Are All Season tyres right for you?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- Should you be thinking about all season tyres? (known as all-weather in North America) What are they, what sort of climate are they suited to, and can they handle snow?
With winter approaching in the northern hemisphere, and a recent storm known as Arwen in Europe - it might be time to start thinking about what you've shod your favourite wheels with.
Having seen the forecast and knowing that Arwen would bring my part of the UK a lot of snow overnight, I purchased a new set of Michelin Cross Climate all season tyres for the Honda Accord. The results really surprised me.
Should you consider swapping your summer tyres for all-season tyres? Or perhaps even fit winter tyres? How are all season tyres vs summer tyres?
#allseasontyres
Big thanks to / tbf_visuals for the awesome camera work on this one.
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Are Michelin Cross Climates "All Season Tyres" or "All Weather Tires"?
The answer in fact depends where you live! In the US they are All Weather Tires, in which case you should really be thinking of this video title as "Are All Weather Tires right for you?".
If you live in Europe, then they are called All Season Tyres.
For example, on the Michelin UK website, they refer to the Cross Climates as All Season Tyres:
www.michelin.co.uk/auto/browse-tyres/by-season/allseason
Unfortunately I can't go back into the video to explain this, so I have this pinned comment instead. Safe motoring everyone :)
@@code9142 In Canada, all weather tires carry a severe weather marking, all season tires have m+s instead.
Well made video, many uk drivers still believe that awd can help in slippery conditions where actual the tyres are the most important. Your video should be on national tv 3 times a day from October to April, it will teach the audience correctly.
Haha, well, thank you. Lets hope it makes it on to TV somehow. I was watching a Land Rover Discovery slide down the high street of my town shortly after making the video, and I knew that the humble Honda Accord on those tyres would have been fine.
The Cross Climate 2 tyres are in a league above what people call "all season tires". Anything with the 3 Mountain Peak Snow Flake certification is impressive.
I'm thinking of doing a video about the 3PMSF symbol (and a few other things) :)
I would argue that.
Goodyear vector 4seasons gen-3, this is the tyre which owns the class with only one compromise being dry braking, whereas CC2 is relatively weak in the wet and morning frost. Tested and checked. 😉
@@AlencekasCompletely agree with this. The Michelins are very good but not worth the premium over the Goodyears, which are a better compromise (as you say). I actually use the 4 Seasons as a winter tyre & Asymmetric 6s as a summer tyre to get that extra dry performance. Possibly overkill but I think worth it in a powerful car.
I had a set of proper winter tyres on an old Fiat Panda years ago - and it was an absolute beast in the snow - Had to drive across wales once and didn't see the tarmac for about 40 miles. Even offered a tow to a rep in a BMW who was stuck (he declined, probably couldn't face the shame :-) However full winters as you say are probably overkill for most of the UK most of the time. When I switched to a Subaru AWD, I fitted Continental AllSeasonContacts - very similar to the Michelins. They were great all year round. One thing I would say is that an AWD car spreads engine braking over all 4 wheels (depending on the system of course) and I think that CAN be helpful in slippery conditions.
I'm now in a FWD Citroen, and have just fitted some Falken all season tyres (about £200 cheaper than Conti/Michelin) so I guess I'll find out how good they are soon enough.
I've heard the Panda is great in the snow, makes sense it would be with skinny tyres and a low weight :)
That's a good point about AWD and engine braking. Good luck with the Falkens!
The Falkens turned out to be pretty good - when it got really icy + steep they struggled a bit - but I'd challenge any all season tyre to work well on a hill covered in black ice! I do miss having awd though ;-)
Just got me a set of Crossclimate 2 and they are awesome in cold (-20°C) snowy conditions here in Sweden. Even better than my studded tires. I drive a AWD Nissan Juke Nismo and i think AWD or 4WD is a must for the best effect if you're having all season tires in the winter.
Great to hear from you in Sweden, Kalidor! And awesome to hear that they work well even in such cold temperatures - really quite amazing that they work better than studded tyres. I do agree that AWD/4WD is very useful - my comment was really aimed at the UK motorist who buys an AWD car but sticks with summer tyres :)
I drive an audi tt and I've literally just ditched my high performance tyres for crossclimate 2. I couldn't be happier. I've had crossclimates on my previous non sporty cars and they never failed me on snow and ice. It's surprising how they compare to performance tyres and winter tyres at the same time.
