October 19, 2022
In temperate climates, you’ll find people who enjoy the winter season and look forward to the first snowfall. In many cases, there is also a strong contingent of people who dread the first frozen precipitation that falls from the sky. Instead of a fun change of environment, that group sees it as an uncomfortable, added complication to their daily lives. Much of that sentiment comes from the need to drive in the difficult conditions that winter snow, slush, and ice bring. The added stress from avoiding icy slide offs and collisions is a real concern for obvious reasons and can reinforce someone’s disdain for the season. As is the case with many difficult tasks, the right tool makes all the difference. We’ve found that Studless Ice & Snow winter tires are the right tool for wintry weather and can alleviate, or at least dramatically diminish, that driving stress by providing reassuring confidence when winter weather is at its worst.
Our team set out to test several of the strong competitors in the category, and one previously untested tire, to see how they compare in variable road conditions. The Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 is the latest in a line of prestigious Blizzak tires that have held the reputation as some of the most capable "worst weather" performing winter tires. This carefully-honed product should serve as a strong benchmark in several metrics for the absolute performance capabilities of a dedicated winter tire. Continental’s VikingContact 7 has been a perennial favorite for its strong objective traction and on-road characteristics, so it naturally found a spot in this test once again. As a newer release in the marketplace, Goodyear’s flagship WinterCommand Ultra will be heavily considered by drivers looking for a top-tier Studless Ice & Snow winter tire. The untested competitor is Cooper’s latest release in the category, the Discoverer True North. It steps headlong into this collection of high-level winter performers, hoping it has the grip and road manners needed to compete with the best. To find out, our evaluation used 2022 Subaru BRZ Limited test vehicles fitted with new, full tread depth 225/45R17 tires mounted on 17x8.0 wheels.
Our 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city and highway speeds, smooth and coarse concrete, as well as new and patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality and everyday handling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
It’s generally accepted in the industry that winter tires often trade off some on-road refinement to capitalize on every ounce of poor weather performance possible. Lately, however, manufacturers have been finding ways to maintain their tires’ peak winter traction while also enhancing noise and ride comfort to levels substantially improved beyond winter tires of the past. One impressive example of this is Continental’s VikingContact 7, which maintained some of the best on-road manners of the group. Its well-mitigated, even tread pattern noise once again impressed our team with noise characteristics that wouldn’t be objectionable in a touring all-season tire comparison. The VikingContact 7 also led our subjective ride comfort evaluations by soaking up road imperfections better than any other tire in the test. Impacts could have benefited from a bit more control, but any loss in composure seemed to be made up for in absolute comfort. With its natural steering feel and intuitive response, the Continental’s well-rounded clear road performance didn’t give the impression any significant compromises were made for the sake of winter grip. The WinterCommand Ultra also provided natural steering with quick, responsive inputs that never overwhelmed the tire’s ability to control the momentum. The Goodyear was also nicely cushioned over large road imperfections but transmitted more of the smaller impacts in detail. Tire noise seemed like a minor compromise, with higher-volume tones intermixed with moderate pattern growl. The noises did a commendable job of staying consistent in frequency, but there was no getting around the increased volume level. Where the Goodyear favored slightly higher pitched rings, the Discoverer True North emitted lower, bassy tones that had more resonance at times than the Goodyear but didn’t bring as much attention to itself. The Cooper’s firm, mid-corner steering feel was liked by our drivers, but they noted it could use a little more precision and speed on input. Its subjective ride quality was on par with the Goodyear, with nicely cushioned impacts, and it maintained an acceptable level of composure throughout. The Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 was the tauter riding tire in the group, with its firm ride transmitting most cracks and bumps. It did maintain nice control over impacts, with minimal excess movement, helping the tight ride feel more anchored rather than harsh or disproportionately stiff. The Blizzak WS90’s steering felt heavy on center and was quick to respond with input, making it feel accurate but less intuitive through corners. While our drivers would have liked some more feel, the increase in precision was a welcome trait in a category of tires whose steering can sometimes feel like a guessing game through turns. Noise comfort was subjectively the same as the Goodyear, but with different attributes. Instead of the more constant, higher pitched rings, it emanated more pattern growl over most surfaces.
Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, a five-cone slalom and simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry and wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, handling and drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.
North America’s variable winter conditions include rain for much of the winter season between snow and ice, so it makes sense that drivers continue to emphasize wet grip, even in their dedicated winter products. Much like the latest improvements in on-road performance, wet traction has also improved immensely from older generation Studless Ice & Snow tires to meet these consumer demands. The Continental once again delivered an expertly balanced performance in the wet, with natural, easy-to-control characteristics that could have passed for a nicely tuned non-winter tire. Cornering traction from the Continental was a significant three-hundredths of a g below the Bridgestone, but that same margin, or more, higher than the Cooper and Goodyear, and braking essentially matched with them. While the VikingContact 7 was a solid step behind the Bridgestone in braking and lateral traction, it made up for any traction deficiencies, lapping only two-tenths of a second behind it around our handling course. The Blizzak WS90’s braking advantage was absolute, with a fifteen-foot shorter braking distance from fifty miles per hour that could undoubtedly be put to good use on the street. Cornering traction also came in six-hundredths of a g higher than the Cooper and Goodyear, which yielded a significant subjective improvement and is something drivers would probably notice on the streets. The Goodyear trailed the group in lateral traction but was on par with the others chasing the Bridgestone in braking distances. It delivered precise and quick steering, which made laps satisfying but ultimately the slowest of the test. While the Cooper managed a slight advantage over the Goodyear in lateral grip, it tended to push quickly into understeer when the limit was exceeded. It’s an appropriate response to traction loss, but our team found it to be slightly abrupt and took a bit longer to bring the front end back on line.
