Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 vs Michelin Cross Climate 2: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. However things were only starting to take off in Europe after the launch of Cross Climate in 2015 revolutionizing the whole all season market. Michelin has a strong foothold in the all season market with its newest Cross Climate 2 (launch in 2020) and has been winning quite a number of press tests. It’s arch nemesis “Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3” was also launched in 2020 and proved to be a tough competitor. To find out which is the better tire, we will pit the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 vs Michelin Cross Climate 2 head to head in the ultimate all season showdown!
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the Auto Bild’s 2021 All Season Tire Test“. A total of 18 tires were tested this time around including a reference summer & winter tire to gauge the compromises of an all season tire. The winter testing was done in Ivalo, Finland while the summer test was conducted in Automotive Testing Papenburg & Wachauring, Austria. The graph below shows the comparison between Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 vs Michelin Cross Climate 2 based on the relevant performance category. The Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires with a 3 peak mountain logo on it, an extensive snow testing was conducted. However ice testing was left out which was quite disappointing to our dismay. The tire size of interest is a 225/50 R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Honda Accord while the test vehicle is a rear wheel drive BMW 3 Series. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
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. With regards to our comparison, Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 has an edge when it comes to wet braking, as it outperforms the Cross Climate 2 by braking 3.2m earlier. In comparison to the reference summer tire, Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 was only 0.8m behind in wet braking distance. This demonstrates the capability of the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 being almost on par with a normal summer tire.
While in wet handling, the performance edge in wet braking was transferred into a +2.8 km/h advantage in average lap speed for the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3. They were almost inseparable in wet circle and straight aquaplaning with Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 only marginally better. However the biggest difference came in the form of curve aquaplaning as Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 has a 17.4% advantage over the Cross Climate 2. Overall in the wet category, Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 definitely has an upper hand.
Cross Climate 2:
- -5.9% in wet braking
- -3.7% in wet handling (average speed)
- -0.8% in wet circle
- -0.9% in straight aquaplaning
- -17.4% in curve aquaplaning
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 consistence level. The tables were turned upside down as Cross Climate 2 showed sensational wet braking distance stopping at 37.6m which was the best performing all season tire in the test. Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 on the other hand managed to stop at 41.9m making the difference at a whooping 4.3m !
The same story continues in dry handling as the Cross climate 2 claimed the best all season tire among the rest with an average lap speed of 91.1 km/h compared to the 89.4 km/h achieved by Vector 4Seasons Gen-3. Cross Climate 2 definitely shows who is boss in the dry categories as it not only dominates Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 but also the rest of the all season field.
Cross Climate 2:
- +11.4% in dry braking
- +1.9% in dry handling (average speed)
Noise
In the exterior noise test, Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 has a pass by noise value of 72.3 dB which was 0.3 dB more noisier than Cross Climate 2
Cross Climate 2:
- +0.4% in exterior noise (-0.3dB)
Rolling Resistance
When it comes to all season tires, rolling resistance is definitely not at the highest priority as the engineer has to handle the most important winter vs summer target conflict. However with the sustainability topic being more prevalent, rolling resistance has been widely used as a competitive marketing tool as it could be easily seen in the label values.
Cross Climate 2 is labeled “B” while the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 is labeled “C”. So it is not surprising to see a big difference as the Michelin has a 7.17 N/kN rolling resistance coefficient value while the Goodyear obtained a 8.26 N/kN rolling resistance coefficient. Hence this makes the Cross Climate 2 a much more sustainable as it emits less carbon footprint over its lifetime compared to Vector 4Seasons Gen-3.
Cross Climate 2:
- +15.2% in rolling resistance
Wear
As wear results are extremely hard to come by as it costs tons of money, we were quite happy when Auto Bild had it included in their test plan. To save cost, the tires were not run thoroughly till the very last tread depth but were run till 15,000 km. The expected mileage was then extrapolated assuming a linear rate of wear over the remaining tread depth.
Michelin usually excels very well when it comes to wear test but this time around it only managed to finish in the middle pack at an expected mileage of 40,000 km. While the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 managed to outperform expectation and finish with an expected mileage of 50,000 km. This was considerable a big achievement knowing that they were also extremely good in wet. Taking into account the huge variation of the mileage test, it is safe to say that the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 definitely has an advantage over the Cross Climate 2 in mileage.
Cross Climate 2:
- -19.9% in wear
Snow
As with most all season tires in the European market, both tires here come with a 3 peak mountain symbol to legally certified them as a winter tire. In layman terms, Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 and Cross Climate 2 has to pass a legal snow test in order to certify themselves as a 3 peak mountain tire.
Cross Climate 2 showed its strength in snow traction with a 177 Newton advantage compared to Vector 4Seasons Gen-3. However things were pretty close in the snow braking and snow handling criteria with both tires almost inseparable. One important note, every single all season tire tested was at least 2 times better than the reference summer tire. Hence the all season tire really proving its worth in this comparison.
Cross Climate 2:
- -0.4% in snow braking
- +6.3% in snow traction
- +0.2% in snow handling (average speed)
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. Both tires are priced at the higher end of the market with the Cross Climate 2 costing €17 more than the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3.
Tire size: 225/50R17
Cross Climate 2: €147
Vector 4Seasons Gen-3: €120
Difference: +18% more expensive for Cross Climate 2.
Summary
Overall, both tires show tremendous excellence in various performance segments. Cross Climate 2 excels in dry, rolling resistance & snow. While Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 was extremely dominant in wet, wear & pricing. Having the overview in mind, in our humble opinion Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 had the slight edge in this duel with its outstanding wear performances !