D

[g0dbel0w]

It's the same car with different color. You must be a rocket surgeon.

[nacho426hemicuda]

I suppose that when at driving in ice is like been in a road cover in oil, you can pass but you cant make any hard moves or brake to hard, but that's yust a think i have never drive in ice terms.

[Jim4575]

Good video , I used to think all season tires were fine in the winter till I tried a set of Nokian Hakkapelitta Rsi's in March 08 Toronto. I've never felt such control and grip. I drove through some nearly unploughed highway and I had complete control even when braking. Snow tires just plain work. There are many brands to choose from. Get 4 not 2. Extra rims are a plus too. You will notice the difference . It's worth the money .

[jtbo]

And if you can get some Scandinavian compond Hakkapeliitta 5's (or some other studded Scandinavian compound tires) then you will find even better traction, almost like summer even on ice.

I must say after watching these videos that there would be room for improvent in winter tyre testing, but I guess there is not so large markets for those in US as many are used to all season tyres and heavier cars than us in Scandinavia.

[Jim4575]

Studded tires would give even better traction but they are illegal here in Ontario, so good winter tires will have to do. There is room for improvement in testing as some of those conditions are a bit exaggerated but they do prove snow tires do make difference in snow. Yes there isn't a large market in the US but a least where there needed they try to make people aware of snowtires.

[jtbo]

Indeed those annoying laws that probhit best safety, we have that with lights, can't put lights to car that could actually be good.

Hopefully as many people as possible are testing winter tires, those will never go back to all season at least where there is proper winter like in Canada and Alaska.

Do they allow snow chains there? Those can save a day sometimes too.

[Jim4575]

No they don't allow chains here but maybe in Quebec. Problem was some people would keep them on to long chewing up the highway.

I know I won't go back to an all season tire.

[AmonBabii]

My understanding is that snow chains are permitted in Canada for off-road use only.

The consensus is that snow chains are permitted on paved roads in rural Canada if you plead that you require them for off-road or field towing, but are limited to a very low speed on paved roads--about 15km/h.

Studs are illegal because they destroy the road surface, kick up ice/debris at pedestrians, and are dangerous in Canada's unpredictably mixed road conditions (slush, snow, rain) due to changing traction.

[jtbo]

Studs actually even out traction between different conditions in reality, however government reality often differs from science reality by quite large amount :D

In Finland same different conditions, 60 ton trucks are what destroy our road surfaces even almost all cars have studs here.

Our tarmac however is very different from central europe, our is very rough and has lot more of hard rocks in it, very lot of road noise here too.

[spokismONE]

BMW club did some testing... seems that high quality stud-less tires perform better than studded. the new stud-less technology is very advanced. Also alot of the testing was done on an ice rink which says alot for the stud-less

[jtbo]

That depends from lot of things, but I have been running now one of the best northern europe stud-less tires for over a year and they are good, but only on clear or black ice they are lacking a bit compared to best northern europe studded tires.

Central european winter tires have lot less grip than these, american tires I have no idea what those are. That is what magazines here (Finland) tell too.

My current tires are Continental WinterViking 5

Any winter tire is better than all seasons.

[racbts]

Great video!

[tgurdak]

this video could be pretty biased..the OEM tire car could be giving much less gas, etc...hoping more people buy winter tires from there site

[stugasm]

you obviously dont live where there is snow. night and day between all season and winter tires. ;)

[GodStink]

What sort of ding-a-ling drives around on icy roads at 50kph?!?

[meandmyevo]

i live in fairbanks alaska and have no problem cruising at 75-80 MPH on the most F***** up roads you can immagine. the most contributing factors are Driver, Vehicle, Tires in that order. I have the advantage of a history in alaskan ice-racing though...

[GodStink]

I dunno, I got a pretty f**ked up imagination ...

[meandmyevo]

have you ever seen 25 MPH winds blow parked cars across parking lots? that's about as f**ked up as it gets.

[GodStink]

Winter tyres not much help there then. One usually assumes problems encountered with driving on ice are erm encountered while ahem driving ...

[meandmyevo]

haha

well, there really is a big difference. studed tires make the biggest difference.

[GodStink]

Yeah really? Do the stopping test at 20kph and we'll see ... the difference in potential energy at 50Mph over regular traffic speeds in icy conditions is somewhat larger - over-emphasizing any effectiveness ...

And if you look at the studded vs non-studded test on the RHS links you'll see that studded tyres aren't that flash ... according to the test LOL

[meandmyevo]

blizzaks are good for icy roads with snow or water on them, but if it's JUST dry bare ice, then the studs are a tiny bit more grabby than normal winter tires. too bad they can't make super soft studded tires, those would totally own ;-)

[jtbo]

I have no idea, I drive over 80kph mostly, it is only ice.

[jtbo]

This was reply to GodStink's post, however from some reason message was not posted to correct location.

[eurotaillight]

Depends on what car you drive...

[fakenphoney]

ALL OEM TIRES ARE GARBAGE.

[davybabyson]

True say