In the dry, lateral traction figures tightened up dramatically, with each tire happy to abrade its outer shoulder blocks to get around our skidpad quickly and consistently. Braking saw some more disparity, with the Blizzak WS90 again bringing the car to a halt in under 90 feet, the WinterCommand Ultra and VikingContact 7 requiring another five to six feet, and the Discoverer True North around ten feet further. Still, all four tires were capable of emergency maneuvers on the streets but won’t be mistaken for performance tires around our track.
Glare ice, like drivers encounter at an intersection, is arguably one of the most compelling reasons Studless Ice & Snow winter tires appeal to so many drivers. Their highly-specialized tread compounds are designed to provide adequate traction on ice where even the best all-season tires struggle. The Blizzak WS90 led the group with a slight advantage in acceleration to sixty feet, but its braking ability once again took center stage with a commanding advantage over even its closest competitor, the VikingContact 7. The Continental was once again a healthy margin quicker than the Goodyear and Cooper in both acceleration and braking. The Discoverer True North managed some short braking distances from twelve miles per hour and maintained consistent acceleration times to sixty feet that were competitive with the others. The WinterCommand Ultra was a step behind in acceleration times and was only slightly behind the Cooper in braking distances. Regardless, in this best-of-the-best group, all four tires seemed very capable of tackling slippery winter roads.
| 60’ Ice Acceleration (Seconds) | |
|---|---|
| 4.26 | Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 |
| 4.38 | Continental VikingContact 7 |
| 4.80 | Cooper Discoverer True North |
| 5.15 | Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra |
| 12-0mph Ice Braking (Feet) | |
|---|---|
| 31.7 | Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 |
| 36.0 | Continental VikingContact 7 |
| 39.4 | Cooper Discoverer True North |
| 42.1 | Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra |
When it was finally time to drive these winter weather wonders in their natural habitat, our team was excited to place the last, and arguably, most important piece into their performance puzzle. The VikingContact 7’s balanced performance once again gave it a slight edge over its competition by perhaps sacrificing a little absolute grip for easy-to-drive precision. Braking in light snow from twenty-five miles per hour was within the statistical noise of the others, while acceleration to twelve miles per hour led the group objectively by a slight amount. The Continental started to impress our drivers around the handling course with its more responsive steering that made higher speed inputs more accurate and helped the team easily place the car where they wanted at the apex. While the tire’s peak traction might have been a little lower than the Blizzak WS90, its larger window of control allowed our drivers to maximize the available grip more often and for longer. While the Blizzak WS90 aligned with the tight group for measured acceleration, it came alive once the traction control was turned off. The Bridgestone’s ability to generate acceleration with a modest amount of tire spin helped it dig out of corners with more authority than any of the other tires in the test. It seemed to also take the most lateral load of the group, and our team appreciated the overall driving dynamics, even in the more polished corners. The Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra was another strong competitor: with light snow acceleration and braking performance sure to satisfy in winter climates. Around the handling course, our team found the Goodyear delivered a solid performance, but at slightly lower levels than the Continental and Bridgestone. Dynamic lateral traction seemed a bit more vague, with turn-in slightly less positive and with corner exits filled with more tail-out wheel spin than the frontrunners. Still, our team found the Goodyear’s balance and controllability very nice and in line with the leaders. The Discoverer True North also displayed capable light snow acceleration and braking, with objective metrics right in line or leading the tight grouping. Our drivers liked the Cooper around the track but noted it didn’t take advantage of the wheelspin as much as some of the other tires. It seemed to provide a little less grip coming out of corners, with snappier oversteer sapping a significant amount of forward progress. Even if our drivers took corners with slightly less gusto than the others, the Cooper’s excellent braking helped the team stay out of trouble, which is undoubtedly a positive trait in slippery winter conditions.
Each of the four tires in our test have demonstrated they are up to the task of providing the traction necessary for winter’s worst weather, and in the process, also capable of alleviating some of the stress associated with it. They all differentiate themselves to some degree with slightly different mixes of clear road handling, wet and dry grip, and of course, winter weather traction. The VikingContact 7 manages to combine very nice subjective qualities on the road with strong objective metrics in each test condition. It is one of the category’s strongest benchmarks for a reason. The WinterCommand Ultra also shows the total package can be more than the sum of its parts. It’s nice to drive when there isn’t snow or ice and has the grip to satisfy when there is. The Blizzak WS90 is the undisputed traction-focused tire in this test. It might give up some road manners, but its grip is absolute, which is a strong factor in drivers’ decisions when looking for a dedicated winter tire. The Discoverer True North is nicely composed on the road and delivers competitive performance on ice and snow, which in this group of top tier competition is an impressive feat.
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