May 9, 2023
As we continue to see Grand Touring All-Season tires adopting the industry's three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol indicating they meet the requisite severe snow service requirements, we find that many of these “all-weather” tires achieve that same minimum standard while balancing characteristics and attributes differently. It's no secret that tire design is a game of tradeoffs that sometimes are non-negotiable, but while a manufacturer might have more engineering tricks and tools on their belt, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll achieve the perfect mix of characteristics to satisfy consumers.
Pirelli's Cinturato WeatherActive is one of the latest all-weather arrivals to the category which hopes to have attained that delicate balance of road manners and grip in every season. The tire's innovative polymer/resin compound is engineered to deliver traction in a wide range of conditions and temperatures. It's aided by a V-formation tread pattern helping maximize mechanical contact with the ground, while numerous, variable-angled biting edges help create traction in slippery conditions. To find out how the Cinturato WeatherActive stacks up against its peers in this highly competitive category subset, our team picked three other benchmarks that each bring a strong mix of characteristics to the table. The Michelin CrossClimate2 utilizes a similar V-shaped pattern, but similar looks are no guarantee of like performance, so the Pirelli will need to contend with the Michelin's historically strong performance. The Bridgestone WeatherPeak and Vredestein Quatrac Pro maintain a more traditional ribbed tread design, but both have proven more than capable of satisfying customers and our drivers in previous tests. To gauge each tire's differences and performance focuses, our evaluation used 2022 Subaru BRZ Limited test vehicles fitted with new, full tread depth 225/40R18 tires mounted on 18x8.0 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.
Bult to provide comfortable, quiet operation, good traction and capable, sporty handling, Grand Touring All-Season tires are asked to do a lot on the road, and do it well. The Vredestein Quatrac Pro seemed up to the task and met those expectations in the road portion of our testing with some of the nicest daily driving manners in the test. The ride was appropriately firm with a well-cushioned ride over impacts and minimal secondary movement that sometimes manifested in an uncontrolled feeling. Noise comfort was also well-executed with the Quatrac Pro mitigating most of the resonance on the coarse, cross-cut concrete surfaces. On smoother asphalt the tire noise dropped to a dull thrum that would easily be overwhelmed by wind noise. Steering from the Vredestein was good, but not a leader in the category, even if it was certainly appropriate for a Grand Touring All-Season product. It was plenty solid, which was appreciated, but our team would have like a little more positivity from the inputs to give it some more precision. The CrossClimate2 however, delivered that steering positivity in spades with a firm and accurate one-to-one sensation that let our drivers intuitively position the car. The Michelin's ride was a little firm over imperfections but controlled very nicely, resulting in a singular hit over bumps that would be damped out just as quickly as it had initially jostled the car. The CrossClimate2 had the tendency to react a little more to coarse surfaces, resulting in a medium volume white noise. Smoother pavement brought out a hint of cyclical pattern noise, but the tire did an impressive job flattening out the frequency into consistent tones. The Cinturato WeatherActive developed similar resonance over concrete but wasn't as successful at mitigating the vibrato on the smoother asphalt. The minor frequency shift in tone was covered by some additional white noise which actually helped make it sound less objectionable even for our testers' keen ears. The ride was a little stiffer in the Pirelli which gave it sporty flavor through the turns of our road route. While its initial hit was a little tauter than the Michelin, it did an excellent job of cushioning the final bit of travel which really helped give it a polished, sophisticated feel. Steering was right in line with the best of the group with satisfying mid-corner resistance and feedback while loaded. Response was quick and sporty and is sure to satisfy drivers that like a little more life in the steering wheel. The WeatherPeak delivered a good performance on the road that was objectively competitive, but just missed some of the higher-highs of the rest of the group. It however managed to have the most absolute comfort over impacts, but perhaps at the expense of some motion control, with impacts seemingly affecting the vehicle for longer after the hit. The Bridgestone maintained decent tread pattern noise on the cross-cut concrete but manifested more prominent cyclical pattern noise once the roads smoothed out. The steering from the WeatherPeak was fast and light which would respond quickly, but ended up making mid-corner corrections feel a little loose.
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.