Hi I’ve a TT in England, how are they in the summer? Thanks
@@haroldbetterson1877 It's absolutely fine. It's not a smooth of a ride compared to dedicated summer tyres but it's a compromise I'm willing to take in exchange for safety.
@@mikanbass1 thanx
snow ,ice, they ll pass a 12h% hill safely up or down
wet flooded grip is just as amazing..
but more impressive is the tyre wall technology that feels like a suspension upgrade giving precise steering that i assure you a sports car would benefit from .
and they re so quiet !
peak district based like yourself , i have not found the limit to their grip under any road conditions
They're pretty much perfect for these parts I'd agree :) I am equally impressed, and surprised how quiet they are. I would say that they won't be as good in summer as the best Michelin summer tyres, such as Pilot Sport 4, but they are excellent given their winter ability! Cheers Harry!
No matter what tyres you have on, it's other motorists who will get into trouble and still cause delays.
This is very true
I've been using Vredstein Quatracs on my 20 yr old Focus and they've been a superb tyre. However I needed new tyres last month for the Mot and my garage was struggling to get hold of them in my size, so I went for a set of Maxxis AP3 all seasons instead. I have to say they seem really good so far with wet and dry handling. Nice deep V shaped tread. I'm very interested to see just how they perform if we do get any snow, as I do a fair bit of rural road driving.
I make like 2k km per year in the winter, so for 3 years i started using only all season. And I can manage quite well so all season + awd works great.
Great - I think they're perfect for people who do lower kms/miles like you do :)
Cross Climate 2s are true snow tire rubber. So they are true snowtires but with a tread pattern to help them last in the summer and a compound that adapts to higher temps which most snow tires cant. It beat out around 50 percent of so called REAL snow tires. So its not a all season its a snow tire with better summer wet properties than other snow tires.
Would be essential for a rear drive Bmw e30 but then, some want the fun of sliding about and one only has it for a short time. All weather does seem a good compromise but they likely wouldn't get the same mileage as summer tyres used all year round. Maybe harsher and louder as well Very useful demonstration.
If you don't need to drive your E30 daily, then a bit of fun in a snowy car park on summer tyres might be in order 😁
I had the same thought as you that they would be louder and harsher, but according to the figures when buying the tyres the decibel rating for the Cross Climates, at least, is actually up there with the quietest tyres. And I haven't noticed any drop in comfort in the Accord, which had a mixture of Bridgestone and Firestone summer tyres previously. But I guess if you did a lot of miles in the summer, then the worn down blocks of tread would not be as effective come winter. Cheers man!
Whew your braver than me. I had a e30 coup when I was in high school when you could still pick a mint one up for 4K early 00s and that thing was a mess in the winter.
Hi JJ - just come across this video as i look for reviews of all-season tyres, and i like your style of content and presentation. Maybe worth putting a comment that France has now mandated snow tyres or chains in snowy départements from November to April, so you'll need them to go skiing, for example. I have previously taken chains/socks but as my tyres are coming up for renewal i will be buying all all-season. Currently a toss-up between the Cross Climate 2 and the Good Year 4Seasons Gen3, which seem to perform a bit better in the wet conditions we might get in England all year round. Cheers!
Thank you Ian!
That's interesting, I can't really alter the video now but it's good to know. For some reason wet conditions are the Cross Climate 2's 'weak spot' - I say weak spot but they are still excellent in the wet just not as good as some of the other rivals. So you're right to consider ones for all the rain we have. I'm also currently considering another set of CC2 for a car of mine, as I've been so impressed with them. Cheers!
Michelin all season tires cross climate first winter driving on them in Canada excellent I would strongly recommend them to any car driver no problem at all also they last 100,000 kilometers .It beats having to change tires from summer to winter.Michelin a brand worth purchasing .
Awesome, completely agree.
I'm thinking of buying these tires now. I've run dedicated winter tires and I don't know that I really need to. Definitely not this winter as I'm away from home working.
I see all the hype about these tires and it all seems to be true. These all season tires seem to be a s good as some lesser brand winter tires.
