Triangle WinterX TW401 review
Rather this than a summer tyre in the snow, but it’s worryingly poor in the wet. Buying it is false economy.
What do you get if you pay half the average price of the big brand winter tyres? As we’ve seen before, you get fair snow performance – and with the Triangle, this includes a high of third in snow braking, a decent sixth around the snow handling circuit and seventh in the acceleration test. Around our snow lap it was just over two seconds off the best and rather skittish, slewing sideways with too much throttle too soon; it was prone to unexpected, late-corner oversteer but was well balanced otherwise, and felt good on the brakes.
It’s much more effective than a summer tyre in the snow, of course, but in the wet the Triangle’s performance unravelled. It was last in all five wet tests, with straight-line wet braking especially concerning; it took almost 5m longer to stop than the best and 2.3m longer than the seventh-placed tyre. On the wet handling circuit it was also poor, with a worrying lack of grip, weak traction and a lack of lateral grip that made it spooky in fast sweeps. It inspired little confidence.
It was sixth in dry braking and third on the handling circuit, its mobile rear helping turn-in. Its refinement was decent but economy poor.
Blackcircles.com says…
“We are unable to provide any insight into the tyre’s popularity or performance with our customers at present.”
| Triangle WinterX TW401 | ||
| Overall | 93.7% | |
| Price | £77 | |
| Snow braking | 97.8% | 3rd |
| Snow traction | 91.0% | 7th |
| Snow handling | 92.3% | 6th |
| Wet braking | 86.7% | 8th |
| Wet handling | 92.8% | 8th |
| Wet cornering | 94.4% | 8th |
| Straight aquaplaning | 87.4% | 8th |
| Curved aquaplaning | 66.1% | 8th |
| Dry braking | 92.3% | 6th |
| Dry handling | 98.3% | 3rd |
| Cabin noise | 99.6% | =3rd |
| Rolling resistance | 81.4% | 7th |
