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This is very much my experiences too with the brands you mention, even if mine are a few years back. The Gislaveds were good, the Pirellis were ... not. In Scandinavian tire tests, winter tires are often classified as either made for continental Europe or for Scandinavia. In the winter conditions we have up here we need tires that will perform on snow and ice, and we are generally willing to accept less emphasis on bare, wet roads capabilities. In continental Europe it is the other way around. Consequently, I have yet to try a Scandinavian tire with really poor snow/ice characteristics as they are all made to work in Nordic winters, but tires like Pirelli, Dunlop, Firestone etc. can be either quite good or quite bad depending on what markets that were the producers’ main target for that particular tire.
Tire testing is 'big business' up here; independent companies with full-time employed testers and purpose-built test tracks (typical location, northern Finland) do extensive tests prior to each season to test this year's offerings of summer/winter tires. Results are sold as reports to the large newspapers and motor magazines. The tests get a lot of attention, and these tests decide who will win and who will loose the Scandinavian customers that year.
The most extensive test for this winter had Gislaved SoftFrost and Continental ContiViking Contact3 as overall winners among the studless tires. The Gislaved tires had slightly better marks in one of the snow test categories though. Pirelli Icesport was the test's looser. The only tire performing worse was a Bridgestone tire from 1996 they threw in just to check tire technology improvements over the last few years.
Among the studded tires, no-one could beat Nokian Hakkapellitta 4 overall, even if several were better on wet asphalt. The poorest performer was Kumho, only slightly better than a 1996 Michelin. Interestingly, Pirelli Winter Carving came in on a tied second place. As it is a studded tire it is designed for the Scandinavian market however, as studs are prohibited in most of Europe.
The test can be downloaded here, Norwegian text though but the tables might be of interest:
http://www.motor.no/pdf/vinterdekktest_2003.pdf
Erling.
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My 240 Page
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