You need money and expertise to perform a comparative tyre test. Magazines and motoring clubs therefore regularly collaborate with partners when testing. This is the case for German company car magazine Firmenauto, which bases its latest winter tyre test upon auto motor und sport’s recent evaluation. To give the test greater relevancy to its readers, Firmenauto added cost as a fifth test category.
As expected, Firmenauto’s results are similar to those published by auto motor und sport. From the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ in first place through to the Nokian WR Snowproof’s wooden spoon, each of the 11 tested tyres were ranked in the same order.
But adding cost into the equation brought the final results closer together. Firmenauto’s scorecard shows very little between the winning Goodyear tyre and runner-up, the Bridgestone Blizzak LM005. Both scored 8.7 points out of a possible maximum of 10. The Goodyear tyre pipped its rival to the post when rounding after the decimal point.
The inclusion of a fifth test criterion also upgraded the Michelin, Pirelli and Giti tyres’ results. Auto motor und sport rates the Alpin 6 as a ‘good’ tyre – Firmenauto considers it ‘very good’. Firmenauto similarly promoted the Winter Sottozero 3 and WinterW1 from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘good’.
