Wednesday 11th March 2015

Michelin 'ends winter tyres debate'

Not a winter tyre, not a summer tyre ... not even an 'all-seasons' tyre - so what is the CrossClimate?

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After 78 pages of the current winter tyre thread could we now have a tyre to finally end the debate? Michelin reckons it does in the form of what it calls "a summer tyre with winter certification." It claims the CrossClimate has all the grip, braking performance, rolling resistance, noise levels and longevity of a summer tyre. But also works well in low temperatures and on snow. It already has the 'snowflake' certification that means those countries who force drivers by law to switch every winter have accepted it works.

Up (artificial) hill, down dale, whatever the weather

You will now ask what we asked when shown the tyre at a recent event near the Geneva motor show - what's so amazing about this compared to an all-season tyre? Michelin executives got quite heated at this point. This is not an all-season tyre we were told. All-seasons might let you climb a snowy hill, they said, but they don't offer the dry braking and wet braking performance of a summer tyre.

They backed this up by letting us test the CrossClimate against a summer tyre and a Goodyear all-season tyre on a purpose-built course that included some dry braking, a wet roundabout and a snowy hill.

It was pretty difficult to replicate the dry braking accurately each time, but the CrossClimate as fitted to a new VW Golf TSI stopped us smartly on the dry and carried more speed on the roundabout than the all-season before washing out. And it got us up the snow hill whereas the summer tyre didn't. On a snowy mountain road fitted to a Peugeot 308 the grip was more than decent.

CrossClimate's distinctive tread pattern

The tech is a combination of new silica in the tyre compound and a cool-looking tread pattern (accepting it takes a level of geekery to find tread patterns cool) that interlocks sipes in a V down the middle. Apparently grip actually increases when it wears thanks a technology called Evergrip, which reveals new grooves in the rubber as the tyre gets worn away.

The tyre goes on sale in May, with prices to be confirmed. "Between a summer and winter tyre" is all Michelin would say. Given a regular 205/55/R16 Michelin Energy Saver Plus sells for around £75 (according to a search on PH's Tyregiant landing page) and Alpin winter equivalents are over £100 that'd put it around £90 per wheel. Launch sizes are between R15 and R17, with 18s coming next year.

Michelin admits this is a middle of the road tyre. So if you're Alps-bound every other winter weekend or are looking for a sports tyre with ultimate bite and feel, this ain't going cover your needs. For the UK-based family hack, however, this could offer just the right level of all-year rubber protection.

End of a long-running PH discussion? We'll let you decide!

[DJ_AS]

Can you tell us which summer tyre and Goodyear all-season tyre this was bench-marked against? Presumably, the latter was a Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons (a tyre that has impressed me).

[TurboHatchback]

If it's as good as it sounds then this could be the new tyre for my barge later this year. I suspect the price will be somewhat alarming in 245/40R18 though, particularly when they first come out.

[Sheepshanks]

As these were mentioned days ago in the Winter tyre thread, can it be moved there?

[ILoveMondeo]

Agreed, that IS a cool looking tread pattern!

May be worth a punt for the daily driver next time around.

[un1corn]

We don't live in Sweden.

You don't need winter tyres here.

/thread

[andburg]

sounds like a good idea in principal...but I dont see it making a huge impact as the general driver doesn't seem care as long as his tyres are legal.

Dont know anyone with winter tyres but many who regularly complain about the council not gritting or keeping roads clear.

If the tyres are indeed better option in all conditions than all-season tyres then they need kwik fit etc to push them and manufacturers to fit them as OE kit.

[Herman Toothrot]

They do sound ideal for the dog cart barge shed car where you just want a set of tyres that just work all year round but don't care about them being the best in any particular scenario.

[Qubit]

A tyre that has 99% of the performance of a summer tyre with an OK performance in the snow/ice is all the tyre most folk could ever need on a daily driver.

[aww999]

Qubit said:

A tyre that has 99% of the performance of a summer tyre with an OK performance in the snow/ice is all the tyre most folk could ever need on a daily driver.

Isn't that an all-season tyre though? I'm happy to compromise a little dry grip on the shopping car in exchange for getting through occasional snow with relative ease, this new tyre appears to do exactly the same . . .

[corcoran]

un1corn said:

We don't live in Sweden.

You don't need winter tyres here.

/thread

Spot on. 78 pages of winter tyre debate? Good lord.

[NickGibbs]

DJ_AS said:

Can you tell us which summer tyre and Goodyear all-season tyre this was bench-marked against? Presumably, the latter was a Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons (a tyre that has impressed me).

It was a Vector 4Season. It wasn't a bad tyre, but not so good on dry braking and washed out quicker (with some weird oversteer thrown in) on the wet roundabout.

To add to that, the summer was a Michelin Energy Saver Plus

Edited by NickGibbs on Wednesday 11th March 14:20

[Swanny87]

corcoran said:

un1corn said:

We don't live in Sweden.

You don't need winter tyres here.

/thread

Spot on. 78 pages of winter tyre debate? Good lord.

I do see your point to some extent as I live in London but 'here' is a bit vague. Try saying that to people, who for example, live in the wilds of Cumbria/Scotland etc were they don't have enough resources to grit all roads. As it is in Sweden, the climate (especially in higher locations) can be pretty bad.

[TooMany2cvs]

NickGibbs said:

To add to that, the summer was a Michelin Energy Saver Plus

Which raises the next question - how's this sit on rolling resistance, if they're comparing it to bunny-huggers?

I'd presume it's nowhere near the grip of a more grip-focussed summer.

[renaultgeek]

yeah, they should tell us what the other tyres were. heng shin?

[AnimalMkIV]

"Between a summer and a winter tyre"

...that would be an autumn tyre, then...

[Gandahar]

Qubit said:

A tyre that has 99% of the performance of a summer tyre with an OK performance in the snow/ice is all the tyre most folk could ever need on a daily driver.

Indeed, also it sounds like it is better in the wet than a 4 season which is a main selling point considering the number of wet days to snowy to dry we get in the UK.

360 days wet or dry and 5 days winter ?

Problem is sticky summer tyres are sexy ( look at the amount of tread !) and sticky winter tyres are sexy ( look at the amount of tread, sorry sipes) but wet weather tyres are only sexy to a few pervs.

This actually does look quite sexy. I'm going to try them out. Nice to see a new approach, the compound and pattern may be a jack of all trades. Michelin don't normally screw up after all.

[vtecyo]

un1corn said:

We don't live in Sweden.

You don't need winter tyres here.

/thread

Precisely this.

Nerds.

[TooMany2cvs]

Gandahar said:

Indeed, also it sounds like it is better in the wet than a 4 season which is a main selling point considering the number of wet days to snowy to dry we get in the UK.

360 days wet or dry and 5 days winter ?

Perhaps there should be a "Read this before you post in ANY winter tyre thread" sticky?

Or perhaps you really do live somewhere where there's only five days a year where the temperature is in low single figures above zero?

[GC8]

un1corn said:

We don't live in Sweden.

You don't need winter tyres here.

/thread

Bad joke, troll or wally?

[Some Gump]

Can you report news stories to the mods for advertising?