Michelin Cross Climate 2 SUV vs Continental All Season Contact: Moving away from the American all season market and back to Europe, Michelin recently announced their latest all season product “Cross Climate 2 SUV”. This was a follow up launch after the non-SUV Cross Climate 2 was introduced in 2020. We will pair another premium product “Continental’s All Season Contact” which was launched quite some time ago in 2017. It will be interesting to see how to newly technological advance Cross Climate 2 SUV performs against an aging old product of All Season Contact.
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Results
A word of caution here, the results were taken from Michelin’s press statement and even though the tests were done by an independent body (TÜV SÜD Product Service), we should interpret the results with a pinch of salt. We will of course verify the data provided by Michelin with the upcoming press test to ensure its validity. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Cross Climate 2 SUV vs Continental All Season Contact based on the relevant performance category. The Cross Climate 2 SUV was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
As performance over life time is something Michelin has been pushing and showcasing for all its new tireline, the tires were tested both in the new & worn stage. The worn tires were buffed till the legal limit which is at 1.6mm tread depth. The tire size of interest is a 235/60 R18 which is a common tire size for Honda CR-V & Volvo XC60. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decrease in a 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, Cross Climate 2 SUV has an edge when it comes to wet braking, as it outperform the All Season Contact by braking 1.5m earlier.
Things took an even worse turn when it comes to the worn conditions. The Cross Climate 2 SUV ‘s advantage more than doubled as it managed to out break All Season Contact by 3.4m . It is clear that the Cross Climate 2 SUV is clearly a much better tire in wet braking regardless of new or worn state.
All Season Contact:
- -5.4% in wet braking (new)
- -8.4% in wet braking (worn)
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 results were much closer this time around but the advantage is still with Cross Climate 2 SUV as it out braked the All Season Contact by 1.4m.
All Season Contact:
- -3.9% in dry braking (new)
Snow
As both tires have been rated as an all season tire with the 3 peak mountain label hence certifying them as a legal winter tire. Both tires had to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation.
When it comes to snow , the Cross Climate 2 SUV dominated across all tests. It was clearly the best snow traction tire by being 7% better in the new tire state while 16% better in the worn state. In snow braking, Cross Climate 2 SUV managed to brake 2.1 meters earlier than All Season Contact. While in a worn state, Cross Climate 2 SUV has a snow braking distance of 7.6m earlier than All Season Contact.
All Season Contact:
- -6.6% in snow traction (new)
- -15.9% in snow traction (worn)
- -6.4% in snow braking (new)
- -16.5% in snow braking (worn)
Wear
As wear results are extremely hard to come by as it cost tons of money, we were quite happy when Michelin had it included. Based on the testing conditions, Cross Climate 2 SUV has an expected mileage of 34,000 km while All Season Contact managed 31,700 km. Taking into account the huge variation of the mileage test, it is safe to say that the Cross Climate 2 SUV has a slight advantage over the All Season Contact in mileage.
All Season Contact:
- -7% in wear
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. This was reflected somehow as Cross Climate 2 SUV is €30 more expensive than the All Season Contact.
Tire size: 235/60 R18
Cross Climate 2 SUV: €166
All Season Contact: €136
Difference: -22% more cheaper for All Season Contact.
Summary
Overall, it was a clear domination by the Michelin Cross Climate 2 SUV. Apart from being more expensive, it managed to dominate in wet/dry braking, snow traction/braking & wear against the All Season Contact. With this kind of performances Cross Climate 2 SUV is clearly the winner of this duel !