Bridgestone Weather Control A005 EVO vs Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. However things were only starting to take off in Europe after the launch of Cross Climate in 2015 revolutionizing the whole all season market. We have seen from our previous post on Goodyear’s Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 performance against Continental All Season Contact.
This time around we would like to pair the Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 with another big all season market leader which is Bridgestone’s Weather Control A005 EVO. Bridgestone has also been quietly catching up in this all season- 3 peak mountain segment with the launch of its 2nd generation Weather Control A005 EVO in 2020 as well. To find out which is the better tire, we will pit the Bridgestone Weather Control A005 EVO vs Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 head to head in an all season showdown!
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the 2022 Tyre Reviews All Season Tyre Test. A total of 10 tires were tested this time around. The graph below shows the comparison between Bridgestone Weather Control A005 EVO vs Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 based on the relevant performance category. The Weather Control A005 EVO was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires with a 3 peak mountain logo on it, an extensive snow testing was conducted. However ice testing was left out which was quite disappointing to our dismay. Note that for subjective comfort evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. The tire size of interest is a 225/45R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A3 and Hyundai Elantra. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle of choice is a Volkswagen Golf.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria.
There was almost nothing in between the 2 tires as Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 stopped at 0.1m earlier compared to Weather Control A005 EVO in wet braking. While in wet handling, Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 was 1,1 seconds faster than Weather Control A005 EVO in wet handling.
The trend continued in aquaplaning as Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 once again is a step ahead by having an aquaplaning slip speed of 79.3 km/h while Weather Control A005 EVO only had a 78.1 km/h slip speed. Similar trends in curve aquaplaning as Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 has an +0.4m/s2 advantage. Overall in the wet category, Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 has a slight edge in all wet performance criteria.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3:
- +0.3% in wet braking
- +1.1% in wet handling (lap time)
- +1.5% in straight aquaplaning
- +5.8% in curve aquaplaning
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. Weather Control A005 EVO dominated the dry braking competition by out braking Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 by 2.3 meters.
The situation was totally flipped in dry handling as Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 came out on top being blazing in the fastest time compared to everyone with a lap time of 78.7 seconds. Weather Control A005 EVO was not far behind by differing only 0.2 seconds. Overall on dry surfaces, Weather Control A005 EVO leads in the dry area with its strong dry braking performance.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3:
- -5.5% in dry braking
- +0.3% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise
In the exterior noise test, Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 has a pass by noise value of 69.5 dB which is 0.3 dB quieter than Weather Control A005 EVO.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3:
- +0.4% in exterior noise (-0.3 dB)
Rolling Resistance
When it comes to all season tires, rolling resistance is definitely not at the highest priority as the engineer has to handle the most important winter vs summer target conflict. However with the sustainability topic being more prevalent, rolling resistance has been widely used as a competitive marketing tool as it could be easily seen in the label values.
Both tires are labeled “C” in the rolling resistance EU label ranking. However upon measuring the rolling resistance coefficient values, the recorded differences are larger than expected. Weather Control A005 EVO had a lower rolling resistance coefficient value of 7.5N/kN which is the best in the competition. Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 on the other hand obtained a 8.2N/kN rolling resistance coefficient. Hence as demonstrated time and time again, not all the same graded labels translate into the same performance.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3:
- -8.5% in rolling resistance
Snow
As with most all season tires in the European market, both tires here come with a 3 peak mountain symbol to legally certified them as a winter tire. In layman terms, Weather Control A005 EVO and Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 have to pass a legal snow test in order to certify themselves as a 3 peak mountain tire.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 showed its strength in snow traction by taking only 7.1 seconds to accelerate from 5-40 km/h while it took Weather Control A005 EVO 9.5 seconds. Snow braking was once again dominated by Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 as it out-brake Weather Control A005 EVO by 5.2 meters. Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 also took the lead in snow handling with a lap time advantage of 10.7 seconds. Overall, it is clear from the test results, Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 excels much better in snow compared with Weather Control A005 EVO.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3:
- +16.5% in snow braking
- +33.8% in snow traction
- +9.3% in snow handling (lap times)
Price
Based on the data below, Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 was found to be more expensive compared to Bridgestone’s Weather Control A005 EVO.
Tire size: 205/55 R16
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3: €86
Weather Control A005 EVO: €79
Difference: +9% more expensive for Vector 4Seasons Gen 3.
Summary
Overall, Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 shows great masterclass performance in all categories. It only lost out to Weather Control A005 EVO in dry braking & rolling resistance. It is clear in our opinion that clearly Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 is the winner of this duel with its outstanding wet, & snow performances.