Top 10 winter tires of 2021 — 2022 | Rating of winter tires 2021

We have pre­pared a cheat sheet that will help you choose the best win­ter tires, tak­ing into account var­i­ous oper­at­ing con­di­tions. The mate­r­i­al con­tains mod­els that have real­ly proven their advan­tages in many com­par­a­tive tests of spe­cial­ized Auto-media.

We have pre­pared a cheat sheet that will help you choose the best win­ter tires, tak­ing into account var­i­ous oper­at­ing con­di­tions. The mate­r­i­al con­tains mod­els that have real­ly proven their advan­tages in many com­par­a­tive tests of spe­cial­ized Auto-media.

STUDDED WINTER TIRES: SEVERE WINTER, A LOT OF SNOW AND ICE, SEVERE FROST

Stud­ded win­ter tires are cre­at­ed for the tough­est and harsh­est oper­at­ing con­di­tions: when you often have to dri­ve on deep snow and slip­pery ice, when you for­get to clean the roads, and it is very cold out­side.

Spe­cial empha­sis is placed on the paten­cy and lev­el of trac­tion of the tire with a slip­pery sur­face, which is pro­vid­ed by met­al spikes.

Stud­ded tires also have their draw­backs: increased noise, neg­a­tive impact on fuel con­sump­tion, not the best dri­ving qual­i­ties on dry/wet roads.

But as soon as snow, ice, frost comes — stud­ded tires are once again the mas­ters of win­ter roads!

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10

The Nokian com­pa­ny is tra­di­tion­al­ly strong in the cre­ation of win­ter tires and the new stud­ded mod­el is no excep­tion.

Nokian Hakkapeli­it­ta 10 win­ter stud­ded tires dur­ing com­par­a­tive tests with oth­er tires always found them­selves in the group of lead­ers or even in the role of the win­ner.

The Nokian Hakkapeli­it­ta 10 tire has good char­ac­ter­is­tics in all win­ter tests, it behaves well on ice (acceleration/braking), pro­vides clear con­trol when dri­ving on snowy roads.

And all thanks to the spe­cial design of the tires — the com­bi­na­tion of a direc­tion­al arrow-shaped pat­tern of the tread and two types of spikes at once. Some are respon­si­ble for lon­gi­tu­di­nal trac­tion, oth­ers — guar­an­tee reli­able trac­tion in turns.

The Nokian Hakkapeli­it­ta 10 is an uncom­pro­mis­ing win­ter tire for uncom­pro­mis­ing buy­ers who demand only the best and are will­ing to pay for it.

Pros: high lev­el of trac­tion on icy roads, con­trol­la­bil­i­ty when dri­ving in snow, quite high char­ac­ter­is­tics in all oth­er tests.

Cons: the high price.

Nokian Hakkapeli­it­ta 10 stud­ded win­ter tires — uncom­pro­mis­ing win­ter tires for uncom­pro­mis­ing buy­ers

Continental IceContact 3

Con­ti­nen­tal Ice­Con­tact 3 win­ter tires are one of the few mod­els that could push Nokian off the pedestal dur­ing com­par­a­tive tests.

The testers not­ed the excel­lent over­all bal­ance of the tires: excel­lent behav­ior in snow and ice, the tire moves con­fi­dent­ly on clean asphalt.

In addi­tion, the Con­ti­nen­tal Ice­Con­tact 3 win­ter tire guar­an­tees low rolling resis­tance and com­fort while dri­ving.

We rec­om­mend choos­ing mod­els with strong alu­minum Twin­Stud direc­tion­al studs to min­i­mize the risk of stud loss.

Pros: over­all bal­ance in all key char­ac­ter­is­tics — on snowy, icy, clean roads.

Cons: the high price.

Con­ti­nen­tal Ice­Con­tact 3 win­ter tires behave per­fect­ly in snow and ice, con­fi­dent­ly dri­ve on clean asphalt

Hankook Winter I Pike RS2 W429

Against the back­ground of the two lead­ing mod­els described above, Han­kook Win­ter I Pike RS2 W429 stud­ded win­ter tires claim the sta­tus of a sol­id mid­dle class. How­ev­er, this tire still deserves a place in our selec­tion.