Wet road grip can sometimes be a diametrically opposed trait to light snow traction in tire engineering, and while this group is 3PMSF branded, many drivers still rightly value wet traction as a priority, so they still need to perform in the wet at the highest levels of Grand Touring All-Season tires. The Quatrac Pro delivered those expected levels of grip with test leading subjective and objective lateral traction. Its excellent communication to the driver through turns inspired confidence and quickly corrected misjudgments in speed or attitude with ease, ultimately yielding the quickest lap times. The Cinturato WeatherActive cornered within sight of the Vredestein but was a moderate step longer in braking distances. The Pirelli however seemed to make up for any traction disadvantage with the nicest steering characteristics in the wet, which helped navigate the slalom and tighter sections with ease. Its bright and playful steering seemed to sync up perfectly with our drivers and produced fun and decidedly quick laps right behind the Vredestein's slightly blander performance. The CrossClimate2 just bested the Vredestein in braking from fifty miles per hour by a foot and a half but was a hundredth of a g lower in lateral traction. This strong objective combination was punctuated by the same precision though corners that our team experienced on the roads. The sharp and accurate front-end steering did tempt our drivers to add a little more input than the grip was ready to maintain, but if our team stayed within the limits, the car effortlessly positioned itself through corners. The WeatherPeak seemed to struggle a bit more in lateral grip, but more so in braking, with a moderate gap between it and its closest rival. Still, while laps and corners needed to be taken with less pace than the others, the Bridgestone was balanced in its delivery and easy to drive at its limit. While our divers wanted more urgency in the steering and of course, a bump in wet grip, its predictable nature and sufficient traction made sure it wasn't outclassed by any means in this group.
Timed dry laps are further down the list of design priorities for Grand Touring All-Season tires, but nevertheless the tires need to be able to respond in emergency, evasive maneuvers at a minimum and the occasional spirited drive down a twisty back road. The CrossClimate2 managed to blend its strong, consistent braking, precise steering, and predictable lateral grip for once again satisfyingly clean laps. The Quatrac Pro was right on the Michelin's heels though, with higher lateral grip and more natural handling that felt more analog to the CrossClimate2's digital approach. The Cinturato WeatherActive managed test leading lateral traction around the skidpad and laps that essentially matched the Michelin but were a little harder to drive. In the dry our drivers noted the Pirelli seemed to have a harder time combining inputs with its quick steering having the tendency to push beyond the limit into understeer. The WeatherPeak once again trailed the pack in objective results with both braking and lateral grip a noticeable step behind. Similar to the wet though, it was easy to drive at its limit, which is commendable even if it required the driver to recalibrate driving styles by slowing sooner and more than the others in the test.
Each of these tires features the 3PMSF branding and are considered all-weather tires, so winter traction is an important piece of their overall performance. The CrossClimate2 delivered this requisite traction handily with test leading acceleration in the snow and our highest subjective scores in lateral grip. The tire's high levels of lateral traction were impressive, but the grip seemed to break away quickly at the limit. This could be both good and bad depending on the circumstances but impressed our team even in this group of all-weather performers. Delivering the shortest braking distances in the snow, the WeatherPeak also provided competent and controllable winter performance. Its high levels of grip combined with a remarkably gradual break away at the limit that helped utilize all the tire's grip without any surprises from wild oversteer or debilitating understeer. The Quatrac Pro also maintained nice composure at the limit but trailed slightly in longitudinal grip when braking and accelerating in the snow. While objectively a bit weaker, our testers appreciated the tire's ability to engage both axles through corners. The Cinturato WeatherActive maintained a competitive, but objectively lower winter grip. The Pirelli required a slightly different driving style than the other tires and didn't want its inputs rushed coming into corners. Our drivers remarked throttle modulation seemed as influential as steering inputs through many turns. If the driver kept the slip angle to a minimum though, the Cinturato WeatherActive would easily carve elegant, predictable lines through the snowy corners.
On the ice, the CrossClimate2 maintained some of the quickest acceleration times at 4.9 seconds to sixty feet and braking distances just over a foot longer than the test leading Pirelli which brought the vehicle to a stop at 46.2 feet from 12 miles per hour. Each felt like they had a solid advantage over the Bridgestone who dashed 60 feet in 5.17 seconds, stopping again in 52.6 feet. Perhaps at a slight disadvantage on the ice, the Quatrac Pro rounded out the tight group, with acceleration just over a tenth of a second slower than the WeatherPeak and braking almost three feet further.
Our team is genuinely excited to see each of these tires from major manufacturers achieving success and levels of performance that seemed unobtainable just a few years ago. The continued evolution of 3PMSF-branded, all-weather touring products seems like the natural progression for many North American drivers. Any of these four products is likely to fulfill those drivers' needs and are excellent choices that offer a nice mixture of individual strong suits to satisfy distinct priorities. The Quatrac Pro continues to be an impressive combination of road manners and wet traction, and its success is hard to argue with. The CrossClimate2 has pushed this category to new levels and solidified itself as a benchmark for absolute performance in dry, wet, and winter performance. It remains a strong developmental target and never ceases to impress our team and customers. The Cinturato WeatherActive is the new tire to the group and has shown it has what it takes to compete in this segment after performing well against some stiff competition. Its excellent steering feel is a welcome advantage brought to the group and its competitive grip should further satisfy the traction focused consumer. The WeatherPeak delivered excellent winter grip, but its dry and wet performance seemed to be slightly off the pace at times. Its nice road manners and easy to drive demeanor shouldn't be overlooked though, as both fulfill two of the main objectives of a Grand Touring All-Season tire.
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