The performance all-season tyre is here
Kept your car buying sensible to avoid winter woes? Michelin has a smart new solution
Promised yourself something feisty or rear-driven for years, but worried it would be left stricken in winter? Michelin is here to help. A decade after launching its first summer tyre approved for winter use – the Michelin CrossClimate – the French firm’s engineers have cooked up a thrilling new evolution that puts performance cars front of mind. Meet the Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport.
It represents a whole new benchmark in a corner of the tyre market that’s soared in popularity since the launch of the first CrossClimate back in 2015; the flexibility of what’s essentially an all-season summer tyre has proved too hard to resist for an increasing number of buyers. For those of us using our pride and joy 12 months a year without wishing to compromise on performance and agility, the CrossClimate 3 Sport offers the best of all worlds. Crucially without the expense and faff of switching between summer and winter tyres twice a year…
There’s a stock Michelin CrossClimate 3, too, but it’s the Sport which is truly exciting for folks like us. It’s specifically developed for more sporting cars, making it unique amongst the all-season tyre market. It’s primed and ready to meet the lofty demands of car enthusiasts who might previously have felt forgotten by the winter tyre market. Drivers of quick, powerful and focused machinery now have the option of year-round grip and, perhaps, a more fearless approach to ungritted roads come winter.
The Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport will be available in 30 dimensions, rim sizes 18-21", the largest being 295/35 R21 107Y from 1 July 2025. It has been thoroughly developed to deliver the handling carmakers intended in both wet and dry conditions, with no compromise on its control and precision on wintry roads. It’s earned itself an A-rating for wet weather performance while its Three Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) designation is the ultimate certification of its winter capabilities. That’s increasingly crucial or those of us inclined to road trip through Europe, just one example of rising restrictions being within the French mountains beloved of ski trips, where Mud and Snow (M+S) tyres are no longer accepted in lieu of snow socks or chains.
Michelin hasn’t forgotten its motorsport heritage, either. The hybrid belt of the CrossClimate 3 Sport encompasses Aramid and Nylon for the ultimate conversion of steering inputs to the road, ensuring the feel and fidelity of a great performance car aren’t mercilessly traded in the pursuit of safe, secure winter traction. Meanwhile, the latest Michelin Thermal Adaptive Tread Compound 2.0 introduces a freshly updated generation of compound for a breakthrough in wet-weather performance. Which, let’s face it, are the conditions we face more than most others on British roads and racetracks.
The CrossClimate 3 is the latest chapter in Michelin’s all-season endeavours. In 2015, its team defied conventions by pairing the precision of a summer tyre with proficient winter capability. The ensuing demand proved Michelin’s pioneering spirit right and the CrossClimate introduced a simpler approach to winter safety for plenty of drivers. As the all-season market grew, so did Michelin’s ambition, and in 2021 the CrossClimate 2 shifted the goalposts further for drivers keen to maintain a consistently high level of performance all year round.
The all-season market has quadrupled in size since 2015 and the Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport opens a whole new world of winter driving for those of us who value performance and precision as utmost priorities. It’s suitable whether your car uses combustion or electric power, and crucially whether it’s front, all or rear-wheel drive. It’s the optimum solution for drivers seeking a single, high-performance tyre for year-round use – making it time to shop for that sports car you’ve always dreamed about.
As I've opined in the past, a summer-like tread & construction with a cold weather / all season compound would in theory be the perfect combination for the Southern UK where heavy snow is infrequent but freezing / near freezing conditions are not.
It's a shame they didn't do the full US Style Pilot Sport 4AS, But understandable given the big market benefits of 3PMSF in the EU that would likely be unattainable without the tread redesign.
Previously the car was on OEM Michelin Pilot Sport 4's. Since then we've had a June heatwave! Thing is it's my daily and I work shifts all winter putting me on roads at 4am where I'm the first one down them and the gritters may not have been yet. I also find that in modern cars I never run out of dry grip or dry braking performance. You'd have to be driving very hard on the public road to be near the dry limits on any premium tyre.
The bottom clenching sound of the ABS kicking in is 99% of the time for me in the wet and/or on a miserable cold November night. Hence the All Seasons for my daily since Michelin launched the original CrossClimate in 2015.
So far the Continentals have been brilliant in the dry heat. No squealing during hard Cornering like the first gen Michelins used to do. I detect no loss of hot dry traction either. If I were in charge I'd remove the VAT on All Season tyres and promote their uptake. It would do far more for road safety than silly 20mph speed limits and ADAS.
The road chaos we get when a cm of snow falls would mostly be a thing of the past. There would be fewer collisions generally. Insurance costs would decrease for everyone. It's socially responsible.
When was the last time you experienced the ABS pulsing the pedal in the dry in a modern car?
Previously the car was on OEM Michelin Pilot Sport 4's. Since then we've had a June heatwave! Thing is it's my daily and I work shifts all winter putting me on roads at 4am where I'm the first one down them and the gritters may not have been yet. I also find that in modern cars I never run out of dry grip or dry braking performance. You'd have to be driving very hard on the public road to be near the dry limits on any premium tyre.
The bottom clenching sound of the ABS kicking in is 99% of the time for me in the wet and/or on a miserable cold November night. Hence the All Seasons for my daily since Michelin launched the original CrossClimate in 2015.
So far the Continentals have been brilliant in the dry heat. No squealing during hard Cornering like the first gen Michelins used to do. I detect no loss of hot dry traction either. If I were in charge I'd remove the VAT on All Season tyres and promote their uptake. It would do far more for road safety than silly 20mph speed limits and ADAS.
The road chaos we get when a cm of snow falls would mostly be a thing of the past. There would be fewer collisions generally. Insurance costs would decrease for everyone. It's socially responsible.
When was the last time you experienced the ABS pulsing the pedal in the dry in a modern car?
The P Zeros on my M3 Touring will need changing in the Autumn and I am tempted to go all season rather than the default P4S that I was thinking of changing too.
The hot and dry weather in rural Shropshire will soon be replaced by wet and damp.
Next car I bought an extra set of wheels with Michelin winters, ran them for 6 years, brilliant-but you lose all the grip when you get a sudden warm spell.
Conclusion, there is no such thing as a performance all season tyre, only marketing bs.
Living happily with Bridgestone LM005 in Winter, Summer is MPS4S on the BRZ, Zeknova RS 606 on the STI.
There's some trade off in sharpness of handling (At the moment - These may change that!) which is the primary reason I bother running summers at this point - It's preference too, though, as the slightly more traditional soft feedback & breakaway can make for a pleasurable experience, allowing you to enjoy the chassis rather than the modern take of ultimate grip and directness - right up to the moment you break away and find yourself in the hedge.
Admittedly don’t think they stop or hook up as well in the snow and ice or as Michelin Pilot Alpines I had for my M2.
Look forward to some real world review of these!
Are 17s really that small now? Neither car is a decade old yet.
I recall my early Imprezas and Evos being on 17s and all was fine then.The road chaos we get when a cm of snow falls would mostly be a thing of the past. There would be fewer collisions generally. Insurance costs would decrease for everyone. It's socially responsible.
When was the last time you experienced the ABS pulsing the pedal in the dry in a modern car?
Reasonable all-seasons are ideal for cars of typical use patterns in the UK.
Drivers do need educating and encouraging. Large numbers just buy the cheapest tyres.
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