As tests have shown, Han­kook Win­ter I Pike RS2 W429 tires pro­vide a good lev­el of grip when dri­ving on snowy or icy roads.

Even this win­ter tire has good fuel effi­cien­cy due to rel­a­tive­ly low rolling resis­tance.

Only when dri­ving on dry/wet asphalt, and in mat­ters of noise/comfort, the tires received aver­age marks.

But every­thing is decid­ed by mon­ey: the Han­kook Win­ter I Pike RS2 W429 tire is an attrac­tive pur­chase for those buy­ers who want to get a bal­anced prod­uct in terms of an opti­mal set of char­ac­ter­is­tics and price.

Pros: high lev­el of trac­tion when dri­ving on snowy or icy roads, low rolling resis­tance, attrac­tive price.

Cons: only aver­age results on clean tar­mac — dry and wet roads, noise/comfort com­ments.

Han­kook Win­ter I Pike RS2 W429 win­ter tires are a bal­anced prod­uct in terms of price/quality

ARCTIC “VECTOR”, TIRES FOR SEVERE WINTER: SEVERE FROST, A LOT OF SNOW AND ICE

Harsh win­ter, icy roads, severe frost, deep snow: the oper­at­ing con­di­tions are rough­ly the same as in the case of stud­ded win­ter tires — but now with­out studs. What’s the point?

First, some motorists do not want to put up with noise while dri­ving, increased fuel con­sump­tion and bad behav­ior on the asphalt.

Sec­ond­ly, in the bans on the use of stud­ded tires that are found in var­i­ous countries/regions: for those who like win­ter trav­el, this is impor­tant.

Third­ly, there may be require­ments of a per­son­al nature — when the motorist fun­da­men­tal­ly does not tol­er­ate stud­ded tires. But you have to go. And in the snow, and in the cri­sis, and in the frost. So why ride?

Continental VikingContact 7

The Con­ti­nen­tal Viking­Con­tact 7 win­ter tires have been con­sis­tent­ly win­ning tire com­par­i­son tests or tak­ing top prizes for the past few years.

Testers note the excel­lent over­all bal­ance of the tires. The tire pro­vides reli­able trac­tion when dri­ving in snow or ice, is not afraid of severe frosts. This allows Con­ti­nen­tal Viking­Con­tact 7 fric­tion tires to be used even in harsh arc­tic win­ters.

At the same time, the mod­el feels great when dri­ving on dry and wet asphalt, which is impor­tant dur­ing thaws or tran­si­tion­al sea­sons — late autumn, ear­ly spring.

Impres­sive char­ac­ter­is­tics were pro­vid­ed by the orig­i­nal design of the tire: a direc­tion­al V‑shaped pat­tern of the tread with a checker­board arrange­ment of blocks, the use of dou­ble lamel­lae (wind­ing and U‑shaped).

How­ev­er, all this affects the price: the Con­ti­nen­tal Viking­Con­tact 7 win­ter tire costs a lot.

There­fore, the gen­er­al ver­dict is this — expen­sive and high-qual­i­ty tires for var­i­ous win­ter con­di­tions and the most demand­ing motorists.

Pros: excel­lent bal­ance of oper­a­tional qual­i­ties in all key dis­ci­plines — dri­ving on snowy, icy, clean roads.

Cons: the high price.

Con­ti­nen­tal Viking­Con­tact 7 win­ter tires are expen­sive and high-qual­i­ty tires for var­i­ous win­ter con­di­tions and the most demand­ing motorists

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3

Nokian Hakkapeli­it­ta R3 win­ter fric­tion tires have repeat­ed­ly shown their lead­er­ship qual­i­ties dur­ing com­par­a­tive tests in var­i­ous stan­dards.

These tires behave well on icy roads, demon­strate excel­lent brak­ing on wet roads, and also pro­vide quite good fuel econ­o­my indi­ca­tors.

The lev­el of trac­tion when dri­ving on snowy roads and pro­tec­tion against aqua­plan­ing may not be so impres­sive, but they still cor­re­spond to lead­er­ship posi­tions.

In addi­tion, it is worth not­ing the spe­cial Cry­oCrys­tal 3 rub­ber mix­ture — it allows you to main­tain the elas­tic­i­ty of the rub­ber even in severe frost.

