2019 Consumer Reports Tire Tests

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Originally Posted by krzyss
...One is winter tire and the other all season. Not exactly fair comparison for winter usage.
Are you going to use them all year round?......KrzyÅ›


Vredestein seems to label the Quatrac Pro as an all season tire in the European market, and as an all weather tire in the North American market. I call it an all-weather tire. Tire Rack calls the Quatrac Pro a "grand touring all season" tire. I don't think TR likes the term "all weather".

Vredestein shows 8 different pure winter tires on their website, including the Wintrac Pro (which scored #1 in CR's test of performance winters), the studded Wintrac Ice, and the Wintrac Extreme S.
 
Originally Posted by Aero540T

I have a 2002 Taurus and the T rated ones fit my car. Almost 200k miles so I'm not worried about treadlife but I am price conscious with the high miles and older vehicle. I live in MI and can't afford or justify a second set of winter tires for this car. Would the RT43 be a good tire? I want the best winter performance without breaking the bank and still have an all season tire.


I'm running the V rated RT43's on my RWD Chrysler 300 and I'm very happy with them. We just got a fair bit of snow and it's been pretty easy driving with these vs the garbage that was on it previously (Ironman iMove gen2 AS).
 
one thing for sure, if you get a decent amount of snow + cold real winter tires win out. they go better + stop better as well where 4wd or awd makes NO difference!! years ago i ran the mich alpin PA4 on my FWD 2001 jetta + passed many struggling awd-4wd drivers with all season but winter tyres!!
 
Been running the BFGoodrich g-Force Comp-2 A/S in 225/55/17 on the g37x sedan for 2+ years and 25,000 miles now. They are a great tire in anything but deep slush or ice, and got better then advertised tread ware, I still have 60%+ remaining and I'm not exactly gentle on them. They do make a fair amount of road-noise and will cost you 1-2 MPG of fuel economy around town if you drive aggressively, but they hook like summer tires in the curves when it is dry.
 
Originally Posted by SubLGT
1. Performance Winter/Snow. The Vredestein Wintrac Pro finished first, six points ahead of the runner-up Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4. The Wintrac Pro received top marks in three of the nine test categories: hydroplaning resistance, snow traction and ice braking. It received the second highest marks (based on five degrees from better to worst) in dry braking, handling and ride...


Vredestein has not been on my radar as top tier performance winter tires, but lately they seem to be making a name for themselves. Perusing the various European 2019 winter tire tests, the Wintrac Pro appears to consistently score in the top 6. And the all-weather/all-season Quatrac 5 and the newer Quatrac Pro have also been scoring well in the European tests.
 
Originally Posted by SubLGT
Originally Posted by SubLGT
1. Performance Winter/Snow. The Vredestein Wintrac Pro finished first, six points ahead of the runner-up Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4. The Wintrac Pro received top marks in three of the nine test categories: hydroplaning resistance, snow traction and ice braking. It received the second highest marks (based on five degrees from better to worst) in dry braking, handling and ride...


Vredestein has not been on my radar as top tier performance winter tires, but lately they seem to be making a name for themselves. Perusing the various European 2019 winter tire tests, the Wintrac Pro appears to consistently score in the top 6. And the all-weather/all-season Quatrac 5 and the newer Quatrac Pro have also been scoring well in the European tests.

I had their snow tires on BMW E34 520i before moving to US. They are very, very good in snow. But, at least at that time, the comfort was literally non existent. It was by far the harshest tire I ever owned. Performance wise at that time, they were not Good Year (European models) or Continental category, but still very competent tire. But that ride was just plain awful.
 
Michelin is a good tire when new. But I will NEVER buy another one. I had a set split and crack on my F150. Not quite half worn and they were cracked and split deeply. I was afraid to drive at highway speeds. Michelin dealer said sorry. Now I have been using Continental on my fleet. Outstanding tires that are excellent in every category.
 
Originally Posted by walterjay
Michelin is a good tire when new. But I will NEVER buy another one. I had a set split and crack on my F150. Not quite half worn and they were cracked and split deeply. I was afraid to drive at highway speeds. Michelin dealer said sorry. Now I have been using Continental on my fleet. Outstanding tires that are excellent in every category.

I cannot remember how many Michelin's I had, and literally never had that issue. Though, it seems that is mostly confined to issues on truck tires.
 
Just ordered a set of conti winter contact si's..so im glad to hear they are recommended. Reviews ive seen are also good.
 
