Better all season or winter tires? Michelin Crossclimate 2 SUV test September 29, 2022 238

Michelin unveiled the Crossclimate 2 SUVs in a “road test” at an event at the Porsche Experience Center, the home of the four-wheeled fun we saw at its September 2021 opening.

The Franciacorta circuit was not chosen by chance: in addition to the off-road route, also useful for testing All Season (or “four seasons”) traction, which is also offered as original equipment on some off-road vehicles, the circuit includes a part with classic exercises on management and “pistino with zero grip” which simulates travel on ice.

This may be interesting to some, but there is always good food for thought to question. numbers on the market Italian tires where Michelin analyzes period 2015 – 2021 and shows how winter cars lost 14% (despite peaking in 2018) with one exception: the world of high-end and higher segments (SUVs and 18″ wheels and up) is growing.

All Seasonson the other hand, they have benefited from an objective increase in technical performance (more or less for all brands) and have become so reliable that they conquer almost anyone: in the same period under consideration, they reached growth +180%giving up due to the pandemic, but bouncing back as soon as traffic restrictions were lifted.

I’ve always been the winter type and every winter, family cars went through the ritual of swapping out a set of tires for specialty rims, a useful practice for those who want to simplify operations, have ample garage space, and don’t mind spending up to an hour doing the operation. . With very cold winters and a lot of snow, the performance of winter tires can’t compete, that’s for sure.

My old Juke made it through heavy snow and a few ice floes on various trips to Italy and Europe without any problems, all without relying on 4WD: you know the 4x4s that get stuck on the side of the road. uphill road? They almost certainly drive in the summer thinking they can count on 4WD and forgetting that without traction, there is no 4WD to handle it.

However, over the years I have come to realize that average temperatures have been rising, winters have become less severe and less snowy, and the few situations in which a winter would perform at its best are with more snow or temperatures below the 7 degree “threshold” no longer justified the second set of tires, the obligation to replace them and the second set of rims.

Therefore, with the transition to the Model 3 with all-wheel drive, I decided do what i promised never to do: spend the winter without winter, leaving summer and chains on board, according to the law. Crazy? Not completely: It was the winter of 2021, we still didn’t know how far we could really go with the pandemic. my original Michelin Pilot Sport equipment they were (and still are after almost 28,000 km) good tires and saving money didn’t hurt. So it’s a question of risk/benefit ratio.

The winter passed, there were not many hikes (here is one from the 3rd to the 12th) and I saw the mountain three times, all passed without problems and (almost) without snow. However, I do not deny that I missed the winter: fun corners with so much cold or damp often forced the four-wheel drive to intervene along with the electronic control, and fortunately I had a good summer, which is not too bad in the wet.

In short, psychologically, I couldn’t get used to not having the right shoes, and instinctively I rode like it was winter, only to remember that I hadn’t changed this season.

The most critical week, and the one that made me miss winter the most, was the week of March 7, 2022. The temperature graph shows moments of driving under the yellow line of 7.5°, a trip with several stops in Europe for various events (BMW i4 test, European Parliament battery plenary session and Hyundai snow test), which will put winter in its ideal territory .

There are many moments in a week, but in absolute terms, not so many if you look at the cold season as a whole.

The lighting came after the dynamic presentation of the SUV Crossclimate 2. The development of an already existing range (this is the “non-SUV” version), which today covers almost all sizes, the new tires convinced me in practical tests, divided between track and road. Pistino with low grip, a special type of perfectly smooth asphalt that is very close to the reaction of a car on ice, I already drove a summer rear-wheel drive Porsche at the end of May.

In this case, the goal was funny, looking for a tail and losing grip, and so it was even more impressive, thanks to the fresh memory of this event, to see how four Michelin seasons turned the track into “zero grip” on a completely passable road. In comparison, the ice turned into something equivalent to wet asphalt, and all thanks to the replacement of tires only.

Obviously the Q5 TFSI-e used for the test is different from the sports car. On the one hand, it can rely on all-wheel drive, but it should be noted that all-wheel drive helps you in the pull phase, not in the release phase. And with the SUV Crossclimate 2, even the release brought back very honest, predictable and sincere reactions. On the other hand, however, the Q5 has a downside compared to the Porsche in that it is an SUV, which therefore has to make the tires work harder to compensate for the high wheel setup.

Quite often I choose something after trying it for a review and noticing its flaws (my smartphone, my computer, my car…) and the same will be true for the decision to forego winter in order to switch to All Season, which, in the case of Michelin , are also 3PMSF, an acronym that stands for confidence that they can drive all over Europe in winter without breaking the rules.

Then, to convince me of my decision, also the good performance of the rubber, both confirmed by the label (how it reads) and confirmed by various independent tests by TUV Sud (brake and grip tests) and Dektra (durability). tests).

Michelin claims longer life and I know from experience that French* (asterisk explained in the box below) provide the best security even at end of life, while others are excellent when new and degrade exponentially well before the 2mm limit.

A curiosity perhaps not known to many: Today, Michelin is the main tire manufacturer in Italy. We are not only talking about tires made in Italy, Cuneo is one of the most advanced factories in all of Europe, but also about the Italian workers employed. In a word, there is more Italy in the French brand than in the Italian …

In addition, the label says B for noise, and in fact the first test confirmed the excellent acoustic performance, which is appreciated in general and even more important for those who have an electric or plug-in SUV. The sight of an all-season tire that has evolved so much to reach the same noise level as the summer Pilot Sport 4 (original) is another testament to how different today’s M+S tires are from those of the time. , and how many invisible technologies there are and are the result of research on compositions, frames and threads. And this is a discourse that, in general, concerns all major high-end tire manufacturers, with the exception of the “Chinese” on duty.

With the advent of the Crossclimate 2 SUV, Michelin’s all-season (or four-season) tire line becomes almost universal: Crossclimate 2 SUVs exist from 17 to 20 inches, Crossclimate 2 for passenger cars range from 14 to 23 inches, and coverage is 99% of vehicles. If we talk about the novelty (SUV Crossclimate 2), then the label is marked A, B or C for fuel consumption (obviously depends on the size), B for wet grip, B for noise and sports speed 3pmsf. logo .

With regard to technical innovations, work has been done to increase the mileage: + 20% compared to the previous model. In short, the Crossclimate 2 SUVs promise to go further and, even as they approach the limit, still maintain a high level of performance in terms of safety.

The composition further increases the content of silicon dioxide and soot, the architecture works to reduce consumption due to a better and more even distribution of forces (SUVs, of course, are not “kind” to rubber during acceleration, braking and steering), and the design is responsible for maintaining a smooth ride. drainage capacity throughout the life cycle.

Shortly speaking, Are all seasons perfect? Absolutely not. Tires Four seasons are better than winter in the snow? No, but as I said a few paragraphs above, defects of this type are obvious if compared to “pure winter”. But Michelin asks us a question to help us make a choice, and I myself, without knowing it, asked myself the same question that I asked myself during the last cold season during the experiment to refuse winter.

So I suggest you re-quote them: Do you often travel to places with harsh winters, with lots of snowfall, or with so many days below 7 degrees, the famous watershed between winter and summer? If the answer is yes, then it is better to choose winter ones. If the answer is no, All Seasons is now mature and effective, not only for those who never leave the city, except for a ski holiday, but also for those who, like me, travel frequently and in different situations.