Concur with
@A2Z - Go for the Michelin CC2's in 185/60/15 flavour, that's exactly what I'm running and that price is very good. They are slightly stiffer compared to others (I am running them on the Audi-recommended full-load pressures on country roads and comparing to other brands when doing the same). In all other respects they are the best you can buy for year-round performance across all measures they have been tested on.
HERE is my source for this claim.
In the "2021 Tyre Review All-Season Tyre Test" the Vredestein Quatrac was in a different league in the wet handling test compared to the Michelin CrossClimate 2 and all of the other all-season tyres.
In the South of England, there's mainly cold rain in the winter, not much snow. So for these conditions I would take the far superior wet handling of the Quatrac over the CrossClimate2. For the rare snow events, it's no problem to ease off a bit with the Quatrac compared to the CrossClimate2. Compared to summer tyres, all of these top performing all-season tyres are in a different league when there's snow. You can see that very clearly if you look at the results for the snow tests.
Snow Braking Distance
Michelin CrossClimate2
17.33 metres
Vredestein Quatrac
18.08 metres
Reference Summer tyre
44.65 metres
So the Quatrac takes just over
4% longer to stop in the snow than the CrossClimate2, but the summer tyre takes over
250% longer to stop in the snow than the CrossClimate2. This is why it's important not to get too carried away about one top performing all-season tyre compared to another top performing all-season tyre...as in cold weather the top performing all-season tyres are all in a different league compared to summer tyres and actually quite closely spaced.
Wet Handling Time
Vredestein Quatrac
48.48 seconds
Reference Summer tyre
49.96 seconds
Michelin CrossClimate2
50.65 seconds
So the Quatrac can go around a test track in the rain over 4% quicker than the CrossClimate2.
The "2021 Tyre Review All-Season Tyre Test" was conducted with the 205/55R16 tyre size. If it had been conducted with other tyre sizes then slightly different results may have occurred. Hence these tyre tests should be used as a general guide.
Extract from "2021 Tyre Review All-Season Tyre Test" 205/55R16 tyre size
Wet
The slowest tyre of wet handling was again the budget Star Performer. Weirdly it felt quite balanced, but balanced with no grip, meaning you were sliding everywhere, constantly, consistently. Fun, but not fast.
The next group was Nokian, Avon and Continental around 5% off, or 2.5 seconds. All three of these tyres had very similar subjective notes, I enjoyed driving on them all, they all had a safe, neutral balance, but they just didn't quite have the grip of the best.
Pirelli and Michelin come in at fifth and fourth place, another half second quicker than the previous group. These tyres weren't quite as enjoyable to drive on as the previous two, with neither tyre giving great levels of feedback, but the grip was there and so was the time.
Goodyear and Bridgestone in third and second both around 1.5 seconds off the best and both much nicer to drive. The goodyear was extremely compliant and even tyre with good cornering grip and a stable rear, giving you lots of confidence to push hard, but it gave you no surprises even when pushing on. The Bridgestone, well this felt mega under braking, and had great traction, but the cornering couldn't match. If it could, maybe it would have matched the test winning Vredestein.
The Vredestein felt like a different category of tyre it had so much GRIP, and the grip was really ROUNDED. It was the most SPORTY of the bunch, the most FUN of the bunch, the easiest to drive FAST of the bunch, just so much FUN to drive.
The summer tyre was a little closer on time, but less fun. Like in the dry the turn in was a little more positive, but not massively so in this 16" size, and the main difference was when the grip dropped away, it dropped away more quickly than the all seasons and you felt like you were fighting the car for grip. At the test temperature of 3c the tyre felt nervous, like it was sitting on the surface of the road rather than keying in.
Do you want to know what all season tyre is best for year round driving whatever the weather? In this test we take nine of the very best 205/55 R16 all season tyres on the market, plus a well ...
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