The result: bal­anced and high-qual­i­ty tires from a group of lead­ers in their class.

Pros: high lev­el of trac­tion on icy roads, low rolling resis­tance.

Cons: high price, pro­tec­tion against aqua­plan­ing.

Nokian Hakkapeli­it­ta R3 win­ter tires retain rub­ber elas­tic­i­ty even in severe frost

Toyo Observe GSI‑6 HP

Did we get the leader­boards wrong? But no: the Toyo Observe GSI‑6 HP win­ter tire may not reach the heights of Con­ti­nen­tal and Nokian, but it feels con­fi­dent in the mid­dle class, offer­ing good char­ac­ter­is­tics at an attrac­tive price.

Accord­ing to the results of com­par­a­tive tire tests, this tire was remem­bered for its ease of con­trol and pre­dictable behav­ior on icy roads.

Also, the Toyo Observe GSI‑6 HP tire pro­vides a short brak­ing dis­tance and per­formed well on clean asphalt.

How­ev­er, this mod­el received only aver­age marks for main­tain­ing course sta­bil­i­ty, pro­tec­tion against aqua­plan­ing and behav­ior on snow.

But tak­ing into account the very attrac­tive price, this mod­el is an excel­lent qual­i­ty option from a Japan­ese brand with a good set of win­ter char­ac­ter­is­tics.

Pros: attrac­tive price, easy and under­stand­able con­trol on icy roads, short brak­ing dis­tance on clean roads, silence/comfort.

Cons: com­ments on direc­tion­al sta­bil­i­ty at high speed, behav­ior on snowy roads.

Toyo Observe GSI‑6 HP win­ter tires are an excel­lent qual­i­ty option from a Japan­ese brand with a good set of win­ter char­ac­ter­is­tics

“EUROPEAN TYPE” WINTER TIRES: EMPHASIS ON DRY AND WET ASPHALT

For “Euro­pean-type” win­ter tires, brak­ing per­for­mance on a dry road, pro­tec­tion against aqua­plan­ing (quick drainage of water when dri­ving on a wet road), noise and com­fort lev­els, and low rolling resis­tance are impor­tant.

These tires are cre­at­ed with thoughts about dri­ving on dry and wet asphalt, when the roads are con­stant­ly cleared, and the tem­per­a­ture hov­ers around zero or some­times goes a lit­tle “minus”.

Although such tires do not save when dri­ving on snowy or icy roads. If these are your typ­i­cal dri­ving con­di­tions, then we advise you to pay atten­tion to the fol­low­ing mod­els.

Goodyear UltraGrip 9

Goodyear Ultra­Grip 9 win­ter tires have long earned the sta­tus of one of the best tires for Euro-win­ter con­di­tions. First of all, due to its bal­anced char­ac­ter in var­i­ous dri­ving con­di­tions.

Testers of pro­file AvtoZ­MI note that the tire behaves well when dri­ving on wet and icy roads: it pro­vides reli­able grip and pre­dictable reac­tions.

Anoth­er advan­tage of the mod­el is effec­tive brak­ing on var­i­ous types of roads, but a short brak­ing dis­tance is the first guar­an­tee of safe­ty.

In addi­tion, the Goodyear Ultra­Grip 9 win­ter tire has reduced rolling resis­tance, which allows you to achieve excel­lent fuel econ­o­my.

Today, the updat­ed Goodyear Ultra­Grip 9+ tires with a sim­i­lar direc­tion­al arrow pat­tern, but with an updat­ed rub­ber com­pound, have already appeared on sale.

Thanks to the use of Win­ter Grip tech­nol­o­gy and a new selec­tion of com­po­nents, it was pos­si­ble to make the rub­ber even more elas­tic and soft­er, espe­cial­ly in severe frost con­di­tions.

This is an excel­lent option for buy­ers who want to get the most bal­anced “Euro­pean-type” win­ter tire.

Pros: bal­anced char­ac­ter­is­tics on all types of sur­faces, low rolling resis­tance, short brak­ing dis­tance.

Cons: the high price.

The win­ter tire Toyo Observe GSI‑6 HP has reduced rolling resis­tance, which allows you to achieve excel­lent fuel econ­o­my

Michelin Alpin 6

Miche­lin Alpin 6 tires behave per­fect­ly on dry and wet asphalt. They have clear han­dling, good com­fort and low noise, short brak­ing dis­tance on a dry road.

