Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra vs Michelin X-Ice SNOW: If you are living in an area which has a cold and long winter, you have probably heard of Nordic tires. These are the tires which are designed specifically for snow & ice usage only. In terms of winter performances the typical ranking goes like this, All Season –> Winter –> Nordic–>Studded. We have covered this segment quite a bit with the undisputed best Nordic tire, Continental’s Viking Contact 7 which is the best you can get in this segment.
For this time around we would like to bring on 2 different challengers in the form of Michelin’s X-Ice SNOW which was launched in 2020 and also Goodyear’s WinterCommand Ultra which made its debut in the same year. Let’s put these 2 tires head to head and see who comes up on top !
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the Tire Rack’s “Testing Studless Ice & Snow Winter Tires” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around in Tire Rack’s own proving ground. The graph below shows the comparison between Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra vs Michelin X-Ice SNOW based on the relevant performance category. The WinterCommand Ultra was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for subjective evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%.
As we are evaluating the Nordic segments, Tire Rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were also evaluated. However for summer performances, only wet/dry braking & noise were tested as the main focus was on winter tests. The tire size of interest is a 225/50 R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Honda Accord. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a rear wheel drive 2020 BMW F36 430i Gran Coupe with a 17×7.5 rim.
Ice
As what vanilla ice said in his famous song “Ice Ice Baby”, the song sums up the key needs for this particular segment. As the usage conditions are usually around lower than -10°C, ice is the most wanted criteria. This is where we got a mixture of results from the 2 competitors. In ice braking, both tires were extremely close as X-Ice SNOW managed to out-brake WinterCommand Ultra by 0.1 feet (0.03m) from a braking speed of 12 mph (20 km/h) to 0.
Things however turned around for ice traction as WinterCommand Ultra took 0.12 seconds less to travel 60 feet. All in all the margins were really close in ice testing and it is impossible to gauge which tire is better without the objective measurements,
X-Ice SNOW:
- +0.3% in ice braking
- -2.8% in ice acceleration
Snow
Similar to ice, snow results were mainly dominated by X-Ice SNOW. It managed to stop 5.8 feet (1.8m) earlier than WinterCommand Ultra from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. It was very close when it came to snow acceleration as WinterCommand Ultra took 0.2 feet (0.06m) less distance to accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h). While X-Ice SNOW was dominating in snow handling with a quicker lap time (1.6 seconds) and was also subjectively better with a 8.67/10 rating against 7.54/10 of WinterCommand Ultra. Overall, it is clear to us that X-Ice SNOW is the dominant snow tire.
X-Ice SNOW:
- +12.5% in snow braking
- -0.8% in snow acceleration
- +5.7% in snow handling (subj)
- +2.4% in snow handling (lap time)
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. WinterCommand Ultra was second best as it trailed X-Ice SNOW 2.4 feet (0.7m) in distance at a braking speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
X-Ice SNOW:
- +1.8% in wet braking
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. While things overwhelmingly favored X-Ice SNOW in the wet, it was the opposite in dry as WinterCommand Ultra managed to brake 3.8 feet (1.2m) earlier compared to WinterCommand Ultra from a speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
X-Ice SNOW:
- -4.1% in dry braking
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Ride comfort, noise & comfort was tested and X-Ice SNOW came out ahead at 7.75/10 rating compared to the 7/10 rating of WinterCommand Ultra with ride quality being the main differences.
X-Ice SNOW:
- +3.8% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. This was in alignment as X-Ice SNOW was 41 dollars more expensive than WinterCommand Ultra.
Tire size: 225/50 R17
WinterCommand Ultra: $171
X-Ice SNOW: $212
Difference: +20% more expensive for X-Ice SNOW.
Summary
Overall, X-Ice SNOW showed clear strengths in snow, wet & noise performances while WinterCommand Ultra showed good dry performances. Even with its drawback in price, X-Ice SNOW is the clear winner in this duel with extremely good winter performances. Enjoy !