Winter tyre test 225/45 R17 - Autoexpress 2025

Winter Snow testing at Goodyear’s Arctic Center, Saariselkä (Finland) in −7 to −4°C; wet and dry testing at Continental’s Contidrom near Hannover (Germany) in ~4°C early-morning conditions.

2025

Year

8

Tyres

Winner

Continental WinterContact TS 870

Best Value

LingLong Sport Master Winter

Test Vehicle

VW Golf

Tested tyres

8

article

Auto Express Winter Tyre Test 2025 (225/45 R17)

Autoexpress i back with it's test for this season - this time in size 225/45 R17 — the rubber most Golfs, Octavias and A3s actually run. Snow might be rare in many towns, but when winter turns ugly these tyres are night-and-day better than summers in cold, wet conditions. After back-to-back wins in this size, Continental’s WinterContact TS 870 returned hunting a hat-trick. Facing it: Bridgestone’s new Blizzak 6, Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3, Michelin Alpin 7, Vredestein Wintrac Pro+, Falken Eurowinter HS02PRO, debutant LingLong Sport Master Winter, and a randomly chosen budget set, Triangle WinterX TW401.

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Price vs Quality

See how tyre price relates to test performance at a glance

Results

Agenda:

Best value in test

Better than average value

Worse than average value

Worst value in test

Wet braking was performed on a guided rail from 80 km/h to 0 to ensure identical asphalt and eliminate driver/surface variability.

1

Continental WinterContact TS 870

Rating: Test winner

£122

91 H

mytyres.co.uk

+2 More sizes →

94H · £127 94V · £125

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#1/8

Wet Handling#1/8

Aquaplaning Cross#2/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#2/8

Wet Braking#2/8

Dry

Dry Braking#1/8

Dry Handling#5/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#1/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#3/8

Snow

Snow Handling#1/8

Snow Traction#5/8

Snow Braking#8/8

Summary

2

Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3

Rating: -

£116

91 H

mytyres.co.uk

+2 More sizes →

94H · £165 94V · £119

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#1/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#1/8

Wet Braking#1/8

Wet Handling#2/8

Wet Circle Cornering#3/8

Dry

Dry Braking#3/8

Dry Handling#6/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#5/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#5/8

Snow

Snow Braking#1/8

Snow Traction#1/8

Snow Handling#3/8

Summary

Aquaplaning: straight-line in 9 mm water at a 15% slip threshold; curved in 5 mm water at 60–90 km/h with results expressed as average residual lateral acceleration.

3

Bridgestone Blizzak 6

Rating: -

£142

91 H

tyres-pneus-online.co.uk

+1 More sizes →

94V · £142

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#3/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#3/8

Wet Braking#3/8

Wet Handling#3/8

Wet Circle Cornering#4/8

Dry

Dry Handling#2/8

Dry Braking#4/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#8/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#1/8

Snow

Snow Handling#4/8

Snow Traction#4/8

Snow Braking#7/8

Summary

Course geometry: 0.8 km snow handling loop with elevation change and rapid transitions; wet cornering on a 57.5 m circle; lap times on ~1.77 km wet and ~1.61 km dry handling sections.

4

Michelin Alpin 7

Rating: -

£125

91 H

mytyres.co.uk

+1 More sizes →

94V · £145

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#4/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#4/8

Wet Braking#5/8

Wet Handling#6/8

Wet Circle Cornering#7/8

Dry

Dry Braking#2/8

Dry Handling#7/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#6/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#2/8

Snow

Snow Handling#2/8

Snow Traction#3/8

Snow Braking#6/8

Summary

Continental WinterContact TS 870 won overall (third consecutive), leading wet handling/cornering and dry braking, with the quietest cabin noise and competitive rolling resistance.

5

LingLong Sport Master Winter

Rating: -

Wet

Wet Braking#4/8

Wet Circle Cornering#5/8

Aquaplaning Cross#7/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#7/8

Wet Handling#7/8

Dry

Dry Handling#1/8

Dry Braking#5/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#7/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#8/8

Snow

Snow Braking#4/8

Snow Handling#5/8

Snow Traction#8/8

Summary

Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3 dominated snow braking/traction and both aquaplaning tests, topped five tests, but narrowly finished second overall.

6

Vredestein Wintrac Pro+

Rating: -

£91

91 H

mytyres.co.uk

+1 More sizes →

94V · £104

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#2/8

Wet Handling#4/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#5/8

Aquaplaning Cross#6/8

Wet Braking#7/8

Dry

Dry Braking#8/8

Dry Handling#8/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#3/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#4/8

Snow

Snow Braking#2/8

Snow Traction#6/8

Snow Handling#8/8

Summary

7

Falken Eurowinter HS02PRO

Rating: -

Wet

Wet Handling#4/8

Aquaplaning Cross#5/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#6/8

Wet Braking#6/8

Wet Circle Cornering#6/8

Dry

Dry Handling#4/8

Dry Braking#7/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#2/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#6/8

Snow

Snow Traction#2/8

Snow Braking#5/8

Snow Handling#7/8

Summary

Non-obvious: Continental was last in snow braking yet won snow handling; LingLong set the fastest dry handling lap but had the highest rolling resistance; Triangle was acceptable in snow/dry but last in every wet test.

