Michelin has entered all-season tire market since 2015. But french company has decided to make something different compared to its competitors. Indeed, Michelin CrossClimate and CrossClimate+ have been developed based on a summer tire with improved traction on snow. It is somehow different from the usual all-season tires mostly based on winter tires.
Michelin CrossClimate promise is great: this tire is supposed to present three major benefits usually not compatible between each other. Supposibly, Michelin CrossClimate has similar performance on dry road braking compared to a summer tire, it has a mileage at high level and above all, Michelin CrossClimate should have a good mobility on snow. In that regard, this tire has passed standard test to get three-peak-mountain symbol with snowflake ("3PMSF") marking.
As I am driving every day to Luxembourg and occasionnally to Germany, mounting a tire with a minimum of traction on snowy road (validated by 3PMSF marking) was mandatory. They were about to replace M+S tires. While it was still allowed to drive with those tires on snow, traction was definitely poor on snow and average on wet road.
Swapping between summer tires and winter tires is something traditional. However, in my case, I was concerned due to tire pressure monitoring sensors (TPMS). I may have considered to keep the same wheels and just change tires twice a year, which is painful and pretty long process. It is also not recommended for tire sidewall durability.
Buy new wheels has been another option. However, TPMS price was, in my case, too expensive (almost 500€ for four wheels). Or, I could have choose not to buy TPMS and loose tire inflating feedback, which is potentially forbidden and require also to program the vehicle at your dealer to declare no sensor is present (or live with a permanent alert on board computer).
All that said, the last option was to consider all-season tires. However, this kind of tire does not have a good ranking due to the fact they do not perform as good as summer tires on dry road and as good as winter tires on snow. Furthermore, they generally do not last very high mileage.
In the meantime, Michelin was announcing a new concept: the CrossClimate. It was very promising in theory and that's exactly the reason why I've decided to give it a try.
Michelin CrossClimate has three major features:
CrossClimate tire is using last generation silica that is globally finer. This silica helps to keep a good grip, especially on wet road, while it is also improving significantly mileage. Also, new material under the tread avoid tire heating, which helps to improve fuel consumption.
V-shape has a acute angle on central part of the tread optimizing lateral grip. V-shape has a wider angle on shoulder area. This provides a better traction on snow.
V-shape is combined with self-blocking 3D sipes. Those full-depth sipes are wavy and varying in thickness. Thus, it has a "claw" effect on snow (just as a standard winter tire) and it improves traction.
To achieve similar traction over whole tire life, grooves, which are invisible when the tire is new, emerge on the edge of the tread as the tire wears down, thereby compensating for the loss of depth of the rain grooves. Also, The rain grooves themselves widen as they wear down, instead of narrowing as they would usually do.
On first 300 kilometers, I have noticed CrossClimate are somehow noisy compared to my previous tires. However, this is fading over time and it is hardly noticeable afterwards.
Furthermore, it looks like there is some kind of phase shift between the time you turn the wheel drive and the time the vehicle is effectively turning whatever the road is dry or wet. This is really appearing on first 700 kilometers and it is not noticeable after this period. Nevertheless, this trend would not suit on a sport vehicle.
After 20.000 km and a hot summer, tread depth is still 6 mm (front tires) and 7 mm (rear tires). Compared to my previous tires (Michelin Latitude HP - summer tires including M+S marking) which had only 4 mm to the front and 6 mm to the rear, this is significantly better.
More important is certainly the great stability of this tire which should be mentioned. Indeed, whatever you need to perform an emergency bracking on dry or wet road, vehicle stays stable and ABS does not trigger early anyway. Also, on fully wet road, Michelin CrossClimate does not aquaplane easily.
Unless you really push vehicle to the limits, you will not feel phase shift during turns, as I have noticed on the first kilometers.
I have replaced my front tires after 42.000 km having less than 2.0 mm tread depth. As I was satisfied with CrossClimate, I have replaced them by a set of CrossClimate+.
Michelin commitment is to offer the same performance from the first mile to the last. This is true as long as tread depth is above 2.5 mm. Below this limit, performance is significantly decreased, particularly traction on wet roads (tires have not been evaluated on snow at low thread depth).
Also, in those conditions, vehicle is not as stable as it should be. This is particularly the fact in case of cross wind. However, it is true to say this behavior is not specific to the CrossClimate: it is a natural trend from any worn tire.
I was particularly interested to test CrossClimate tires on snowy roads. In such conditions, it is not a surprise to say M+S tires were hardly efficient. On opposite way, I was feeling fairly safe with Michelin CrossClimate since they have a very good traction. Even during turns, they provide good confidence, in a way you are not particularly slower than vehicles equipped with winter tires.
Note : CrossClimate tires have been tested on snow in East of France (snow falling between 5 and 10 cm). They have not been evaluated on mountain roads.
I am definitely enthusiastic with Michelin CrossClimate. At the time my front tires were worn, I replaced them by CrossClimate+ and this is not a coincidence. Not only these tires have a good mileage (as good as a summer tire), but also you are feeling safe with them whatever road conditions are (hot, cold, dry, wet, fully wet, snowy, ...).
To my opinion, the real drawback is linked to phase shift you may feel when turning on first hundreds of kilometers. This is why I would not recommend this tire for a sport car. In other cases, Michelin CrossClimate is certainly an excellent compromise to face any wheater condition.
From first quarter 2017, Michelin has put on market an evolution of CrossClimate called CrossClimate+. There is visually no difference in tread shape. According to Michelin, there is only a change in rubber compound.
With this change, Michelin is trying to improve again mileage and to reduce difference in terms of behavior between a new tire and a worn tire. Those improvements are theorically slightly downgrading braking on wet road.
According marking requested by EU, braking is passing from A rating (best possible note) to B on a wet surface. On a braking from 80 km/h to 20 km/h, this represents approximately a difference of 3 meters longer with CrossClimate+. However, CrossClimate+ is improving in terms of efficiency from C to B, pending on tire dimensions.
First test drive tends to show Michelin CrossClimate+ keeps same performance as its precursor. I did not feel any consequence on wet road where braking is still strong and ABS intervention does not occur more than before.
There is still some droning, about the same level as it was on initial CrossClimate. Furthermore, phase shift during turns seems to be almost gone. It is not as accurate as sport tire, but it is largely acceptable.
At last, I had the opportunity to drive CrossClimate+ on snow conditions (10 cm of snow on the road) and it is now sure that CrossClimate+ is bringing same confidence level in those conditions as CrossClimate: I feel very safe with those tires on snow. They still provide good traction and nice ability to take the turns on snow.
Credits: Michelin / Guillaume Darding (worn tires and snowy roads)