It’s not uncommon for motoring clubs or magazines to withhold their recommendation when testing tyres, but they typically reserve this cautionary result for low-priced candidates that struggle to compete against premium and mid-range rivals. But Autozeitung has declined to recommend no less than five tyres in its 2023 all-season test – more than half the entire field – including products from known names.
As promised, Auto Bild has further tested the 16 tyres remaining in its 2023 all-season test following the elimination of 19 products whose combined wet and dry braking distances didn’t make the grade. The motoring publication’s test team gave five of the size 225/45 R17 tyres their highest ‘exemplary’ rating and they declared a further three ‘good’ tyres. The remaining eight products finished testing with ‘satisfactory’ or ‘conditionally recommended’ ratings.
AutoBild Allrad’s 2023 test of 10 all-season SUV tyres gave four tyres the top “exemplary” grade, with two joint-winners. In Germany, all-season tyres have grown with the most recent product generations’ improved technology, despite the traditional strength of its seasonal tyre change market. The magazine, one of Germany’s leading consumer automotive publications, said the top-ranking tyres in its latest test have “matured into true heroes of road traffic.” At the other end of the scale, three of the size 235/65 R17 108 V/W tyres were described as “not recommended”, while three other tyres gained “satisfactory” and “good” final verdicts. So which all-season products could AutoBild Allrad “unreservedly recommend” to motorists?
Michelin is recalling more than half a million all-season light truck tyres in the USA and Canada as they carry the 3PMSF symbol on the sidewall but do not comply with related local legislation. The voluntary recall affects up to 542,110 aftermarket Michelin Agilis CrossClimate C-Metric tyres produced in France and Poland.
The latest Michelin all-season tyre for SUVs has been launched in European markets. Arriving from 1 May, Michelin says the CrossClimate 2 SUV is targeted at “drivers seeking a safe ride first and foremost, regardless of the SUV category.” It adds that this “new generation of four-season tyres” combines “multiple performances” and allows drivers to “contend with the majority of weather conditions, no matter the season.” CrossClimate 2 SUV is available at launch in 40 dimensions for 17- to 20-inch rim diameters.
From 1 March, motorhome drivers keen to extend the camping season beyond the summer months have a new tyre option in the form of the Michelin CrossClimate Camping. By summer 2022 Michelin will offer the tyre in eight dimensions, a line-up that covers 99 per cent of the market.
The improvement in the quality of all-season tyres has supported their sustained growth in Europe. While the latest test by the DACH region’s leading auto clubs continued to characterise the product as an unrecommended compromise, German magazine ratings this year have been much less snooty about the segment. Joining the UK’s leading consumer testers in praising the latest generation of year-round fitments, was AutoBild, among the industry’s most coveted ratings, while the most recent Sportauto test gave six out of the seven candidates “good” or even “very good” overall grades. The test acknowledges the advantages of seasonal rubber via two Bridgestone control tyres, the Turanza T005 summer tyre and the Blizzak LM005, but also points out the “amazing qualities” of the seven test subjects on cold-wet and cold-dry roads. The seven all-season tyres were tested in size 225/45 R18 on a BMW 330i.
Tyre Reviews has made the newly released Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen-3 its 2020 All Season 17” Test winner. Putting nine all-season tyres in size 225/45 R17 through their paces at Goodyear’s testing facilities in Finnish Lapland and the south of France, tester Jonathan Benson gave additional recommendations to four further tyres: Hankook’s Kinergy 4S2 (second place) and the Continental AllSeasonContact (third) were given the review website’s Highly Recommended rating, while the Bridgestone Weather Control A005 (fourth) and Michelin CrossClimate+ (fifth) were Recommended. The weighting of different conditions is particularly relevant to all-season tyre tests, given the promise of functionality in a wide range of climate and road surface conditions. Tyre Reviews opted to award overall scores based on 30 per cent wet, 25 per cent dry, 25 per cent snow, 10 per cent noise and comfort, and 10 per cent rolling resistance. See below for the Tyre Reviews video of the 2020 All Season 17” test, and for additional comments on each of the nine tyres tested.
