Winter tires, like true all-rounders, must ensure safety in all weather conditions. Will this be at the expense of driving pleasure or will there be sufficient dynamics? We test 12 winter tires in size 225 / 40R18 on a Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Winter tires reliably transport people and cars to their destination at low temperatures. Summer tires do not stand a chance on the 4 test items on snow, as shown by our test with a Volkswagen Golf GTI. The summer tires, which we took part in the winter tests for reference, are just as at home on a snowy mountain pass as a pair of flip flops. In some countries, such as Germany, it is therefore mandatory to drive on winter tires in winter conditions. We can imagine this, because it prevents chaos once it has snowed. On the other hand, how often has that happened in recent years? Tires suitable for driving over snow and ice can be recognized by the mountain icon on the tire sidewall with snowflake. And these are not empty promises, because the twelve winter tires with snowflake symbol in the size 225/40 R18 that we have put to the test in this test, are almost perfect.
Naturally, it has also been tested on dry and wet roads. Then the story is slightly different, in wet conditions the summer tire can go with the best winter tires and on dry roads the summer tire is far superior.
The Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 came out on top in the category of winter tires for sports cars. In addition, the Hankook Winter iCept Evo3 W330, the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5, the GoodYear Ultragrip Performance + and the Vredestein Wintrac Pro a judgment ‘excellent’.
The complete Techzle Sport-Winter tire test 2020 with all candidates and all measurement results can be read this week in Techzle 46 (11-18 November), or is available digitally at the bottom of this article.
Price comparator
With the Techzle Car tires Price comparison we offer you a handy tool to find the best deals on winter tires. Currently, the price comparison site provides an overview of the full range of twenty different tire providers. All tire tests from previous years can also be found here.
Also see: