Writing about the
Michelin CrossClimate given
93% (215-45-17-V)
Driving on
a combination of roads for 8500
easy going miles
Can't really fault these at all. They were expensive because mine are a slightly odd size made in smaller quantities, apparently, but they're doing a brilliant job. I've checked the fitting paperwork and it's about 8500 miles since they went onto my (fairly heavy) Toyota Avensis estate. Grip in the wet and dry is fantastic. There's a real solidity to the way they bite and hold, even if you tighten your line mid-corner. My road often isn't gritted in the winter but these got me up the hill and off the estate every time I asked, even when the road surface was sheet ice. I had to be careful to avoid wheelspin, but the tyres found more than enough grip where summer tyres were seeing other cars abandoned at the roadside.
Braking grip is outstanding. My older Avensis doesn't have brilliant brakes but you can stamp on them without causing the tyres any headaches. At the limit (which feels strange in an Avensis), the tyres are super-progressive. Naturally I'm looking at understeer, but the CrossClimates are very reluctant to give up the ghost in the first place, sliding and regaining grip very predictably when they eventually do.
Marks have to come off because of a relative lack of feel next to a top-drawer summer tyre, and also because of a strange 'hissing' sound the tyres make under acceleration, but only on smooth surfaces. I noticed it as soon as the tyres were swapped and, having long since gotten used to it, I thought it had vanished until I listened for it properly again, and it's still there.
Wear rates are practically non-existent. I'm normally fairly gentle with the car to protect it, but 8500 miles seems to have taken less than 1mm off the fronts. That's astonishing. If that wear rate holds up, I could realistically be looking at changing them because of age before I change them because of wear. My wife has just bought a used B-Max with mismatched tyres, and we'll be swapping them for CrossClimates as soon as we can afford to.