How cold do your winters get? All season tyres are great, though as someone else has pointed out - if you're based in the US/Canada you would be looking for "all weather" tires (forgive me if you already know this!), as all season tyres mean something slightly different there (more like a summer tyre with different tread). Main thing is to look for the three peak mountain snowflake symbol, and maybe go for a good brand like Michelin, Goodyear etc and you can't go wrong (apart from that hit to the wallet 😂) Cheers Mark!
Having said that, a guy in Sweden has just said that his Cross Climates work really well in -20C so maybe temperature isn't a problem either 😄
Just need to correct you, sorry. The "V" in the tyre is designed to disperse water in the wet. The All season tyres are also designed to trap the snow in the tread pattern, this is how the tyre(s) gain traction in the snow, snow on snow. Think about how a snowball is made. Its all down to the tyre compounds and the drip
You're right, it's something that sadly learned too late - after I'd made the video. Good analogy about the snowball! I'd not heard that and it makes total sense :)
Going through your videos I came across this one. Here in Sweden we have to change tyres for the winter , although we are allowed all season tyres all year round. Having said that , all the experts warn us that they are inferior during the summer , especially in regard to braking distance and very few people use them . So it's a risk that you would have to consider. I tend to change mine myself just to make sure they're screwed on properly.
Cheers Jeff - the very latest all season tyres by Michelin etc, are pretty good in the summer from what I've heard. But, I haven't yet got first hand experience of that yet! Given that a lot of people buy pretty cheap/bad tyres for all year round here, I reckon that at least my cross climates are better than those :) But if you're a sports car driver then yeah probably need proper summer tyres (and in Sweden, can't hurt to have proper winter tyres too I can only imagine!). Good shout on changing them yourself :)
I never would've guessed Sweden allows All Season tyres.
Have about 400 miles on a new set of cross climate 2's, on an AWD SUV, here in the states. Haven't had much of an opportunity to test in deep snow, as all we've had was one storm (since they were installed) equating to 3". I can say for certain, compared to a set of budget all season tires, it's night and day. I had to make an effort to get the vehicle to slide with the crossclimates, whereas with the budget all season tires, sliding was all I did. It sounds odd, but I'm hoping for one more big storm before the season ends, just so I can really test them out.
That's funny because I had the exact same thought. We normally get quite a few dumps of snow around this part of the UK, and this year we've only had 2 or 3. So I was really hoping for some more haha. It's quite fun going out and watching everyone sliding around on the wrong tyres too!
@@JJonCars 😂 With the old tires I would dread the snow. Here we are cheering it on, wishing for more. If that doesn't say something about these Michelin's...
Funny, I saw they were predicting 3-5" this Thursday and it's since been downgraded to 1". How disappointing is that!
If you get lucky and have a good snow, do be a pal and capture some footage so I can live vicariously through you, yeah? 😂
@@MClass2011 Hahah sure thing! (It's nearly mid-March, I think you might be out of luck)
Had a set of Michelin crossclimate 2 tyres put on my VW Tiguan a couple of days ago. We have a short steep hill to go up and always get stuck when there is snow or ice so looking forward to see how they perform, judging by your video they will be very good 👍
Great choice, they will make short work of your hill I'm sure. Is the Tiguan AWD?
@@JJonCars sadly no but I'm confident the michelin's can handle it
@@pantherjack2583 it will be fine for sure :)
@@pantherjack2583so a year later, how did they handle?
@David-eb6gu I'm really pleased with them, although sadly in my area I haven't been able to put them to the test in icy or snowy conditions yet. Still have 5mm of tread left all round.
Just got CC2 to my Sienna here in Alberta, Canada. Here we have sometimes -35C, so will keep you posted
Good luck! Lowest it ever gets here is like, -5 haha
I own an Audi A5 Quattro. Going to be ditching the stock pirelli summer tyres it came with and fitting the Michellin Crossclimate 2 tyres in the next month or so ready for the winter season. Best combination having the premium all season tyres paired with the Quattro torsen system.
Good shout, will be a great winter car with those on
Just put 4x Kormoran All Season tyres on my car, they look cool...
Been using all season continental's for the last couple of years. Best choice for British weather, rain and snow after crashing my previous car on summer tyres in winter snow.
Good choice Baz! They're definitely well suited to the British climate
agree with you i have Continental in Poland and before that michelin, Continental better.
