The very best on snow
With winter tires, you not only drive safely to your winter sports destination, they also guarantee maximum safety under truly winter conditions. What is the best tire if you are looking for a slightly larger size: 235/50 R19?
Especially for drivers of sporty SUVs, the size 235/50 R19 is a well-known tire size. Among others, the Audi Q3, the Volkswagen Tiguan R, Lexus NX F Sport and also crossovers are equipped with this. Now that autumn has arrived and temperatures are falling, the question arises again which tires are best for the winter season.
In this winter tire test, twelve current winter tires compete against each other. The established premium brands have to hold their own against ambitious budget brands. Whether the additional cost of the A-brands is really justified will become clear in this test. The intensive tests on snow and ice were carried out by the colleagues from AutoBild in Vidsel, northern Sweden. In order to assess the performance on wet and dry roads, they then traveled to Bridgestone’s state-of-the-art test site in Aprilia, Italy.
Four-season tires for reference
Because four-season tires are getting better and for many car segments have now become a serious alternative to the seasonal changing of summer and winter tires, a current four-season tire and a summer tire from a renowned brand have been included in the test for reference. An Audi Q3 Sportback 45 TFSI quattro with 245 hp served as the test car. You can read the results in the PDF that you can download.
One thing became clear during the test: summer tires are completely unsuitable under truly winter conditions. The rubber compound of winter tires is soft and has a high silica content. As a result, such a tire remains flexible even at temperatures below zero and retains its grip. Due to the deep grooves and small notches in the profile blocks, called sipes, a winter tire can, as it were, grip the snow and on a road that is slippery due to black ice. Summer tires are harder, their profile blocks are solid and the contact surface with the asphalt is as large as possible in order to build up grip at higher temperatures. Four-season tires, on the other hand, are a compromise between the two types of tires.
But the best for the really severe winter conditions are winter tires. This is the ranking of the participating tires. Bridgestone takes the victory, Continental scores high again with the WinterContact and Michelin completes the podium with the Alpin 7.
Via the links in the top three tires you come directly tobanden.autoweek.nl, you can see what they cost and you can then also order them!
Other winter tire size? Then read this test, or this test
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