All-season tires vs winter tires: When it comes to October, most of the European car users dread the “tire changing season” as this is the time where most people get the summer tires swapped into winter tires. However things were fundamentally changed when Michelin created the first snow flake certified all season tire called Michelin Cross Climate. With the launch of Cross Climate in 2015 it revolutionized the whole European all season market. You can check our latest compilation of test results in regards to Cross Climate 2 and its competitor with the link here.
With 3 peak mountain all season tires being well accepted in the European market, the question commonly asked in the market is how does a typical all season tire differ from a winter tire? To answer this we will take 2 Bridgestone’s tires from its respective segment. On the all season corner we have the well established test winner in the form of Weather Control A005 while on the winter front we have another amazing tire Blizzak LM005. To find out which is the better tire, we will pit an all-season tires vs winter tire in the form of Bridgestone Weather Control A005 vs Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 for an exciting head to head showdown!
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the 2022 Sport Auto All Season Tyre Test. A total of 8 tires were tested this time around with a named winter reference in the form of Blizzak LM005. The graph below shows the comparison between All-season tires vs winter tires (Bridgestone Weather Control A005 vs Bridgestone Blizzak LM005) based on the relevant performance category. The all season tire (Weather Control A005) 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. The tire size of interest is a 235/35 R19 which is a common tire size for Lotus Evora and Mercedes-Benz A 45. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle of choice is a Hyundai i30.
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.
As middle European winter tires are designed to have the absolute best wet braking, it was not surprising that the Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) edged the all season (Weather Control A005) by 0.2m . The advantage was further strengthened in the wet handling as the Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) was 2 seconds faster per lap than all season (Weather Control A005) in wet handling.
Due to its steep pattern direction & a higher void volume, Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) was clearly the best aquaplaning tire with an aquaplaning slip speed of 71.5 km/h compared to all season (Weather Control A005)’s 68.7 km/h slip speed. While in curve aquaplaning, Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) has an +0.12m/s2 advantage. The only small deficit came in the form of wet circle as all season (Weather Control A005) had a +0.06m/s2 advantage. Overall in the wet category, the Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) is clearly the better performing tire in wet.
Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) :
- +0.6% in wet braking
- +2.8% in wet handling (lap time)
- -0.7% in wet circle
- +4.1% in straight aquaplaning–
- +9.8% 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. While wet was dominated by Winter tire (Blizzak LM005), all season (Weather Control A005) took back the initiative in dry braking as it out-brakes Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) by 2.1 meters.
Similar trend was observed in the dry handling as all season (Weather Control A005) had a 2.5 seconds per lap advantage against Winter tire (Blizzak LM005). Overall on dry surfaces, all season (Weather Control A005) lead in the dry.
Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) :
- -7.2% in dry braking
- -2% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise
Due to a much softer compound, Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) had a clear advantage in pass by noise as in general winter compound is much softer than an all season compound. In normal scenarios, the softer the compound the lower the pass by noise is. As expected Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) has a pass by noise value of 71.2 dB which is 0.9 dB quieter than all season (Weather Control A005).
Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) :
- +1.3% in exterior noise (-0.9 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 featured here are labeled “C” in the EU label rolling resistance ranking. With this label ranking, we would expect both tires to be fairly equal when it comes to rolling resistance performance. The expectations were met as Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) recorded a rolling resistance coefficient value of 8.6N/kN while the all season (Weather Control A005) had a coefficient value of 8.3N/kN . Overall, the all season (Weather Control A005) tire has a slightly better rolling resistance in this particular case.
Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) :
- -3.5% 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, the all season (Weather Control A005) & Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) have to pass a legal snow test in order to certify themselves as a 3 peak mountain tire.
Being a winter tire, we do expect Blizzak LM005 to truly dominate in this snow category. True enough, Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) dominated in all fronts in the snow category. Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) was way ahead in snow braking as it out-brake all season (Weather Control A005) by 2.9m . While in snow handling, Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) was dominant by being 2.8 seconds faster per lap compared to the all season (Weather Control A005) tire.
Lateral acceleration was also won by the winter tire (Blizzak LM005) as it was +0.41m/s2 than the all season (Weather Control A005) tire. Overall, it is clear from the test results, it is no surprise that the winter tire (Blizzak LM005) excels much better in snow compared to the all season (Weather Control A005) counterpart.
Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) :
- +11.1% in snow braking
- +6.2% in snow handling (lap times)
- +13.3% in snow slalom
Price
The tire prices for both winter tire (Blizzak LM005) & all season (Weather Control A005) are as below:
Tire size: 205/55 R16
All season (Weather Control A005): ₤ 78
Winter tire (Blizzak LM005) : € 86
Difference: +9% more expensive for Winter tire (Blizzak LM005)
Summary
Overall, all season (Weather Control A005) shows its strengths in dry & rolling resistance while winter tire (Blizzak LM005) were especially strong in snow & wet as intended. A key issue to point out is that we do not have the data for mileage which is generally much better for an all season tire. Overall all season tires are a hybrid as they try to balance between both winter & summer performances while winter tires are specifically designed to maximize snow & wet. Enjoy!