[Rodion]

As promised I will start this thread with a new test that was released this week in Finland. The test was done by Tekniikan maailma magazine, in English that is the world of technics.

This magazine is highly appreciated in Finland. They have technical and scientific and fact based approach to tests and reviews. This test was done in Lapland Finland, at Test World center.

They tested winter with studs and without studs. All tyres were for Nordic markets, that is low speed rating and good grip on extreme winter conditions.

Non-studded winter tyres in the test were:

Bridstone Blizzak WS70, Continental VikingContact 6, Dunlop SP Ice Sport, Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice 2, Kumho I'Zen KW31, Maxxis Arctictrekker, Micelin X-Ice XI3, Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2, Pirelli Icecontrol Winter, Sailun Ice Blazer WSL2, Sunny Snowmaster SN3830, Vredestein Nord-Trac 2.

Studded winter tyres in the test were:

Bridgestone Blizzak Spike-01, Continental Conti IceContact, Dunlop Ice touch, Gislaved Nordfrost 100, Goodyear Ultragrip Ice Arctic, Hankook Winter I*Pike RS, Jinuy Winter yw53, Michelin X-Ice North 3, Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8, Nordman 4, Pirelli Ice Zero, Sunny Winter-Grip SN3860, Vredestein Arctrac


NOTE: that the final score is with unified scale. That means e.g. if non-studded tyre got 8,2 score and studded tyre 7,9, then the non-studded tyre is overall better than the studded tyre.


Here is a list what kind of tests they did for each tyre (and several times):

Handling on ice, ABS braking on ice, handling test on ice, acceleration on ice.

Handling on snow, ABS braking on snow, handling test on snow, acceleration on snow.

Handling on dry road, braking on dry road.

Handling on wet road, braking on wet road, handling test on wet road.

Noise, fuel efficiency and the ability to sustain straight line while driving.


First the winter tyres with no studs, best first. Country of manufacturing in brackets.

Goodyear UG Ice 2 (Poland)

8,2 points

+ traction on ice and snow
+ traction on wet road
- nothing special

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 (Finland)

8,2 points

+ traction and and handling on wintery roads
+ fuel efficiency
- traction on dry roads

Michelin X-Ice XI3 (Spain)

7,8 points

+ traction on ice
+ smooth handling on all roads
- mediocre traction on wet road

Continental ContiVikingContact 6 (Germany)

7,8 points

+ traction on ice and snow
+ fuel efficiency
- traction and handling on wet road

Maxxis Arctictrekker (China)

7,7 points

+ quite solid on wintery roads
- traction and handling on dry roads

Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 (Japan)

7,3 points

+ traction on ice and snow
- noise
- handling and traction on wet road

Pirelli Icecontrol Winter (China)

7,2 points

+ mediocre traction on ice and snow
- handling on wet road
- fuel efficiency

Sailun Ice Blazer WSL2 (China)

7,2 points

+ mediocre on wintery roads
- too sharp handling in all roads
- noise

Dunlop SP Ice Sport (Germany)

6,8 points

+ traction and handling on dry roads
- traction on ice
- handling on ice

Vredestein Nord-Trac 2 (Netherlands)

6,7 points

+ mediocre braking on snow
- traction on ice
- too sharp handling on wintery roads


Kumho I'Zen KW31 (Korea)

6,6 points

+ mediocre traction on dry roads
- traction on ice
- handling on ice, snow and dry and wet roads

Sunny Snowmaster SN3830 (China)

6,1 points

+ handling and traction on dry road
- everything else


For the studded tyres I will list only five best. All other studded tyres were worse than the best non-studded tyres! E.g. Michelin, Dunlop, Bridgestone...

Would you imagine, that even on the braking on ice test, the non-studded Michelin tyre stopped in shorter distance than the studded Michelin.


Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 (Finland)

8,8 points

+ traction on ice
+ handling on wintery roads
- only mediocre on dry and wet roads

Continental ContiIceContact (Germany)

8,6 points

+ traction on ice
+ handling in every condition
- fuel efficiency

Pirelli Ice Zero (Germany)

+ Traction on ice
+ handling in wintery conditions
- noise

Goodyear Ultragrip Ice Arctic (Poland)

8,5 points

+ traction on snow
+ solid in every condition
- nothing special

Gislaved Nord Frost 100 (Germany)

8,3 points

+ smooth and easy handling
+ traction on snow
- nothing special


I hope this helps

[Tjalle]

Very good INFO! I am about to buy tires for my X4. I will wait for the Swedish magazines to publish their tests - although the results very probably will be similar.

