Swapping tyres...cross climates and summer tyres
 

Hi all,

Our VW Sharan’s front tyres need changing soon, it currently has continental premium contacts on all four wheels (summer /standard tyres). Following some reading it seems the Michelin cross climate+ are a decent all season tyre that are based upon summer tyres. what I cannot find out about on the internet is if it’s ok to mix and match summer and all season tyres, especially as the cross climate is based on a summer tyre. is this ok, or would I need to swap all 4 tyres?? The rear tyres have 6 and 7 mm tread left so I’m loathe to replace them.

Looking at the long term forecast we’re expected to get a much colder winter than the previous two so I’m considering getting these for the first time. I’m hoping this group of folk will have some ideas/ suggestions on this!

Thanks in advance,

AnotherV60.

Is it ok? Your car won’t explode. I see people riding on all 4 different, so I suppose there’s worse things you can do to your car. Would I ever do it? No. Mixing different thread patterns is generally a bad idea- mixing all-seasons and summer tires an even worse idea. But to each his own.

The issue you have is with mixing winter and summer tyres as they have different handling characteristics. Cross climates are very similar to summer tyres and will handle in a similar fashion.

Of course, should the snow come they will handle much better and be dofferebt but that will be a few days a year.

Where the crossclimate are concerned, they will be fine. They are a summer tyre with winter approval, not a designated cold weather tyre.
They perform better in dry and wet than most budget and a lot of midrange tyres.
As such the 'imbalance' will not be a major concern. It would be much worse putting Sunny or linglong tyres for example on with the contis.
Yes, any mixing of tyres will yield different characteristics, but crossclimate and contis for normal road use is not going to cause bother. Except in snow, the contis would become dangerous in conjunction with the Cc's.

I can't imagine that I would ever sacrifice my safety (and that of others) for the sake of saving some money on tyres.
The problem of just 2 worn out tyres can be avoided by rotating them in time.

I wouldn't do it. There's been many a discussion on how mixing winters and summers is supremely dangerous due to how different the grip levels are in the snow; there's a video on this page that demonstrates it well.

The way I see it, cross climates are marketed as having very similar levels of grip in the snow as winters do...therefore the challenges this video demonstrates will be just as likely to occur when mixing summers with cross climates as it would with winters.

I too rotate my tyres to ensure that I don’t have old ones on the rear.

None the less, the question is are the configuration he is suggesting ok. The answer is yes.

I actually junked off the cheap ditchfinders my xc came with when I bought it with 5mm and fitted the cross climate. Unfortunately for many that’s a fortunate position to be in and many can’t afford to throw good tyres away.

To the OP. Will be fine.

Except cross climates are summer tyres. Unashamedly summer and tested against summer tyres.

They also have the three peaks symbol and were the first summer tyres to do so.

The above captures the problem. Mixing summer tyres and Cross Climates is probably fine most of the time; it's like having summer tyres on all 4 wheels. But in winter conditions, especially snow, you would in effect be mixing summer and winter tyres and getting very different levels of grip on each axle - a very bad idea.

The point that has not been mentioned is insurance.

My guess is that if you have an accident, even if not your fault, if it is spotted by the insurance assessor then you may have an argument on your hands to ensure they pay out.

If the conditions were dry and warm then you may be able to argue that it had no effect, if it was snowy then I suspect you would struggle.

I wouldn't take the risk. Others might.