Michelin CrossClimate 2 Review
Not many tires look like the Michelin CrossClimate 2 and even fewer perform like them.
PROS
- True winter performance
- Great dry weather grip
- Maintains performance over the life of the tire
CONS
- Limited selection
- Pricey
With the CrossClimate 2 tire Michelin continues to innovate into what is possible with an all-season tire. Rather than a conventional five-row tread pattern, this tire features a unique v-shape that’s made up of just two extra long tread blocks on each side of the tire.
The design and angle of these tread blocks serves to deliver excellent grip in all weather conditions, while the channels between them work extremely efficiently to force water and slush away from the contact patch.
And when we say all weather conditions we really mean it. This tire, unlike almost all all-season tires, is certified for extreme winter use and it features the three-peak mountain snowflake logo on its sidewall as proof.
The tire makes use of what Michelin calls 3-D SipeLock technology, which allows plenty of siping for grip in winter weather, while on dry roads, the tread blocks lock together under load to form a larger and more stable contact patch with the road. As a result, the tire is able to deliver excellent grip no matter the situation.
As proof of just how well this technology works, Michelin tested it against rival tires and found that on dry roads it stopped as much as 16 feet shorter than some rivals.
A 60,000 mile tread life warranty comes with these tires. That’s not as impressive as some other all-seasons, but those are also pretty useless in the cold. Better still, Michelin designed this tire with its Total Performance philosophy, with the intent of maintaining tire performance over the full life of the tire. To test it, they compared the worn tires against four rival tires of equal wear in a wet braking scenario and found that when the other tires were still traveling at 24 mph, the Michelins had already stopped!
In addition to all this, the tire is also extremely comfortable and he unique tread design has no impact on noise quality either, with a nearly-silent ride.
For decades many tires have tired to be true four-season tires, and while offering superior winer performance to an all-season, they sacrificed so much when it came to summer grip that it just wasn’t worth it. Finally, Michelin seems to have cracked the code. So if you live somewhere where winter is a real part of life and don’t want to bother with swapping tires twice a year, this is a fantastic new option.
Michelin CrossClimate 2 Price
Pricing for the Michelin CrossClimate 2 ranges from around $140 per tire to $240 per tire on 16- to 20-inch fitments.
Michelin CrossClimate 2 Warranty
The CrossClimate 2 tire comes equipped with a 60,000 mile tread life warranty.
Michelin CrossClimate 2 Sizes
16-inch sizes
205/65/R16
205/55/R16
215/55/R16
17-inch sizes
215/50/R17
215/55/R17
225/50/R17
225/55/R17
235/65/R17
18-inch sizes
235/60/R18
225/55/R18
235/55/R18
235/50/R18
19-inch sizes
235/55/R19
245/55/R19
235/50/R19
20-inch sizes
245/50/R20
What’s the Difference Between Michelin CrossClimate+ and Michelin CrossClimate 2?
In short, the CrossClimate 2 is the next-generation of this unique tire, and is technically the third-generation with the plus model coming after the original. All three CrossClimate tires have the same unique v-shaped tread pattern, as opposed to a five-row arrangement and all are certified for true winter use and feature the three-peak mountain snowflake logo.
The CrossClimate 2 features most of the same physical characteristics of the Plus, but utilizes a new tread compound for added grip in all situations. This new compound further resists freezing and makes the CrossClimate 2 a better winter option than ever before. It’s also more rigid in the dry, offering superior summer handling characteristics.
And finally, we should note the Michelin offers a 60,000 mile tread life warranty on the CrossClimate 2, which is 10,000 miles more than the CrossClimate+.
Who Should Consider the Michelin CrossClimate 2?
It used to be our opinion that no one should really consider what are known as 4-season tires. That’s because they didn’t live up to the performance side of an all-season or the snowy grip of a winter tire, making them mediocre overall. But the newest generation of these tires is really changing things. With impressive advancements in tire tech allowing a single tire to perform quite well in both disparate conditions, the biggest drawback is now just price. Certainly there’s added cost to owning to sets of tires and having them swapped out twice a year, and that can be quite significant on a high-end vehicle with large wheels (if you’re wrapping the wheels too). That said, we think the ideal candidate for tires like the CrossClimate 2 are premium crossovers and SUVs where the hassle of swapping tires persists and any drawbacks in summer performance are less evident.
Are Michelin Cross Climate 2 Tires Quiet?
One of the drawbacks of four-season tires is that they have always tended to be a little louder than conventional all-seasons, with the winter-focused sipes naturally generating more road noise. Michelin appears to have found a solution to that engineering challenge and when it comes to tire noise, the Cross Climate 2 is indistinguishable from a typical all-season.
When did the Michelin Cross Climate 2 Come Out?
Michelin decided to start competing in the all-weather or four-season tire category in August of 2020. The tire was announced in July of that year with sales starting the very next month. A marketing campaign began immediately, highlighting the tires as an alternative for those needing extra grip heading into the Fall and Winter seasons.