8

Triangle WinterX TW401

Rating: -

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#8/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#8/8

Wet Braking#8/8

Wet Circle Cornering#8/8

Wet Handling#8/8

Dry

Dry Handling#3/8

Dry Braking#6/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#3/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#7/8

Snow

Snow Braking#3/8

Snow Handling#6/8

Snow Traction#7/8

Summary

Same size tyres not featured in the test

Tests usually don't cover the whole market - here is our selection what not to miss when shopping for tyres in this size.

#	Name	Our rating	Segment	Price
1	Premium Bridgestone Blizzak LM-005 90%	90%	Premium	£108 91 H +2 More
2	Premium Continental WinterContact TS 860 90%	90%	Premium
3	Premium GoodYear UltraGrip Performance+ 90%	90%	Premium
4	Premium Michelin ALPIN 6 89%	89%	Premium
5	Premium Pirelli Cinturato Winter 2 89%	89%	Premium	£114 91 H +1 More
6	Premium Michelin ALPIN 5 89%	89%	Premium	£161 91 H +4 More
7	Premium Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen-1 89%	89%	Premium	£172 91 H +3 More
8	Upper-middle Kleber KRISALP HP3 89%	89%	Upper-middle	£104 91 H +3 More

9	Upper-middle Hankook W462 Winter i*cept RS3 87%	87%	Upper-middle	£87 91 H +4 More
10	Upper-middle BFGoodrich G-FORCE WINTER 2 87%	87%	Upper-middle	£109 91 H +2 More
11	Upper-middle Nokian WR D4 86%	86%	Upper-middle
12	Premium Pirelli WINTER SOTTOZERO Serie III 86%	86%	Premium	£167 91 H +6 More
13	Upper-middle Hankook Winter i*cept RS2 W452 85%	85%	Upper-middle
14	Upper-middle Hankook Winter i*cept evo2 W320 84%	84%	Upper-middle
15	Premium Bridgestone Blizzak LM-001 84%	84%	Premium	£150 91 H +2 More
16	Upper-middle Firestone Winterhawk 4 84%	84%	Upper-middle	£81 91 H +1 More

17	Budget Maxxis Premitra Snow WP6 82%	82%	Budget	£69 0 V
18	Budget Semperit Speed-Grip 5 81%	81%	Budget	£90 91 H +1 More
19	Budget Semperit Speed-Grip 3 81%	81%	Budget
20	Upper-middle Falken EuroWinter HS01 80%	80%	Upper-middle	£111 91 H +4 More
21	Budget Fulda Kristall Control HP2 80%	80%	Budget	£89 91 H +1 More
22	Upper-middle Nokian WR Snowproof 79%	79%	Upper-middle
23	Upper-middle Nokian WR Snowproof P 79%	79%	Upper-middle	£122 91 H +1 More
24	Upper-middle Toyo Observe S944 79%	79%	Upper-middle	£110 94 V +2 More

25	Upper-middle Toyo Snowprox S954 78%	78%	Upper-middle
26	Premium Continental WinterContact TS 860S 76%	76%	Premium	£143 91 H +1 More
27	Premium Bridgestone Blizzak LM-001 EVO 75%	75%	Premium
28	Budget Sava Eskimo HP2 75%	75%	Budget	£83 91 H +2 More
29	Upper-middle Kumho WinterCraft WP71 75%	75%	Upper-middle
30	Budget Giti GitiWinter W1 74%	74%	Budget
31	Upper-middle Uniroyal MS Plus 77 74%	74%	Upper-middle
32	Upper-middle Yokohama Bluearth Winter V906 72%	72%	Upper-middle	£85 91 H +1 More

33	Budget Nexen WinGuard Sport 2 WU7 69%	69%	Budget	£72 94 H +2 More
34	Premium Bridgestone Blizzak LM-32 66%	66%	Premium
35	Budget Debica Frigo HP2 66%	66%	Budget	£78 91 H +3 More
36	Upper-middle Nokian WR D3 66%	66%	Upper-middle
37	Upper-middle Uniroyal WinterExpert 65%	65%	Upper-middle	£90 91 H +1 More
38	Budget Barum Polaris 5 64%	64%	Budget
39	Upper-middle Falken EUROWINTER HS449 63%	63%	Upper-middle
40	Upper-middle Nokian WR A4 63%	63%	Upper-middle

41	Upper-middle Yokohama BluEarth winter V905 62%	62%	Upper-middle	£83 91 H +9 More
42	Upper-middle Firestone Winterhawk 3 61%	61%	Upper-middle
43	Budget Giti Gitiwinter W2 59%	59%	Budget
44	Budget Matador MP93 Nordicca 56%	56%	Budget
45	GT Radial WinterPro2 Sport 51%	51%
46	Budget Sportiva Snow Win 3 49%	49%	Budget	£103 94 V
47	Budget Fortune Fsr901 40%	40%	Budget
48	Budget Kormoran SNOW 40%	40%	Budget

49	Budget Matador MP92 Sibir Snow 36%	36%	Budget
50	Budget Platin RP70 Winter 34%	34%	Budget
51	Sailun Iceblazer Alpine Evo 1 29%	29%
52	Budget Imperial SnowDragon UHP 25%	25%	Budget
53	Budget Radar Dimax Winter 9%	9%	Budget
54	Budget Kormoran SNOWPRO B2 1%	1%	Budget
55	Budget Imperial SnowDragon 3 1%	1%	Budget
56	Premium Dunlop Winter Sport 5 1%	1%	Premium	£114 91 H +8 More