Which Michelin Cross Climate tyres?

[Roland_F]

Originally Posted by RichardXC60

I agree with all of that..... only the Cross Climates are a snowflake rated summer tyre. I do have all four freshly fitted on mine, but have driven the A6 with them on the front and OE summer Conti's on the rear and even on wet, muddy country lanes there is no sign of any rear steer or otherwise unusual handling characteristics.

Although perhaps less risky in a front wheel drive car, having experienced (as a passenger) massive over-steer through loss of traction at the rear with fairly disastrous consequences to the car, I wouldn't choose to put tyres with significantly different (i.e., less) grip characteristics on the rear.

[Crockers]

Costco refuse to put the new tyres on the front. Unless different sized wheels.

Just search YouTube to see why.

[Philip Fisher]

My friend is an engineer and an experienced driver, driving all sorts of light and heavy vehicles and a background in HGV logistics too.

He put some winter tyres on the front of his Wife's Jazz. I told him he should put 4 on, he said 2 would be fine as she just needed a bit of traction uphill.

First snow of the year and he went out in the Jazz. Coming down a hill he lifted off (no braking other than the drag from the CVT box) and the car just swapped ends and mounted the pavement backwards.

He has since bought 2 more winters for the back wheels.......

[Gilesme]

I work in a company stuffed with engineers - some of them don't seem to have many "street smarts".

E.g. my old boss who was an engineering director assumed the mileometer in his car was 100% accurate. I asked him should there be a difference in reading between having barely legal and new tyres...

Back on topic - have had XL ones for quite some time now - superb. I do run them a couple of psi lower than my old pirellis. As mentioned elsewhere - the reduction is noise is remarkable. Just after fitting picked my 18 year old up from college. After 5 mins she lifted her head out of her iPhone for once and asked had i done something to the car ?

[molsal]

Could you please tell us what pressures you are running?

[ASt85]

Originally Posted by Roland_F

I'm thinking of replacing the nearly worn out original tyres with Michelin Cross Climates, and notice these are available in two fits (for XC60 18" wheels): 236 60 R18 107W XL or 103V AO. Both will meet the load and speed rating requirements of my XC60, and I've checked with Michelin customer care that despite the AO badging (indicating designed for Audi) they can be fitted to an XC60.

The XL rating is supposed not to give a harsher ride, but I'm a bit doubtful about this because on our other car (where Cross Climates replaced Continental winter tyres) the ride definitely became harsher. What does the collective wisdom of this forum suggest, please?

NB, we prefer comfort over pin-sharp handling.

I replaced the existing V rated Uniroyal Rain Expert 3s on my V70 with 4 Michelin Cross Climates 95V XL+s around a month ago and I can honestly say they have transformed the car. There is no tramlining, the grip in the wet is outstanding and the ride so much more comfortable.

There is a 3db difference in quoted noise level which should mean that the Michelins ought to be half as noisy as the Uniroyals. I had always thought the Uniroyals were quiet tyres but the Michelins are almost silent by comparison with no evidence of harshness whatsoever. Even at 70 there is very little noise generated from the Michelins.

The whole car feels more sure footed, is an absolute pleasure to drive as it feels and sounds like a new car - given it is now 16 years old, has 204k miles on the clock and has just sailed through its MoT with no advisories I'm even more pleased with difference the Cross Climates XL+ tyres have made.

[Gilesme]

Originally Posted by molsal

Could you please tell us what pressures you are running?

Whatever max is (5 people and luggage) minus two. 38 ?

[v70stu]

I have no plans to put Crossclimates on my V60 (I already have a set of winters in the garage) but I just put 4 Crossclimates on my partner's Renault Captur. The ride quality has noticeably improved and they are so much quieter than the previous tyres. There is some extra softeness to the ride and handling, I guess that being down to the big, soft tread blocks - you can move them with your fingers - that mean they clear themsrlves of packed in snow. They are incredibly sure footed in very wet weather, too. Roll on winter!

[Roland_F]

An update for me: I bought four CrossClimate XL's a couple of weeks ago, and my observations are:
(a) much quieter than the OEM fit tyres,
(b) the ride was fairly stiff on the eco pressure that the tyre fitter inflated to, but much better when running at the normal pressure for the load,
(c) the handling is very slightly mushier.