Motoring Discussion > Michelin Cross Climates Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Bobby Replies: 24

 Michelin Cross Climates - Bobby
Can't remember who on here it was who bought these but wondering what is the longer term view of them? Both in winter and summer?
 Michelin Cross Climates - Lygonos
It was Stu(u)
 Michelin Cross Climates - PeterS
I had them on as winter tyres on the BMW; 17” instead of the 18” Michelin Pilots it wears in the summer. I rate them - good grip in th cold and damp, quiet and comfortable. Difficult to say wear-wise as they were only on for 5k miles!
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bill Payer
Got the common 205/55R16 size on daughter's Golf. Been on since Nov 15 so will be approaching 30K miles. I glanced at them the other day and they didn't give me any concern regarding needing to be changed anytime soon.

I can't say they've been tested in any extreme conditions - but she drives to work early using often slimy cross-country lanes and said they work fine.
 Michelin Cross Climates - martin aston
I've had them on my Civic for about 18 months. They are quiet and are wearing well at about 1.5mm wear every 10k miles on the fronts, less on rears.

However I didnt move the car during this winter's snow. I fitted them as a precaution as we visit Scotland every December and have hit snow in the past. Of course this year we had a clear run!

I am not sure I would fit them again as I dont really need the snow grip and the price premium over standard Michelin's was small when I bought them but now is wider, especially on the + variant. I assume the + will be the only type available in future. Also I've realised that although it suited me to change all 4 last time as all were worn, I am now committed to replacing like for like and can't for example change worn fronts to "summer" tyres. Michelin have pretty much got me.

Finally its hardly ever mentioned but CCs are XL rated so need additional pressure even if you are only taking a standard load. Running at standard pressures means they are under-inflated. So some of the alleged comfort benefits may well be due to under-inflation. As neither Honda nor Michelin will specify actual pressures I run mine at an additional 10%. I might up this a bit as the wear suggests they may still be a bit under.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Lygonos
Load rating shouldn't affect the tyre pressure required.

The contact patch will be the same at the same given pressure.

Carrying the potentially higher loads, however, will require an increase in TP.

www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-article/reinforced-tyres-advantages-and-disadvantages
 Michelin Cross Climates - martin aston
Lygonos, I am no expert and can only go on wider tables I found online. These show that for a given load XL tyres need more pressure. The attachment to your post appears to bear this out. For a load of 615kg the standard tyre only needs 250kpa while the XL needs 260kpa. Less than my 10% but still a difference.

Maybe I am missing something?
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bill Payer
>> Lygonos, I am no expert and can only go on wider tables I found online.
>> These show that for a given load XL tyres need more pressure.

You're right. I tried to find out why but never got a straight answer. I guessed it might be to do with the stronger sidewall construction required for XL - and I was (needlessly as it turned out) worried this might affect ride - but apparently a lot of Michelin tyres are built on the same carcass anyway.

However the pressure difference is so marginal it's probably within the error range of most tyre pressure gauges. So I gave up worrying about it.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Lygonos
Can't say I get the chart to be honest.

The FRV, for example, is meant to be 32psi front and rear whatever load it is carrying, be it a sole driver, or 6 plus luggage.

There's obviously tyre voodoo at work!
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bobby
My Civic has illogical tyre pressures when fully laden - I queried these with both the dealer and Honda themselves and was told it was correct.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bill Payer
>> Can't say I get the chart to be honest.
>>
That is hard to follow. Being in kpa doesn't help either but now I'll use both bar and psi!

I used a more complete chart that has the load rating for bot non-XL and XL at all pressures.

Our Golf's normal pressures are only 2bar (29lbs) all round and the difference in load capacity between standard tyres (load index 91) and XL (94) at 2 bar is 15kg (91 is 515kg, 94XL is 500kg). 2.1bar (30.5lbs) takes the 94XL's to 520kg.

I decided it was neither here nor there and left them at 29 for day-to-day use. I emailed Michelin and they said use the same pressures. They send me a massive handbook of tyres - but it didn't list the Cross-Climates!
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Thu 7 Jun 18 at 21:52
 Michelin Cross Climates - Manatee
Looks as if the tables you used match the ones here at pages 50-52:

www.conticontact.co.uk/literature/technicaldata2013.pdf
 Michelin Cross Climates - Manatee
>> Looks as if the tables you used match the ones here at pages 50-52:
>>
>> www.conticontact.co.uk/literature/technicaldata2013.pdf

Addendum:

The MX-5 uses 84V at 2.0bar. A lot of the tyres on offer in the same size are XL 88 rating. But 2.0bar on the 84 rating matches 420Kg load which is far higher than the corner weights of the MX-5.