Best of both worlds, my BMW has normal tyres up until November and the winter wheels go on until end of March, problem with all season is they are compromised for handling and wear during the warmer months and can't match the traction of real winter tyres in the low temperature months
Makes sense for a BMW to swap over in winter. Then you can enjoy it properly in summer and not be worried about sliding off the road in winter. Cheers for the comment David 👍
Gone a slightly different route to you and fitted a pair of winter tyres to the front axle of the Astra estate, bit of snow, flooded roads and they’ve been great, not stuck at all and plenty of confidence inspiring grip.
Nice one Chris. Can imagine it would help no end, no spinning wheels for you.
I suggest you watch the video from tyre reviews about having winter tyres in front and summer tyres on back, it’s dangerous, car spins around very easily when turning
Yep, Michelins are very well advertised as the best all season. If I want to save I will buy all season, but I'm stupid and I'm changing wheels twice a year.
Haha! Well at least you're not wearing the winter tyres out during the summer :)
Thank you. I'll do both, AWD & Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires.
That is the best combo for sure!
They’re amazing. Just had them installed. Smooth and so quiet.
These will be going on our Subaru Forester it will be unstoppable 👍🏻🇬🇧
Awh mate, I just got some Pirelly Roadslip 69s fitted !
Terrible choice, I always recommend Dunpops, they're much better 😂
over here in the US your Honda is an Acura
Ohh Accord! EX?
Saw the video on yours! looking forward to seeing it cleaned up :) Yep it's an EX - kit level is great - big heated leather armchairs, perfect for round here
Good review mate
Thanks Richard!
I got swayed into buying the Cross Climate 2s because our old Michelin Energy all seasons work fine for all seasons where I live but all the reviews indicated these worked better at everything and I needed a replacement, so I "upgraded" to these. What I didn't count on was the hit to the gas mileage. OMG, now I have the poor mileage of a winter tire all year round and don't have the traction of good winter tires. All the reviews just skip that fact. I've lost over 10%. You can tell how much rolling resistance they have just by watching the pressure on the dash from the TPMS as you run them down the highway, they heat up so much you can watch on the dash as the pressure increases by 3 PSI. Now I just paid $1,000 usd for the tires and am going to burn another 250 gallons ($1,125 in today's US prices) of gas over the 40,000 miles of their lifetime. Oh, yay. Just imagine if everyone increased their fuel consumption by 10%. I researched tires for months and found these to be the best, I thought. Now that I go back and comb the comments, I'm not the only one complaining about the mileage drop. Most people just don't notice. They check here and there and justify the loss by the conditions not being the same. Although, I'm not sure even about the 40,000 miles because most new all seasons handle great when they are brand new. I'm not so sure these will handle very well when they are worn down. So I'm back to changing them earlier or getting winter tires which I probably should have.
Oh, interesting. I have to say, I don't do many miles so it's really not something I would notice. But then if I was doing a lot of miles, I probably would buy a set of summer and winter tyres and swap between them...
I've just purchased an BMW 118i from 2019. I am considering to buy All season tires, I had been looking around for: Michelin CrossClimate 2 or GoodYear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3. I live in the Netherlands, where it rarely snows heavily, but when it does the entire country goes mental.
Any one having suggestions? All season / Winter / Summer tires?
Thank you :)
I'd say either of those options of all-season tyres would be great. I've only experience of the Michelins, and they are fantastic. Netherlands is just like the UK in regards to snow, and everyone going mental.
How many KMs do you do a year?
@@JJonCars Well the KM's can be different, let's say 20.000 approx.
@@lars35 I think that is low enough KMs per year for it to make sense to buy all season rather than switch between winter and summer. Just looked it up and the cross climate 2s have a tread wear warranty of 60k miles, almost 100k km!.
If you've still got tread on your current summer tyres, I'd wait until closer to winter so you get the full benefit of fresh tyres.
On that first bit of snow you get when everyone is going mad, you really won't regret the tyres, they make such a big difference :)
@@JJonCars Yes, I am going to wait until October / November this year. Then I'll purchase those tires :). Thank you for the advice.
just got mine. 17 Tucson
Great Vid,👍🏾
I noticed they dont have Rim Guard edging around the tyre.
Im looking to get a full set but this lack of edging is really holding me back.