I miss:
-dimensions for the tested tires
-points for Pirelli Ice Zero
-week and year of manufacture - I want this years tires )

I am (for once) going to buy studded tires and probably Haka 8 or Conti - 19".
AEZ Yacht rims - no RFT or TPMS.

[lbjgh]

Thanks Rodion... great information!

I didn't know the Goodyear UG Ice 2 were rated so highly.

Where I live the roads in winter may be ice and snow covered but typically the roads authority use enough sand and salt to create wet surfaces.

[barcelona]

Thanks again for sharing more reviews from Scandinavia.
I think that for Toronto weather, that the wra3 are better suited overall than the Hakka R2's. Nokia's are difficult to get in Canada, wra3 require extra $30 per tire for special order. Too bad Xice x3 are only nonrun flat, as Michelin's are readily available.

[Rodion]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

Very good INFO! I am about to buy tires for my X4. I will wait for the Swedish magazines to publish their tests - although the results very probably will be similar.

I miss:
-dimensions for the tested tires
-points for Pirelli Ice Zero
-week and year of manufacture - I want this years tires )

I am (for once) going to buy studded tires and probably Haka 8 or Conti - 19".
AEZ Yacht rims - no RFT or TPMS.

Tested tyres were 205/55-16.

Pirelli Ice Zero points were 8,6.

Production week varied a bit.

E.g. Nokian R2 was week 4 2014 and Pirelli Icecontrol winter week 6 2014, whereas continental viking contact was week 45 2013 and Goodyear UG Ice2 week 41 2013. All tyres were this season's models.

[Rodion]

Originally Posted by barcelona

Thanks again for sharing more reviews from Scandinavia.
I think that for Toronto weather, that the wra3 are better suited overall than the Hakka R2's. Nokia's are difficult to get in Canada, wra3 require extra $30 per tire for special order. Too bad Xice x3 are only nonrun flat, as Michelin's are readily available.

Too bad Nokian Hakkapeliitta is hard to get there. One would think that they have good resale in every country that "suffers" from winter.

And especially now as the situation with Russian is what it is... They are not buying that much tyres there.

In central Europe those wra3 type winter tyres are more popular, only in Nordic R2s are the popular one.

I am hoping for a good winter this time. Last winter I could've managed with my summer tyres.

[Tjalle]

The Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare has confirmed that also this year Hakkapeliitta 8 is the best winter tire - all categories. Since we are allowed to use studs in Sweden - this is my choice.

I will buy AEZ Yacht 8x18 and 245/50. No RFT but with aftermarket TPMS.

[Roundown]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

The Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare has confirmed that also this year Hakkapeliitta 8 is the best winter tire - all categories. Since we are allowed to use studs in Sweden - this is my choice.

I will buy AEZ Yacht 8x18 and 245/50. No RFT but with aftermarket TPMS.

Why no runflat? They make them in a suitable size.

[Tjalle]

cSurf: RFT is a US thing - we don`t us them in Europe - except for BMW.
We can not choose non-RFT:s on BMW:s in Sweden - they can i Germany.
Thus I am forced to have RFT on my factory 310:s - but refuse to budge for my winter tires- bought as aftermarket. With TPMS the risk for a puncture is less than
"Harrisburg"

[Roundown]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

cSurf: RFT is a US thing - we don`t us them in Europe - except for BMW.
We can not choose non-RFT:s on BMW:s in Sweden - they can i Germany.
Thus I am forced to have RFT on my factory 310:s - but refuse to budge for my winter tires- bought as aftermarket. With TPMS the risk for a puncture is less than
"Harrisburg"

Interesting. I didn't realize RfT were an option in Europe. Do you carry a spare or just assume you'll be able to plug/patch if/when you have a flat?

I spend time in some pretty rural areas of New England coming to and from ski areas and I would almost certainly be stranded for a day or more (locally) until a tire could be procured/fixed (very few places would have a suitable winter tire in inventory).