Germanophone auto clubs, ADAC, the Austrian Automobile, Motorcycle and Touring Club (ÖAMTC) and the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) have presented the results of their joint all-season tyre test. Despite the rising popularity of all-season tyres in European markets, the clubs did not recommend any of the seven tyres in the test without condition. The tyres were tested in size 235/55R17 103V/Y using a Ford Kuga as an exemplifier of heavier, larger SUVs, which are themselves increasing in popularity throughout Western Europe. Such vehicles are also amongst those most likely to fit all-season products. Tyres tested were Bridgestone’s Weather Control A005, Conti’s AllSeasonContact, Goodyear’s Vector 4Seasons Gen-2, Michelin’s CrossClimate +, Nokian’s Weatherproof, Uniroyal’s AllSeasonExpert 2, and Vredestein’s Quatrac Pro. The publication of the test was delayed from its original planned publication date in April due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Construction and property maintenance specialist Princebuild is rolling out Michelin’s CrossClimate+ and Agilis CrossClimate tyres across its entire fleet of 180 cars and vans. The move will ensure its vehicles benefit from traction all year round; the Peterborough-based company made the decision to switch after a meeting with Michelin showed the statistics and improved safety its CrossClimate range of tyres could offer.
Continental’s WinterContact TS 860 has won its third consecutive Auto Express winter tyre test. The tyre beat strong competition from major manufacturers, most notably Hankook, whose Winter i*cept RS2 received a “commended” rating in second place, in a test tweaked this year “to better reflect UK driving conditions”. Outside the winter tyre competition, Auto Express also commented that the all-season control tyre, the Michelin CrossClimate+, not only finished close to the top in dry and wet tests, but was also only behind Hankook’s star performer in the snow – a result Auto Express described as “remarkable”.
Michelin has launched a new CrossClimate tyre to take on the demanding conditions in which European van drivers increasingly operate. Having successfully rolled out the “summer tyre with winter capabilities” to the consumer market with two iterations of CrossClimates for cars and an SUV version, Michelin has extended the concept to light commercial operators with the Agilis CrossClimate. To mark its launch, Michelin demonstrated the tyre’s winter characteristics at a special test site in the French Alps. With the so-called Beast from the East providing the most extreme winter driving conditions the UK has seen in more than a decade as Tyres & Accessories goes to print, the appeal of products to handle such conditions while also suiting the mostly moderate climate in a market disinclined to fit winter tyres seems likely to receive at least a short-term boost.
Car service operator Addison Lee’s adoption of a Michelin CrossClimate+ policy, managed by Universal Tyre and Autocentres, has resulted in a reduction in its annual tyre bill of 20 per cent, the operator of the UK’s largest passenger car fleet states. Justin Patterson, head of operations at Addison Lee, says: “We’re currently fitting around 5,000 fewer tyres per year than we did prior to introducing the first CrossClimate tyres.”
Michelin’s latest tyres for the 4×4 segment exemplify the ongoing trend for the increasing focus on road handling characteristics, following the sustained strong growth of SUVs across Europe. While the manufacturer has extended its successful CrossClimate “summer tyre with winter capabilities” to the larger fitments required to supply the segment, the latest tyre from its off-road specialist brand BFGoodrich is the most indicative of this developmental direction. It states that the BFGoodrich Urban Terrain T/A is made for “taming the urban jungle,” offering increased toughness to SUV and urban crossover drivers.
The viability of a sustained winter tyre market in the UK has long been categorised as doubtful, with sales rarely climbing to 2 per cent. Meanwhile recent improvements in tyre technology and the introduction of products looking to change their perception, led by the Michelin CrossClimate’s success in the fleet market, have seen all-season tyres become an increasingly attractive proposition.
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