I've found the CR reports pretty much correspond with my experience on tires. I've never had a name brand set that didn't balance. I did find that some Michelin tires wore prematurely, but they were pretty good with their warranty, but I've had several sets that were poor on snow/ice despite having 'sunflower oil' added for winter traction. Much happier with the RT43 and Conti PureContact LS, which were highly rated by CR. The Michelin Crossclimate+, the top rated all weather tires, is very limited in sizing and expensive.
 
Originally Posted by Rolla07
Just ordered a set of conti winter contact si's..so im glad to hear they are recommended. Reviews ive seen are also good.



The conti wintercontact si is the old model, the vikingcontact7 is the new model. I just put a set of the vikingcontact7 on the 2020 elantra.. really liking them so far.
Hard to compare between vehicles but I much prefer them over the blizzak dm-v2 on the jeep.

I wish they had tested the vikingcontact7 although Continental lists how they do vs the previous model in their tests.

I almost went with the wintercontact si it would have been 16$ cheaper per tire(20%).. but as an official tire nerd I wanted the latest and greatest.
 
Originally Posted by Rand
Originally Posted by Rolla07
Just ordered a set of conti winter contact si's..so im glad to hear they are recommended. Reviews ive seen are also good.



The conti wintercontact si is the old model, the vikingcontact7 is the new model. I just put a set of the vikingcontact7 on the 2020 elantra.. really liking them so far.
Hard to compare between vehicles but I much prefer them over the blizzak dm-v2 on the jeep.

I wish they had tested the vikingcontact7 although Continental lists how they do vs the previous model in their tests.

I almost went with the wintercontact si it would have been 16$ cheaper per tire(20%).. but as an official tire nerd I wanted the latest and greatest.

Vikingcontact is new for NA market, but it is in Europe available for at least as long as wintercontact si.
 
Originally Posted by krzyss
???

One is winter tire and the other all season. Not exactly fair comparison for winter usage.
Are you going to use them all year round?

Where did you buy them?

KrzyÅ›


My bad. I saw "Wintrac Pro" instead of "Quatrac Pro" in the post.
Reading comprehension is lacking.

Sorry

KrzyÅ›
 
Originally Posted by Rand
The conti wintercontact si is the old model, the vikingcontact7 is the new model. I just put a set of the vikingcontact7 on the 2020 elantra.. really liking them so far.
Hard to compare between vehicles but I much prefer them over the blizzak dm-v2 on the jeep.

I wish they had tested the vikingcontact7 although Continental lists how they do vs the previous model in their tests.

I almost went with the wintercontact si it would have been 16$ cheaper per tire(20%).. but as an official tire nerd I wanted the latest and greatest.

This VikingContact7 looks interesting and roughly the same price as Altimax Arctic 12 which I was initially considering for my 530i. Gonna have to do some more research.

Looks pretty good in this comparison:
https://alltyretests.com/continental-vikingcontact-7-test-review/
 
Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Rand
The conti wintercontact si is the old model, the vikingcontact7 is the new model. I just put a set of the vikingcontact7 on the 2020 elantra.. really liking them so far.
Hard to compare between vehicles but I much prefer them over the blizzak dm-v2 on the jeep.

I wish they had tested the vikingcontact7 although Continental lists how they do vs the previous model in their tests.

I almost went with the wintercontact si it would have been 16$ cheaper per tire(20%).. but as an official tire nerd I wanted the latest and greatest.

This VikingContact7 looks interesting and roughly the same price as Altimax Arctic 12 which I was initially considering for my 530i. Gonna have to do some more research.

Looks pretty good in this comparison:
https://alltyretests.com/continental-vikingcontact-7-test-review/

Altimax will never be on par anything Continental as Conti. owns General.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw
Altimax will never be on par anything Continental as Conti. owns General.

Maybe, but they're in different categories altogether since the Arctic is studdable, so it may be hard to compare it against something like Viking 7.
 
So far Vikingcontacts 7 are on par in dry and wet with Xi3. We shall see how snow and ice is later in the season.
Xi3 seem to be wearing very little. I sold them with a car after 5 winters and they were still above snow wear bars. Car had 96K miles with 3 sets of tires (OE, Nokian zLine and winter Xi3).

KrzyÅ›
 
This week I'm seeing lower prices on Conti Wintercontact si tires for my cars, than Arctic 12's. Maybe they are closing them out. Also the Arctic 12's are higher rated by tirerack for wet.

My tire shop guy has been running Arctic 12's year round on one of his vehicles. Wear is tolerable, he says. He raves about them.

As tempting as the low prices on the Conti's are right now, I would pay the difference for the 12's and ignore the brand name.
 
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