While attitudes towards cold weather tyres or winter tyres are changing, there is still the belief by many British motorists that “We don’t get enough snow to make them worth while” or that they “Are only good for a couple of weeks in the year” – If you are one of these motorist who still need convincing of the benefits that winter tyres bring then read on ….

Auto Express carried out 3 tests for Snow Braking, Snow Traction and Snow Handling using a mixture of cold weather, all season and summer tyres including Continental Winter Contact, Dunlop Winter Sport 3D, Vredestein Quatrac (all season), Vredestein Xtreme (winter tyre), Goodyear Ultragrip 7+, Pirelli Sotto Zero, Nokian Wr-G2 and the Continental Sport Contact 2 summer tyre.

Snow Braking Test:

The results showed the fastest braking tyre was Goodyear’s Ultragrip 7+ which managed to stop in less than 18 metres. The Continental Sport Contact 2 summer tyre took 43.14 metres in like for like testing. This equates to around 6 car lengths. The Continental summer tyres was still traveling at 20 mph at the point where the Goodyear Ultragrip 7+ had stopped !!

Snow Traction Test:

The traction test consisted of accelerating from walking pace until the tyres on the test car began to spin. This test again showed the Goodyear Ultragrip 7+ as the top performer with 300% more grip than the Continental summer tyre.

Snow Handling Test:

The purpose built Skanska snow handling track was the location of the final snow test. At 500 metres long and consisting of hairpins and long sweeping off camber turns this environment is perfect for test the limitations of the tyres on test.

The tests were based on lap times with the traction control both on and off and the winning Continental Winter Contact managed to complete the track just under a minute faster than it’s summer equivalent.

Auto Express says the winter tyres inspired confidence and have a big advantage over summer patterns used by the majority of uk drivers by offering huge advantages in grip and safety in cold weather.

For further information on Winter Tyres, Cold Weather Tyres or Snow Tyres visit “Winter Tyres – Why ?”

Auto Express also went on to test these tyres in rain conditions as well as seeing how they faired in all year usage. For further information or more depth on the tests carried out by Auto Express you can find it in their latest magazine under “Best Winter Tyres Tested – Why You MUST Fit Them” dated 27th October 2010 (No. 1,138).