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Although the car industry is divided most will recommend people who live in areas where they are likely to be hit with snow and ice during the winter months to fit their vehicle with winter tyres. Tyre manufactures will of course always claim that tyres specific to the conditions is the best way to go but independent car magazines have also performed tests on various summer, winter and all-round tyres to provide independent advice on what's the best way to approach the colder months regardless of whether you're driving a new Skoda or a used Alfa Romeo.

But what do they check out when they perform these tests? This will of course vary but it entails more than just measuring braking distance on ice and snow. Other things they test out are how various tyres affect handling on snow, in wet conditions and on dry roads.
Snow braking is of course an important test and is what most drivers fear when driving in snow and is also what causes most of crashes. Testing various tyres would be done on the same track at the same speed measuring which tyres provide the shortest braking distance.
Another issue in winter is of course getting stuck in snow so a test of tyres capabilities would include how much traction each tyre can generate. The more traction, the better a tyre is for winter driving.

A tyre test will typically also include how they cope with aquaplaning as this is a quite common occurrence in winter. If a tyre can pump water out from under the tread effectively this is a good tyre in terms of coping with water on the roads.

In terms of wet conditions it makes a difference whether the temperatures are below or above 7 degrees Celsius as winter tyres remain more flexible below this level than standard or summer tyres. In terms of dry conditions the tyres are tested because this might be important to people who are considering driving on all weather tyres or winter tyres all year round. Typically the pattern of winter tyres would mean you lose some performance in warm and dry weather much in the same way a standard tyre loses performance below 7 degrees.

So as you can see, independent tyre tests are quite thorough and will include tyres from a wide range of manufactures although will probably not include a wide range of tyre sizes. The test is more likely to be done on one of the more popular sized tyres such as a 225/45R17 than a larger 4x4 tyre. But if you're looking for a safer ride this winter, you might want to consider swapping tyres regardless of what car you drive.