Michelin X-Ice Snow vs Michelin Cross Climate 2

Michelin X-Ice Snow 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. It is such a popular segment that Michelin has 3 types of all season products to serve the market. We have previously covered the head to head comparison of Michelin Cross Climate 2 vs Michelin Defender T+H & it was a total domination by the Cross Climate 2.

We would now pick up where we left out with another comparison of Cross Climate 2 but this time with a comparison against the studless segment of Michelin X-Ice Snow. Cross Climate 2 was launched in 2020 and covers the whole passenger car size range while the X-Ice Snow was also launched in the same year with the main focus on extreme cold weather conditions (<23°F)

Results

Results below were taken from the Tyre Review’s “Michelin Pilot Sport 4S vs Pilot Sport AllSeason 4 vs CrossClimate 2 vs X-Ice Snow! Tested and Rated” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around with 4 different segments (max performance summer, ultra high performance all season, grand touring all season & studless tires).

The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin X-Ice Snow vs Michelin Cross Climate 2 based on the relevant performance category. The X-Ice Snow was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for the handling evaluation, lap times were used as an objective gauge to determine how well the tire performs. The handling lap times are usually correlated to the subjective ratings most of the time.

As both tires have the elusive 3 peak mountain logo, Tyre Review naturally included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were evaluated. The test was performed at Keweenaw Research Center in Michigan for snow performances while the summer test was performed in South Carolina.

The tire size of interest is 245/40R18 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Jaguar Xe. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a Tesla 3 with a track mode setting and 100% rear wheel drive mode.

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 was dominating in wet braking compared to X-Ice Snow with a 36.9 feet (11 m) advantage in braking distance.

While in wet handling, Cross Climate 2 dominance was clear for everyone as it was 4.8 seconds faster in lap time against X-Ice Snow. Both margins in wet braking and wet handling are expected as wet is a natural target conflict in ice. Ice being the main requirement for studless tires, naturally you will observe such big differences. Overall, Cross Climate 2 has a big advantage over X-Ice Snow in wet performances.

Cross Climate 2 :

• +34% in wet braking
• +12% 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 consistent level. Being an all season tire with a harder compound, the all season Cross Climate 2 also dominated the dry category as this is one of studless main weakness points.Cross Climate 2 managed to brake 27 feet (8.2m) earlier compared to X-Ice Snow from a speed of 62 mph (100km/h) down to 3mph (5km/h).

In dry handling, the differences are much lower compared to dry handling as Cross Climate 2 was only 2.3 seconds faster per lap than X-Ice Snow. Overall, it is clear that the all season Cross Climate 2 was the clear winner in dry.

Cross Climate 2 :

• +20% in dry braking
• +3% in dry handling (lap time)

Rolling Resistance

When it comes to all season & studless 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.

Due to the multitude of target conflicts all season tire have to face, the rolling resistance of Cross Climate is much worse at a coefficient value of 10.1N/kN while the X-Ice Snow surprisingly had the best rolling resistance coefficient value among other the other 3 segments with a value of 7.8N/kN .

Cross Climate 2 :

• -23% in rolling resistance

Snow

As both tires are certified with a 3 peak mountain logo, winter testing is definitely a must. However only snow was tested leaving out ice. As the studless main requirement revolves around ice, we are unable to show its clear strength as it was not tested. From an expectation point of view, we would definitely expect the studless X-Ice Snow to outperform the all season Cross Climate 2 solely based on segmentation reasons.

As previously expected, X-Ice Snow dominated across all snow tests. It stopped 2.1 feet (0.64 m) earlier than Cross Climate 2 from a speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) to 5mph (8 km/h). It was also extremely good when it came to snow traction as it took 0.15 seconds less to accelerate from (8 km/h) 5 to 20 mph (32 km/h). While it was also quicker in lap time (6.6 seconds !). Overall, X-Ice Snow is clearly the better snow tire.

Cross Climate 2 :

• -6% in snow braking
• -7% in snow traction
• -8% in snow handling (lap time)

UTQG rating

We have previously shown that UTQG tread wear rating can be a good indication of your expected mileage. Below are the UTQG values of both of the tirelines.

Brand	Tireline	Size	Tread Wear	Traction	Temperature
Michelin	X-Ice Snow	All	–	–	–
Michelin	Cross Climate 2	All	640	B	A

As X-Ice Snow is a 3 peak mountain logo tire, it is not required to display UTQG values. However a rough indication based on mileage warranty could give us a hint on both tires wear performance. Based on the data provided by Tire Rack, mileage warranty for X-Ice Snow is 40,000 miles while Cross Climate 2 is 60,000 miles. Overall we have reasonable expectations that Cross Climate 2 would have a higher mileage in comparison to X-Ice Snow.

For more in depth information about UTQG, please check out this article here. We even have a free download on the latest UTQG values from the leading tire manufacturers.

Price

Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. The Cross Climate 2 was found to be 13 dollars more expensive than X-Ice Snow.

Tire size: 245/40R18

Cross Climate 2 : $290

X-Ice Snow : $277

Difference: +4% more expensive for Cross Climate 2.

Summary

Overall, Cross Climate 2 had a big advantage in dry ,wet & mileage performances as expected for an all season tire. X-Ice Snow dominated in the snow category and it is expected to do the same in Ice but this was not tested. Due to the segmentation differences, there is no clear winner in this case. If you need a cold weather performance tire, X-Ice Snow would be the choice for you but if you live in places which have only mild winter conditions Cross Climate 2 would be a wise choice.

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