Winter still seems to be far away, but for three reasons it’s time to debate winter tires – ground frosts may already appear, especially in the mountains, tire shops will be getting busier in the coming weeks and November 1 is slowly but surely approaching. .
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On that day, the legal obligation to use winter tires comes into force if there is a continuous layer of snow, ice or icing on the road, or if this can be expected.
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Used winter tires must also have a tread depth of at least 4 mm in the main tread grooves in order to comply with the legal obligation. At shallower depths, the rubber compound still has winter properties, but it will not drain water and slush so well, apart from the risk of a fine from a vigilant police officer.
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The German car club ADAC, which tests the tires regularly, this time lit up the 205/55 R16 and 235/55 R17 tires. In both cases, the results again show that if you reach for a well-known European brand, the probability that you will make a mistake is small. But of course there are exceptions, in both tables.
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The winter tire is identified by the “M + S” marking and / or snowflakes on the background of the mountain peak. For our police, any of these brands is enough, for example, in Germany, a snowflake is necessary.
Behavior on wet (30%), followed by snow (20%), dry (15%) and ice (10%) has the greatest weight in the evaluation. Other criteria are noise, fuel consumption and tire wear.
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Dimension 205/55 R16
Among the 16-inch tires, none got the best mark of “very good”, but “good” (mark 1.6-2.5) is exactly five. A bit surprising may be the relatively low placement of the Continental and Pirelli brands, which are both “satisfactory” (mark 2.6-3.5).
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It should be noted that ADAC uses, in addition to the weighted average, the rule that if a mark is below a certain threshold in one of the main categories, the resulting average cannot be better than that mark, even if the tire is the best in other disciplines. Therefore, in some cases, the assessment may seem unfair.
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| ADAC winter tire test | Evaluation | |||
| 205/55 R16 |
on dry land | in the wet |
on the snow |
total mark |
| Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 | 2,1 | 1,3 | 2,1 | 2,0 |
| Michelin Alpin 6 | 2,5 | 2,0 | 2,1 | 2,1 |
| Dunlop Winter Sport 5 | 2,5 | 2,3 | 2,0 | 2,2 |
| Hankook i*cept RS2 | 2,5 | 2,0 | 2,1 | 2,2 |
| Maxxis Premitra Sonw WP6 | 2,0 | 2,3 | 2,5 | 2,4 |
| Falken Eurowinter HS01 | 2,9 | 2,3 | 2,7 | 2,9 |
| Continental WinterContact TS860 | 3,0 | 1,8 | 2,0 | 3,0 |
| Goodyear UltraGrip 9+ | 3,0 | 2,0 | 1,8 | 3,0 |
| Sava Eskimo HP2 | 3,1 | 3,1 | 2,5 | 3,1 |
| Toyo Observe S 944 | 3,2 | 2,5 | 2,3 | 3,2 |
| Pirelli Cinturato Winter | 3,3 | 2,2 | 1,8 | 3,3 |
| Giti GitiWinger W1 | 3,4 | 3,3 | 2,0 | 3,4 |
| Semperit Speed-Grip 3 | 3,7 | 2,1 | 1,9 | 3,7 |
| King Meiler Winter Tact WT81 | 3,7 | 5,4 | 2,9 | 5,4 |
| Tristar Snowpower HP | 2,2 | 5,5 | 4,3 | 5,5 |
| Grading similar to school: 0.6 – best, 5.5 – worst | ||||
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Two tires completely failed – they received a rating of “insufficient” (grade 4.6-5.5), due to their poor performance on wet roads. The Tristar Snowpower HP and the King Meiler Winter Tact WT81 protector were the worst in the snow in addition to wet; Although King Meiler received the best rating of all in terms of wear, it only means that you would ride longer on lousy tires than would have to be replaced.
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Dimension 235/55 R17
The cheap Esa + Tecar brand, which finished second between Michelin and Goodyear with the Supergrip Pro, provided a surprise for the larger tires. Performance on wet and snow was above average and was the best in wear together with Semperit.
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| ADAC summer tire test | Evaluation | |||
| 235/55 R17 |
on dry land | in the wet | on the snow | total mark |
| Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 | 1,9 | 2,3 | 1,8 | 2,1 |
| Esa+Tecar Supergrip Pro | 2,7 | 2,6 | 2,2 | 2,7 |
| Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ | 2,7 | 2,2 | 2,3 | 2,7 |
| Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV | 2,2 | 2,5 | 2,8 | 2,8 |
| Vredestein Wintrac Pro | 2,2 | 2,3 | 2,8 | 2,8 |
| Nokian WR Snowproof | 2,5 | 2,9 | 2,5 | 2,9 |
| Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 | 3,0 | 1,5 | 2,2 | 3,0 |
| Kleber Krisalp HP3 | 3,0 | 2,4 | 2,0 | 3,0 |
| Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 | 3,0 | 2,3 | 2,6 | 3,0 |
| Cooper Discoverer Winter | 3,1 | 3,1 | 2,2 | 3,1 |
| Fulda Kristall Control SUV | 3,1 | 3,1 | 2,6 | 3,1 |
| Continental WinterContact TS850 P | 3,4 | 1,9 | 2,7 | 3,4 |
| Semperit Speed-Grip 3 SUV | 3,9 | 2,7 | 2,6 | 3,9 |
| Grading similar to school: 0.6 – best, 5.5 – worst | ||||
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The second surprise is not so pleasant, as the Continental WinterContact TS850 P finished second from the end. He still entered the mark with a “satisfactory” rating, but the overall mark of 3.4 is much worse than how the WinterContacty TS860 turned out in a smaller size.
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For larger tires, however, we see smaller differences between the tip and tail of the table – there is no “insufficient” tire.
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