Performance winter tires

Testing the balance of handling against snow and ice grip

Until recently, performance tires were fitted mostly on sporty or luxury vehicles. Now they come standard on many everyday sedans, such as the Toyota Camry, and on some trim lines of economy cars, such as the Kia Rio.

Indeed, performance tires currently account for 21 percent of the replacement tire market and are often the best choice for more performance-oriented late-model cars.

The trade-off for higher levels of handling and grip achieved by performance tires, however, has often been tread life.

We reintroduced tread wear to our tire-testing program last year. This year, we made our test more demanding by extending it from 7,200 miles to 16,000 miles, including more driving on city-type roads. We found that wear varied from model to model and did not necessarily follow tread-wear warranties.

This year’s tread-wear testing took place over more miles than the testing that manufacturers use to assign their tread-wear grades. As a result, we believe our Ratings show better differentiation than the tread-wear rating you’ll find on a tire’s sidewall or the manufacturers’ warranties.

We tested performance all-season tires, which provide balanced handling and braking in dry and wet conditions and provide nominal performance in snow and ice conditions. We also tested performance winter tires, which are good in regions where drivers must drive over snow and ice in colder months.

Performance winter tires

Winter tires typically have faster tread wear than all-season tires because the tread is specifically designed to bite into snow and ice, and the rubber is formulated to stay pliable at freezing temperatures.

Now H- and V-rated winter tires are catching on as a winter replacement option for cars that use performance tires in warmer months. Performance winter tires provide higher levels of snow and ice grip, but keep some of the handling and cornering capabilities of the performance tires they replace.

As with conventional winter tires that typically carry a speed rating of Q (99 mph), their traction is not always as good as all-season tires on dry or wet pavement, and their softer rubber compounds wear easily. You should remove winter tires once seasonal driving conditions become moderate.

We tested 20 H- and V-rated winter tires in a P205/55R16 size. Unlike the all-season tires, we did not test for tread wear or rolling resistance, two areas where winter tires do not excel. None of these tires could be fitted with studs.