I even carry DynaPlugs just in case!

[Rodion]

Now it is an option to have non-RFTs in here too. Before they were mandatory from the factory.

With non-RFT tyres you then get "mobility pack" instead of a spare tyre.

I have myself Nokian tyres and that includes Hakkaturva (Hakkaproof?), and it means that if I have a puncture, they will send a mobility service guy with a proper spare tyre with him to fix the problem.

If the tyre cannot be changed, they will pay for the towing and pay journey continuation costs (with taxi or something).

With my usual driving I am no further than two hours from some sort of tyre store so I take my chances and I don't carry a mobility kit nor a spare tyre.

If I would go to desert bearing in mind that I must be able to get out of there, I would take a spare tyre with me.


But all in all: I now drive fully non-RFT set-up both in winter and in summer and I am loving it! Smoother ride, quieter ride and more economical ride

[Tjalle]

cSurf: Rodion said it all!

[luckystrike]

hi guys im buying winter tires and bmw told me i have to buy tpms from them and have it installed on the aftermarket tires that i will buy, then i have to go to the dealer and have the tires calibrate by them. is there a cheaper way to do this like buying aftermarket tpms or i have to deal with the dealer?

[Tjalle]

Lucky: I take it you have the new system with sensors. I suggest you buy tires/TPMS from a shop that is able to program them.

There seem to be two ways to do this ( a bit uncertain due to new system for BMW):
-program the sensors through the in-car system. You or shop.
-shop will program through their programmer.

There are three major TPMS suppliers for OEM - all of them are also selling aftermarket units - slightly different. There are also a couple of aftermarket-only players.

Pls let us know.

[bagekko]

What programming is needed for TPMS, on my 2008 and 2011 its just reset in the iDrive. Is there a new BMW system?

Shop tried to charge me for programming once and I said BS its just a reset in my computer.

I've bought 2 sets of TPMS sensors off Ebay and have had no problems, and was only about $150 for a set of 4.

Originally Posted by Tjalle

Lucky: I take it you have the new system with sensors. I suggest you buy tires/TPMS from a shop that is able to program them.

There seem to be two ways to do this ( a bit uncertain due to new system for BMW):
-program the sensors through the in-car system. You or shop.
-shop will program through their programmer.

There are three major TPMS suppliers for OEM - all of them are also selling aftermarket units - slightly different. There are also a couple of aftermarket-only players.

Pls let us know.

[Tjalle]

bagekko: obviously BMW has recently switched from ABS-sensor based (i.e. no tire-sensors), to active sensors. From SOP on X4 -I don`t know when on X3.

[barcelona]

TPMS(sensors) vs FTM ( flat tire monitor) no sensors.
I think Sweden changed to TPMS around April.
Canada uses FTM. I prefer more expensive TPMS.
TPMS will provide specific tire PSI, whereas FTM says ok.

I had a flat, cluster warning: shows something like low tire pressure detected, drive slowly but does not id the low tire. Dealer repaired for $115, as it was Saturday & my two tire guys were closed.

[bagekko]

Both mine are the active TPMS tire sensors in the wheel and there was no programming needed besides the iDrive reset. Perhaps since they are new to Sweden people arent aware whats needed.

Originally Posted by Tjalle

bagekko: obviously BMW has recently switched from ABS-sensor based (i.e. no tire-sensors), to active sensors. From SOP on X4 -I don`t know when on X3.

[rickycho]

Speaking of winter tires, which one of the below do you think is a better size for winter?

235 50 r18 or 235 55 r18

my all season size are 245 50 r18

thanks

[Tjalle]

rickycho: I suggest you go for the 55 tire-then you keep your rolling radius. I also suggest you switch to performance tires, when current all seasons are done

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by rickycho

Speaking of winter tires, which one of the below do you think is a better size for winter?

235 50 r18 or 235 55 r18

my all season size are 245 50 r18

thanks

OEM setup= 27.7" (rolling diameter)
235 50R 18= 27.3" which mean your speedo will show a -1.5% error
235 55R 18= 28.1" Which means your speedo will show a +1.7% error

Ideally in winter, you want to go -1 in wheel size, so the ideal combo would be 225 60R 17= 27.6", only a -.2% error
The one thing to check is if 17" fits on your X3...