But for brak­ing on a wet road, the mod­el received only aver­age marks, and not the best indi­ca­tors when dri­ving in snow and ice.

But Miche­lin Alpin 6 win­ter tires have their spe­cial trump cards: wear resis­tance and long ser­vice life.

The secret is not only in the type of rub­ber com­pound, but also in a spe­cial her­ring­bone pro­tec­tor, which seems to reveal more and more new chan­nels-slots with grad­ual wear. As a result, the tire retains its dri­ving char­ac­ter­is­tics longer.

Miche­lin Alpin 6 are high-qual­i­ty “Euro­pean” win­ter tires for those motorists who want to pay once (albeit a lot), but then use a good prod­uct for a long time.

Pros: excel­lent behav­ior and brak­ing on dry asphalt, good com­fort, long ser­vice life.

Cons: price, aver­age rat­ings for brak­ing on wet roads and han­dling on snowy/icy roads.

Miche­lin Alpin 6 win­ter tires have clear con­trol­la­bil­i­ty and com­fort, low noise, short brak­ing dis­tance on a dry road

Dunlop SP Winter Sport 5

In short, the clean­er the roads, the bet­ter the impres­sion of Dun­lop SP Win­ter Sport 5 tires.

Com­par­a­tive tests showed sig­nif­i­cant advan­tages of the Dun­lop SP Win­ter Sport 5 tire when dri­ving on dry and wet asphalt.

They have clear han­dling, reli­able grip, short brak­ing dis­tance and decent fuel effi­cien­cy due to low rolling resis­tance.

But on typ­i­cal win­ter roads (snow/ice) and for comfort/noise, the scores were only at the lev­el of sol­id mid­dle-class ones.

Although tak­ing into account attrac­tive prices and tra­di­tion­al­ly high qual­i­ty, Dun­lop SP Win­ter Sport 5 tires are a good buy for those motorists who often dri­ve on paved roads in mild Euro-win­ter con­di­tions.

Pros: good behav­ior and short brak­ing dis­tance on dry/wet asphalt, low rolling resis­tance.

Cons: aver­age scores when dri­ving on snowy/icy roads, com­ments on comfort/noise issues.

Dun­lop SP Win­ter Sport 5 win­ter tires have reli­able grip, short brak­ing dis­tance and decent fuel effi­cien­cy

Bridgestone Blizzak LM 005

Sim­i­lar to the pre­vi­ous exam­ple, Bridge­stone Bliz­zak LM 005 tires are designed with an empha­sis more on dry and wet roads than on snow and ice. There­fore, impres­sions and test results dif­fer sig­nif­i­cant­ly.

Bridge­stone Bliz­zak LM 005 tire always ranks high in tire com­par­i­son tests, where max­i­mum atten­tion is paid to Euro-win­ter con­di­tions, and even becomes the leader of the over­all stand­ings.

These tires demon­strate excel­lent han­dling on dry or wet roads, they have a short brak­ing dis­tance, low rolling resis­tance and good fuel econ­o­my.

How­ev­er, in tests with an empha­sis on dri­ving on snowy or icy roads, the Bridge­stone Bliz­zak LM 005 tire can­not be called the leader. In addi­tion, there are com­ments on the increased tread wear dur­ing long-term tire oper­a­tion.

But tak­ing into account the extreme­ly wide range of mod­els for dif­fer­ent sizes, and not the low­est, but still attrac­tive prices, this is a good option for buy­ers. Espe­cial­ly if the car is used more often in the city on cleared roads.

Pros: excel­lent han­dling on dry/wet roads, low rolling resis­tance, wide size range.

Cons: aver­age rat­ings on snowy/icy roads, pos­si­ble increased tire tread wear over time.

Bridge­stone Bliz­zak LM 005 win­ter tires have excel­lent han­dling on dry or wet roads and a short brak­ing dis­tance

We hope that our mate­r­i­al will become a guide, thanks to which the choice of win­ter tires will be as cor­rect and accu­rate as pos­si­ble.

We wish you prof­itable shop­ping and easy win­ter roads!

Author: Roman Mel­ny­chenko