ÖAMTC Winter Tire Test: Over a Third "Insufficient"

"225/40 R18 is a size that is increasingly gaining popularity for lower mid-range vehicles. The 31 tested models are divided into six premium, eleven quality, and fourteen budget tires," explains ÖAMTC expert Steffan Kerbl. Overall, all premium tires were able to claim the result "good" for themselves, a "satisfactory" was awarded ten times, there were also four "adequate" and a substantial eleven "inadequate".

Over a third "inadequate", premium tires impress in environmental performance

The premium tires were overall convincing in this test round, although not across the board. All six models in this class achieved an overall result of "good", with the Kleber Krisalp HP3 and the Nokian Tyres WR Snowproof P having slight issues on winter roads and narrowly missing a good result in this category. However, the convincing performance in the "environmental performance" category, where mileage, wear, and efficiency are heavily weighted, ultimately ensured that all six candidates achieved a good result. The Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3 performed best, which can also be confidently described as the best all-rounder of the test round - ahead of the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 and the Bridgestone Blizzak 6 in third place.

The models in the "quality tires" segment had somewhat larger problems in this year's test: "Three of the eleven products in this category only achieved an 'adequate' and thus no purchase recommendation. The remaining eight quality tires were at least rated 'satisfactory', which qualifies them for a limited purchase recommendation," says the ÖAMTC expert.

All eleven tire models that only received the rating "inadequate" had major problems, especially in the "driving safety" category, which is the most heavily weighted in the test. "These tires are absolutely not recommendable and pose a real safety risk. It was particularly noticeable this time that all these eleven tire models come from the budget segment. However, it should also be mentioned for the sake of completeness that two budget tires were at least able to achieve a 'satisfactory' result - so they showed slight weaknesses but could still be an acceptable alternative for infrequent drivers," summarizes Kerbl.

The Syron Everest 2 was particularly negatively noticeable, which according to Kerbl falls victim to the classic conflict of objectives of winter tires: "On the one hand, it achieves the best result on winter roads, on the other hand, it is almost unusable on dry and wet roads, thus greatly endangering driving safety. This ultimately also ensures that it achieved the worst result of the entire field."

ÖAMTC Winter Tire Test: Large Differences on Wet Roads

The performance gap is particularly wide in the braking test on wet roads: While the Goodyear tire came to a stop after 31.7 meters, the Syron Everest needed 47.1 meters - and thus still about 5 meters more than the penultimate test candidate. To better illustrate, the remaining speeds can also be considered. While the Goodyear has already come to a stop, you still have 40 km/h with the Evergreen and almost 46 km/h with the Syron on the speedometer. A collision at such speeds could have drastic consequences," explains Kerbl.

"Despite the results of this test round, it can be stated that one should not generally conclude the quality of the tires from the price class. Even supposedly cheaper models can repeatedly offer satisfactory performance and thus secure a place among the recommended tires. So anyone who always wants to make a good choice is well advised with tests like ours," concludes the mobility club's technical expert.

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