Choosing the right pressure for the 88 rating and using the 420Kg regardless (and interpolating) gets me to 2.025bar or about 0.4psi higher, i.e. a negligible difference.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bill Payer
It was a Uniroyal chart, but I didn't know they were part of Continental.

I assume the figures are standard across the industry - otherwise you'd need to know if they were different every time you bought a different tyre.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bobby
I contacted Michelin direct re pressures and this was the reply

Regarding your query, extra Load (XL) or Reinforced (Reinf) simply means that the tyre has a higher load rating than would normally apply to this size. The MICHELIN CrossCliamte+ XL tyre does not require higher pressure than the manufacturer's recommendation.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Stuu
>>Can't remember who on here it was who bought these but wondering what is the longer term view of them? Both in winter and summer?<<

I did, well, I worked a set of 4 into a car deal but ive only done 700 miles since I picked it up so can only comment on early impressions, which are that they are excellent in heavy rain, soft ride ( although the car has a good ride anyway ) and grippy. No economy deficit that I can tell.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bobby
Slight thread drift Stuu but was it yourself that was getting the RAV4 hybrid and if so, how is it?
 Michelin Cross Climates - Stuu
>>Slight thread drift Stuu but was it yourself that was getting the RAV4 hybrid and if so, how is it?<<

Liked it, ride was a bit firm and insurance was expensive, 45 mpg and very punchy performance. Cant say more than that as a change in circumstances led to a change in car and im now in a 2016 Prius Business Ed which is very likeable thus far, although the radar cruise control is sometimes dim-witted ( totally confused when a car turns off the road ) and the TSS feature that tells you what the speed limit is on a road is a bit hit & miss - it was convinced the limit on the A43 was 120 mph today, which seemed unlikely...
 Michelin Cross Climates - martin aston
Thanks for the link to the comprehensive guide. For my Civic the tables suggest that the load on standard V91 tyres at the handbook recommended 2.1 (30psi) is 535. To achieve that load on CC+s at V94, the pressure figure is 2.2.

The difference therefore, at that crude level of only one decimal place, is about 5%. Not a whole lot but I will stick to it.

Clearly it will vary from car to car and at the extremes, such as two seaters, the difference may indeed not be significant.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Bill Payer
>> Clearly it will vary from car to car and at the extremes, such as two
>> seaters, the difference may indeed not be significant.
>>
It bothered me enough to look into it, but you could take pressure setting to extremes - ideally you should have the car weighed in each corner and measure the tyre contact patch. But then it changes if you fill the tank, or a passenger gets in. Or the temperature changes.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Boxsterboy
I put some on our Peugeot Traveller (Expert van with windows and seats) 8,000 miles ago and have been perfectly happy with them.

In the snow they got us up a steep drive leading to a hotel in the Alps without a flinch, where our friends new Volvo XC90 (4x4 on low profile tyres) needed chains.

In the summer the grip, comfort, etc. have been just fine.
 Michelin Cross Climates - legacylad
When I bought my 11 plate Focus it came fitted with 3 different makes of ditchfinders. Atrocious handling, stopping etc so the very first thing I did was to order a full set of X Climates through BlackCircles.
Obviously transformed the handling, and although I only covered 10k miles in 18 months they were still almost like new. I can only recall the odd few occasions when I used them in snow here in the Dales, but they were marvellous.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Slightlyfatdirector
I fitted some to my V70 and found that the grip in the wet was dramatically better - no scrabbling or squirming from the front when accelerating hard.

Did about 40k miles on the front pair before needing to replace them, and I replaced the rears as the same time as an alignment issue mean they had worn out on the insides at the rear. Went from the original CC's to the + version and there was really no difference.

Have not had to use them in really bad conditions, but when used on what little snow we got a few months ago they gripped very well, and I had a better feeling of security.

I would not go back to any other tyre now.

My wife has a '17 plate Golf GTI and we have switched fronts to rears to even out the wear on the original Bridgestones, and when the tyres need replacing we will go for 4 x CC+'s.

It would seem mad not to for that extra sense of security in all weathers.

If researched well, then there is very little premium to pay over other well branded tyres, and my biggest concern over tread-wear was unfounded, with them lasting longer than the factory fitted tyres from new.

When discussing these with the local tyre fitter who did the front-to-back switch on my wife's car, he swears by the CC's and pointed to them on his own X-type. Wouldn't use any other tyre, and has them on all his families cars too.

Hope this helps.
 Michelin Cross Climates - Manatee
I'd love to try them but we've got three cars and Michelin doesn't make Cross Climate in the right size for any of them!
 Michelin Cross Climates - Zero
or runflat.
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