Vredestein Wintrac Pro vs Michelin Pilot Alpin 5: We have covered the winter & Nordic segments quite often and even did a comparison of Michelin’s Winter vs Studless: Pilot Alpin 5 vs X-Ice Snow to showcase the differences of the 2 segments. We would like a stay on the winter segment and introduce another mid-tier competitor to have a go at Michelin’s Pilot Alpin 5. Introducing Vredestein’s Wintrac Pro which was launched in 2018 and covers 17-22″ size range while Pilot Alpin 5 is a relatively older tire as it was launched in 2015 Without further ado, let’s put them head to head to see who comes out on top !
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from Tire Rack’s “Testing Winter / Snow Tires 2021” test. A total of 3 tires were tested this time around. The graph below shows the comparison between Vredestein Wintrac Pro vs Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 based on the relevant performance category. The Wintrac Pro was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
Note that for handling & subjective noise evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%.The tire size of interest is a 225/50R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Honda Accord. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle of choice is a 2020 BMW 430i Gran Coupe.
Snow
When it comes to winter tires, snow performance is everything as that is the target requirement for this segment. This is where we saw the snow results were mainly dominated by Pilot Alpin 5. It managed to stop 2.59 feet (0.79m) earlier than Wintrac Pro from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. The margin was still the same when it came to snow acceleration as Pilot Alpin 5 took 1.7 feet (0.5m) less distance to accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h).
While Pilot Alpin 5 continued to outpace Wintrac Pro in snow handling with a quicker lap time (1.7 seconds) and was also subjectively better with a 7/10 rating against 6.21/10 of Wintrac Pro. Overall, it is clear to us that Pilot Alpin 5 is the dominant snow tire.
Pilot Alpin 5:
- +5% in snow braking
- +6.6% in snow acceleration
- +2.5% in snow handling (lap time)
- +4% in snow handling (subj)
Ice
While snow is dominated by Pilot Alpin 5, ice was heavily in Michelin’s favor. With the biggest deficit recorded in the test, Pilot Alpin 5 managed to out brake Wintrac Pro by 5.2 feet (1.6m) which translates to 14% difference. While it took Pilot Alpin 5 0.35 seconds faster to accelerate till 60 feet compared to the Wintrac Pro. Once again the X-Ice Snow totally “destroyed” Pilot Alpin 5 in ice.
Pilot Alpin 5:
- +14% in ice braking
- +7.8% in ice acceleration
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 the winter segment is highly focused in wet, both Pilot Alpin 5 & Wintrac Pro were extremely close in all wet performance criteria. In wet braking, Pilot Alpin 5 stopped 2 feet (0.6m) earlier than Wintrac Pro !
While in wet handling, both tires are only differentiated by a razor thin margin. Wintrac Pro was 0.05 seconds faster than Pilot Alpin 5. While in subjective rating, Wintrac Pro was rated 0.25 points more compared to Pilot Alpin 5. Overall in the wet category, both tires were effectively very close to each other.
Pilot Alpin 5:
- +1.8% in wet braking
- -0.1% in wet handling (subj)
- -1.3% in wet handling (lap time)
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 consistence level. Similar to wet, both tires were performing equally the same for all dry performance criteria. In dry braking, only 0.5 feet (0.15m) separated the 2 tires apart with Wintrac Pro slightly ahead. Dry handling was also a close affair with Wintrac Pro 0.28 seconds faster per lap while also getting slightly ahead in subjective rating of 7.38/10 against Pilot Alpin 5’s 7.38/10. Overall in the dry category, both tires were effectively very close to each other and there is no outright winner in dry.
Pilot Alpin 5:
- -0.6% in dry braking
- -0.9% in dry handling (subj)
- -0.9% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Normally in a winter segment, the noise & comfort is usually not the main requirement. People are more focused on being able to get enough grip while ensuring the car stays on the road. The Pilot Alpin 5 was the better tire with an overall rating of 7.42/10 compared to the 6.92/10 of Wintrac Pro.
Pilot Alpin 5:
- +2.5% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command one of the highest priced tires in the market. In line with our expectation, Pilot Alpin 5 cost 90 dollars more compared to Wintrac Pro.
Tire size: 235/40 R18
Pilot Alpin 5 : $278
Wintrac Pro : $189
Difference: +32% more expensive for Pilot Alpin 5.
Summary
Overall, Pilot Alpin 5 truly excels in snow ice & noise. While both tires were almost indistinguishable in wet & dry as they were really close to each other. From our point of view, the winner of this duel is Michelin’s Pilot Alpin 5 with its strong snow & ice performance. Enjoy🙂!