In Sweden, the government has issued a list of allowable (real) winter tyres up until 2019, where EU regulations have put the brake on for it to continue. As said above, the 3PMSF is from UN ECE R117 here now, and is a minimum standard, not particularly demanding when looking at performance tests. Tire shops here categorize winter tyres under 1. studded tires, 2. nordic studless tires, 3. european studless tires. All have 3PMSF and the useless M+S marking. A big difference here is the shore number. In this case means how soft the pattern rubber is when it is cold. European studless tires have a harder rubber, which suits very mild winter conditions, like wet roads at +3C, for example. Nordic studless tires and the studded tires with lower shore numbers usually is less good at those mild winter conditions, but is increasingly good when it is really cold, or in heavy snow or black ice. The nordic ones was the ones that usually was on the approved list.
In southern Sweden the european ones can suit many of the days in the winter, but when passing Gothenburg and above a nordic tyre will be the best choice. Lots of winter tyre testing here in all types of conditions, and the nordic ones gets ratings far above the european ones, with usually the studded ones a little step above the nordic unstudded ones again. Tests with "all-season" tyres after a summer of use shows that the winter ability is hurt! Generally it is recommended not to use them here, and should be avoided in the summer too. Again tyre tests here show that the european studless tyres are too soft in the rubber for summer use, so they overheat and wear quickly, and then can grip way less, and the summer tires are way better on wet roads than the european studless ones, because the summer tires do expel the water much more effectively. This is what I mean by the all seasons/european studless tires that they do not work optimal in the summer, nor in the winter. Maybe they work optimal in a total of a couple of months in the year when the roads are suited to them, but then again they would work suboptimal in the 10 remaining months of the year.
But after having bought a car with CC2 and driven it, I can surely say that they feel like summer tires on the winter compared to the studded Nokian Hakkapelliita I have on the car for winter equipment. There is absolutely no way I would send my family in a car with CC2 on the winter!
ec.europa.eu
eur-lex.europa.eu
The 3PMSF marking is a symbol of winter excellence. In order to earn the EU mark of excellent winter performance Pirelli focused on traction by deepening grooves and optimising the tread direction, thereby increasing tyre life and performance even on the coldest days.
allseasons enough for me.
