All-season tyres tested

Instead of switching from summer to winter designs, should you fit all-season tyres year-round? Our test reveals all...

We test eight to see if they’re the best choice all year round

THERE’S no doubt that all-season tyres are becoming a main focus for tyre makers as motorists seek better performance in adverse driving conditions. Several new tyres have been launched over the past 12 months, while a number of existing designs have been upgraded and their ranges extended.

Even Continental, which for years has been a fervent supporter of drivers switching between specialist tyres for the different seasons, has launched an all-season design. Its new Allseasoncontact arrived too late for our test, but we have gathered eight tyres to find out which is the best for all-year-round motoring.

We headed to Nokian’s proving ground in Ivalo, Finland, for snow testing and returned to Continental’s Contidrom near Hanover in Germany for the cold, wet and dry testing.

This year, we also added a further element to our assessments. As these tyres are designed for motoring all year round, we conducted the temperature-sensitive wet handling and braking tests not only in the cold, but in warmer weather as well.

We returned to the big-selling 205/55R16 size found on many family cars, and included our winning summer and winter designs in that size to see how the specialist solutions for different weather conditions compare.