Michelin Cross Climate 2 vs Michelin Defender T+H: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. It is such a popular segment that Michelin has 2 products to serve the market. To find out which is the better tire, we will pit the Michelin Cross Climate 2 vs Michelin Defender T+H head to head. The Defender T+H was launched in 2017 as a standard all season touring tire while the Cross Climate 2 was launched in 2020 and covers the whole passenger car size range.
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Results
Results below were taken from the tire rack’s “Testing Michelin Tires Across Categories 2021” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Cross Climate 2 vs Michelin Defender T+H based on the relevant performance category. The Cross Climate 2 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires, tire rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detail testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were evaluated. 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.
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, Cross Climate 2 has an edge when it comes to wet braking, as it outperforms the Defender T+H by braking 1.25m earlier.
While in wet handling, the performance edge in wet braking was transferred into a 0.8 seconds advantage in lap time for the Cross Climate 2. While in subjective rating, the Cross Climate 2 was also rated 0.41 points better compared to Cross Climate 2. Overall in the wet category, Cross Climate 2 has a slight upper hand.
Defender T+H:
- -3% in wet braking
- -2% in wet handling (subj)
- -2.1% in wet handling (lap time)
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 tires are quite equally match as the Cross Climate 2 was only slightly better by out braking Defender T+H at less than 0.46m .While in subjective dry handling there was a clear difference as the Cross climate as it scored a 7.63/10 rating while the Defender T+H had only managed a 6.75/10 rating.
Defender T+H:
- -1.7% in dry braking
- -4.4% in dry handling (subj)
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Ride comfort was tested and the Defender T+H was definitely second best with an overall rating of 7.25/10 compared to the 7.83/10 of Cross Climate 2. In the category of ride quality and noise , Cross Climate 2 managed the highest rating with a score of 8/10.
Defender T+H:
- -7.3% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Snow
As both tires have been rated as an all season tire, we were thrilled when tire rack included snow on its testing list. From initial checks, only the Cross Climate 2 has a 3 peak mountain label to legally certified the tire as a winter tire. Hence Cross Climate 2 will need to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation. From an expectation point of view, we would definitely expect the 3 peak mountain labeled Cross Climate 2 to be better in snow compared to the non 3 peak mountain label Defender T+H.
As previously expected, the Cross Climate 2 dominated across all snow test. It stopped 2.44 meters earlier than Defender T+H from a speed of 40 km/h to 0. While it was also quicker in lap time and also subjectively better in snow handling. Cross Climate 2 is clearly the better snow tire.
Defender T+H:
- -18.9% in snow acceleration
- -13.1% in snow braking
- -6.4% in snow handling (subj)
- -8.5% in snow handling (lap time)
Ice
While snow was dominated by Cross Climate 2, the ice advantage also stayed with Cross Climate 2. At a braking speed of 40-0 km/h , the Defender T+H was stopping 2 meters further than the Cross Climate 2.
Defender T+H:
- -13.4% in ice braking
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 $10 more than the Defender T+H.
Tire size: 225/50R17
Cross Climate 2: $199
Defender T+H: $189
Difference: +5% more cheaper for Defender T+H.
Summary
Overall, Cross Climate 2 totally destroyed the Defender T+H in all wet, dry, comfort, snow & ice performance criteria. The only drawback comes from a monetary area as it is 5% more expensive than the Defender T+H. From our point of view, the Cross Climate 2 is clearly the winner in this duel !