Michelin CrossClimate+ review

Michelin's CrossClimate+ is the bestselling all-season tyre in Europe, and it’s designed with safety and longevity in mind across all weather conditions. Rigid and bevel-edged tread blocks have been employed to maximise grip and braking on dry tarmac, while a bespoke grip-maximising compound improves grip on wet and cold surfaces. The unique V-shaped tread pattern provides strong braking and traction on snow, while the rigidity of the tread pattern is said to improve tyre life by nearly a third compared to some competitors.

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Tester’s notes

We rated the Michelin CrossClimate + as part of a joint test with evo’s Autovia stablemates Auto Express and Carbuyer. The snow tests were performed at Hankook’s test track in Finland, while the wet tests were carried out at Continental’s ‘Contidrom’ track near Hanover. Sadly Covid restrictions meant we were unable to perform dry handling comparisons.

The six tyres in the back-to-back test were: Continental AllSeasonContact; Cooper Discoverer All Season; Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3; Hankook Kinergy 4S2; Michelin CrossClimate +; Vredestein Quatrac Pro.

While Michelin may have sacrificed some snow performance in favour of wet and dry conditions, this tyre is still impressive when the going gets wintry. The design lacks any obvious grip-boosting sipes that you see in traditional snow designs, but the CrossClimate + manages to grip better than some of the snow specialists notwithstanding. It has great traction out of turns when you’ve got an armful of lock on, and proved very stable at the rear.

On the wet handling track it wasn’t quite as impressive, and the CrossClimate struggled to compete with the best in the aquaplane tests, which hurt its overall ranking.

Test results: Michelin CrossClimate +

Size tested: 225/45 R17

Test vehicle: VW Golf 

Price when tested: £105

Location: Hanover Test Track; Hankook Technotrac, Finland