Winter tyres tested

With a white Christmas predicted, will you be asking Santa for some winter tyres? If so, which ones would you hope to see in a rather large, circle-shaped stocking?

German automobile association ADAC conducted tests on 28 winter tyres.

Disappointingly, no tyre achieved ADAC's top 'Very Good' rating in its tests, however six tyres did get a 'Good' rating.

In the 185/65 R15 88T tyre size, Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D MO was the best, followed by the Goodyear Ultra Grip 7 + then Esa-Tecar Super Grip 7.

For the larger tyre size, 225/45 R 17 91 & 94 H, ADAC found that the Michelin Alpin A4 came out top, followed by Continental ContiWinterContact TS830P then Dunlop's SP Winter Sport 3D.

Cheap doesn't mean good
Chinese tyre manufacturers did poorly in What Car?'s tyre test, and ADAC found a similar trend in its winter tyre tests, with three Chinese-made, relatively cheap tyres scoring 'Poor'.

In the smaller size category, the Winter Star Performer was anything but, rating as 'very weak in the wet'.

For the larger tyres, ADAC noted that the Interstate Winter IWT-2 and the Westlake SW601 Snow Master were also very weak on wet roads.

For the full results, visit ADAC