We are standing on the threshold of a period when the risk of snow and ice clearly warrants changing to special coats. Are the cheap ones comparable to the products of established brands?
Seven or eight years ago, you could easily bet that once a tire had an unknown brand and a low price, it would fail a comparison test with a reputable manufacturer. This is no longer the case today, even on the Auto Tip website, comparisons were already presented where, for example, Infinity or Giti tires clearly outperformed competitors from Semperit, Kumha or Yokohama in the critical discipline of braking.
These small triumphs are not frequent, but they multiply. At the same time, however, it can be said that cheap manufacturers still have problems spreading higher quality throughout their range, or rather maintaining it in the long term. In addition, their set is constantly swelling with new and new brands that make orientation difficult.
A good example is also the latest test of winter tires of the size 235/55 R 18, in which the ACE and ARBÖ car clubs and the GTÜ testing laboratory participated. In the lineup you will also find the Fortuna pattern, which is a private brand of the giant Belgian distributor Deldo with a fifty-year tradition. However, in the endless lists of various e-shops, you can easily mistake it for Fortune, which is a Chinese manufacturer for a change. Not that the first-named product was born elsewhere than in Asia and had a significantly different quality, but still…
The Fortuna Winter SUV model in the selection was accompanied by reasonably priced tires from the Chinese brands Austone and Sailun, which you can buy for more than half the price compared to seven competitors with more famous names. The low-temperature tests took place on snowy roads at -4.5 degrees Celsius in Ivalo, Finland, the others on Goodyear’s test track in Mirevalo, France at 13 to 18 degrees.
Acceleration on snowy roads was not a problem for either tire. Braking on snow took place from a speed of 35 km/h: here, too, the test field was close together and showed solid results. The Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 tire with a braking distance of 12.26 meters was the worst, followed surprisingly by the Austone Skadi SP-901. There were also no significant deviations when examining the handling on snow.
Austone surprised again, it was on the same level as the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 SUV. Both models were easy to drive in the snow, had good lateral control and responded quickly to changes in the road surface. The Sailun ICE Blazer Alpine Evo 1 showed slight weaknesses in terms of cornering traction and stability, especially on uphill sections.
Braking on dry roads from 100 km/h was at a high level with almost all tyres. Only the Fortuna Winter SUV was out of line with a track of 45.3 meters – the best Michelin Pilot Alpin stopped after 40.4 m. In terms of handling, Hankook, Goodyear, Nokian, Pirelli, Bridgestone and Continental tires were ahead in the dry. The Fortuna and Austone tires, on the other hand, showed too much understeer, were more difficult to steer in corners and were generally too spongy and imprecise to drive.
When braking on a wet road from 80 km/h, the Hankook I*cept evo3 x had a distance of 30.4 meters. Those who failed were representatives of the brands Fortuna (41 meters) and Austone (38.8 meters). There were also huge differences in wet handling.
The Bridgestone, Goodyear and Nokian treads were the best, very accurate when keeping track and changing direction. The cheaper products were disappointing: the Sailun casing was still almost acceptable, but the Austone and Fortuna products turned out to be a disaster. It was no wonder that in the wet disciplines, neither of them reached double-digit points.
Winter tires 235/55 R 18
Number of points
Verdict
Snow Wet Dry Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 60 64 41 Very Good Hankook I*cept evo3 x 61 62 43 Good Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 SUV 63 57 42 Good Continental WinterContact TS 870 P 60 56 42 Good Nokian Snowproof 2 SUV 59 59 41 Good Goodyear UltraGrip Performance + SUV* 58 58 42 Good Pirelli Scorpion Winter 2 59 56 42 Good Sailun ICE Blazer Alpine Evo 1 54 51 38 With reservations Austone Skadi SP-901 63 24 36 Not recommended Fortuna Winter SUV 60 12 28 Not recommended * There is currently a tire on the market with the new mixture, but it was not yet available when the test was being prepared
Novelty
The successor to the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ tire from the test (as well as the UltraGrip 9+ tire) is the UltraGrip Performance 3 series. Since this September, a complete series of 94 designs in sizes from 14 to 21 inches has been on sale. The novelty, also suitable for heavy and powerful electric cars, promises a stronger grip in soft and deep snow or greater resistance to aquaplaning. The improvement also concerns weight, rolling resistance, noise or aerodynamics. The pattern is intended for cars such as Alfa Romeo Giulia, Audi A6/S6, BMW i4 M50, BMW 4 Gran Coupé, Cupra Formentor, Tesla Model S Plaid, Smart #1, Toyota Aygo X or Volvo C40/XC40.
One would think that cheap jackets with scary properties would blow any such test into oblivion. But that’s stupid, millions of motorists don’t even need to know about it, or rather they’ll tell you that they do “my driving is more than enough for that”. Well, if you know what you’re getting, you can prepare for it. But what if carsharing companies, etc., are also thinking anyway…
2023-10-29 16:50:00
#TEST #Winter #tires #Surprising #results #cheap #wellknown #brands