Is it wobbly when taking fast corners or changing lanes (darting)? …in the Summer?
Have u ever seen CC2s doing a Moose skid manoeuvre thingy me bob??…. In the dry??
Somethings holding me back maan…. Im not convinced about the handling. Help!!!
I don't think you have anything to worry about :)
Obviously I don't know what kind of driver you are, and if you're always thrashing it around the lanes and trying to get the absolute max performance out of your car, then perhaps a summer Pilot Sport tyre would be in order. But I believe that the CC2 in summer, are as good as at least some of the mid level summer tyre brands. Admittedly I have them on a Honda Accord so I'm not exactly going to be putting them through their paces, but I don't have any concerns myself.
The TyreReviews channel is absolutely worth checking out if you haven't already (nothing to do with me, but I'm a fan of the the channel)
Cheers!
@@JJonCars Eagerly awaiting the tyre reviews' review on the cross climate 2's. It's funny really, but I still enjoy hearing about how they did in testing, despite already owning them.
@warriorcharge I can tell you that I am a VERY spirited driver, and these things handle great. One thing to keep in mind is that they add this extra stiffness to the ride, it almost feels like changing the setting on an adjustable suspension to the sport/firm setting, after installing them. If I were going to drive either of my sports cars in the winter, these would be the tires I would buy for them.
Just watched this video, are you stills using all season, hope you still like them
Hi, yeah, still using them. Not done lots of miles, but they've been great in both summer and winter. Michelin Cross Climates I would highly recommend.
Just ordered 5x Cross Climate SUV for my Hilux in east of england.
Nice, your indestructible Hilux will be able to go anywhere with those on! :)
Could you please compare CrossClimate to a regular summer tire, do they squirm more than summer tires on dry and wet, also during the summer months?
I could definitely do a video with the tyres during the summer!
@@JJonCars Thanks, that would be great.
Can i ask i live in the UK an to be honest do 3000 miles a year and the place i live if you get a few flakes of snow shuts down
should i buy all season or just summer tyres
That describes the UK well doesn't it. I guess the question is, how important is it that you can get around on those days when everything shuts down? If you're only doing 3000 miles a year then you probably aren't too reliant on your car, so perhaps summer tyres would be fine :)
Just like to add my opinion here. Winters tyres are not for just the snow, it's for when the temp drops below 7 degrees. That is when they perform well. In the UK we may not get much snow but we certainly have temp below 7 degrees for five or six months in the year. I've seen tyre reviews where an all season tyre will perform better than a summer tyre in cold wet conditions so it's not just snow.
I wouldn't rush to go out and buy all season tyres but when your current summer tyres wear out, go for the all season tyres as your next set. I find price wise (compared to premium summer tyres) the cost is very similar fir the tyres.
It just covers you in all climates, especially when you do have the odd day of heavy snow at least you are prepared.
CrossClimate 2 is called 'ALL-WEATHER' tires, they are not 'all-season' tires. All-season tires are the ones that come with the cars from the factory, and they are officially referred to as 3-season tires (spring,summer,fall).
Are you based in the US/North America? It's a US vs UK/Europe terminology issue - in the UK the term all season encompasses what you would call an all weather OR all season tyre. On the UK Michelin website for example, Michelin refer to the Cross Climate tyres as all season tyres.
See here: www.michelin.co.uk/auto/browse-tyres/by-season/allseason
Thanks for watching
Great quality and sexy voice! Keep it up!
Haha thanks!
I will never buy all-season again - hard compound, shaky car, slippery on wet.
Which brand did you get?
@@JJonCars MAXXIS Premitra
The Michelin Cross Climate is an All Weather tire, not an All Season tire. Why does this channel keep using the terms interchangeably? For a channel that appears to focus on details it's seems odd to get the fundamentals wrong.
Hi James. Are you based in the US/North America? I think it's a US vs UK/Europe terminology issue - in the UK the term all season encompasses what you would call an all weather OR all season tyre. On the UK Michelin website for example, Michelin refer to the Cross Climate tyres as all season tyres.
It is a good point though and were I to make any future tyre videos I will endeavour to point this out, as of course this channel is worldwide and not just UK/Europe. Cheers for watching.
See here: www.michelin.co.uk/auto/browse-tyres/by-season/allseason