The Almighty Michelin CrossClimate 2 is starting to disappoint me after 20,000 miles.

[snwbrdr]

A new one looks like this.

Excuse the rocks. It's after driving on a National Park forest road.

So, it doesn't have full depth sipes that some people claim the CC2 have from their "expert analysis" like Justin Bieber, the engineer, from Engineering Explained youtube video (which was merely him regurgitating Michelin marketing notes).

The shoulder sipes have become partial. The center tread "stepped" sipes are gone... it's looking more like the original CrossClimate/CrossClimate+

Performance in the dry has already dropped off, since I can get traction control kicking in accelerating from a stop to merge onto the highway. If I'm taking a curved on-ramp hard, stability control is intervening.

I seriously hope winter traction doesn't take a dump... but I do have cable chains, just in case.

 

[scott43]

Which vehicle is this on?

 

[slowrider]

That tread design is not for Summer or gravel roads.

 

[crgildart]

I won't take an all season M+S up to the mountains after 30K miles. That's mostly warm pavement high wear driving.

And many here would edit that to..

I won't take an all season M+S up to the mountains

 

[snwbrdr]

Which vehicle is this on?

2021 Highlander Hybrid AWD.... not exactly the sportiest SUV around.

I'm already started to shop 18" wheels so I can have 2 sets of wheels/tires for the 3rd winter season...

I'm considering the 2022 Hybrid Bronze edition wheels.

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[scott43]

2021 Highlander Hybrid AWD.... not exactly the sportiest SUV around.

I'm already started to shop 18" wheels so I can have 2 sets of wheels/tires for the 3rd winter season...

I'm considering the 2022 Hybrid Bronze edition wheels.

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Interesting..

 

[raytseng]

Hopefully you aren't just getting worked up over the wrong things.

3PMSF tires are all compromise with big compromises mainly to bump up winter performance. Even your middle of the pack 3season AS tire will probably outperform all 3PMSF tire, especially in middle of hot summer and after a little wear.

My understanding is supposedly on the CC series; winter traction is mainly gained by the tread design: the V +the biting chamfers on the horizontal edges; and not really so much from sipes; squiggly or otherwise. Since the blocks go all the way horizontal with zero vertical grooves; it's a different strategy to get snow traction vs. a tread where you'd lose the snow from the vertical blocks if you didn't have winter sipes.

Yes I see in your photo the center squiggly sipe changed to a straight cut, but I believe the straight cut sipe still goes full depth; so they didn't fully lie to you there. But I'd also put forward that the squiggly sipe design is more for noise/scrubbing|wear issue when tread is at full height; it's 1 measly squiggly and I don't really think that is meant to provide any winter traction benefits; even though it kinda looks like a winter sipe.

If the purpose for getting these tires was to maintain a higher level of winter performance give it a try in those conditions first before dumping them. While they may not perform to your satisfaction anymore for high-performance/dry high traction situations; that really is the opposite scenario to humdrum people-moving in low-to-no traction scenarios.

Finally, check the tread depths and bump up tire pressure if wearing unevenly.
Let us know how it goes!

 

[fatbob]

I'm not sure what the problem is here - premium tyres all start to go off a bit after around 20k miles. Track day enthusiasts can burn a new set in a few hours. I am aware that CC2 seem to be priced pretty high in the US - couldn't quite believe the price whan I went in Costco last winter, but soft compounds, warm summer roads will all accelerate wear.

Look at it like this - you'll still have better traction than the average non-local SUV driver and certainly than the average rental car driver.

 

[doc]

I'm not sure what the problem is here - premium tyres all start to go off a bit after around 20k miles.

I agree; I'm always pleased when I can get 20k miles out of a set of tires. Those 40k mile warranties are just BS as far as I'm conncerned.

 

[Tom K.]

I'm already started to shop 18" wheels so I can have 2 sets of wheels/tires for the 3rd winter season...

Impossible to argue against this approach.

I agree; I'm always pleased when I can get 20k miles out of a set of tires. Those 40k mile warranties are just BS A NICE WAY TO GET A DISCOUNT ON REPLACEMENTS as far as I'm concerned.

FIFY!

 

[cantunamunch]

Performance in the dry has already dropped off, since I can get traction control kicking in accelerating from a stop to merge onto the highway. If I'm taking a curved on-ramp hard, stability control is intervening.

I seriously hope winter traction doesn't take a dump... but I do have cable chains, just in case.

Well, you're in California so you don't have frozen asphalt, black ice, freezing rain and packed re-freeze 50 days+ of the winter like we do.

But if I had those tires on the Jeep or the Honda it would be a replacement emergency. If traction control is kicking in on the dry, I'd have ABS activating on every suburban 10-15 mph intersection. Not to mention being 2 lanes over from the intended highway lane when driving through cross-wind alleys, praying no one is adjacent. Been there, done that, kicked myself for being too stupid to replace early.


None of those are chain-up conditions.

Looks like it's still a decent rain tire. So I'd replace it in October. Yeh, that's probably a sore spot too, sorry.

 

[Unpiste]

Justin Bieber, the engineer, from Engineering Explained

The guy’s name is Jason Fenske. Was this supposed to be a joke?

Hard to take the rest of the post seriously.

 

[scott43]

The all-weather tire is a compromise..for better or worse.. The tread blocks are far too large to provide accurate and durable dry-weather performance..and they're noisy as heck. If you have a low-mileage vehicle, I would say they'd be better than a pure winter tire and switching to summer because you may end up with hockey pucks before you wear them out. OTOH, if you have expect to have good summer AND winter performance and you do mileage, you should probably have both. Those all-weathers have soft compound and stiff sidewalls to keep the temps down. I'm not in love with the all-weather tires..but for our low mileage vehicle..meh..they work ok.

As for track day tires..well...you can't use that as a measure...

 

[Snowfan]

I'll put Cross Climate 2's or Wildpeak Trails on my Crossie just before December. 5K miles on my Crossie 6Speed.

 

[James]

Performance in the dry has already dropped off,

So you’d rather have the Nokian WRG4?
Aren’t we due for a WRG 5 soon?

 

[mdf]

I'll put Cross Climate 2's or Wildpeak Trails on my Crossie just before December. 5K miles on my Crossie 6Speed.

I've got a nearly-new 6 speed crosstrek, too. I love it.
I have the original tires on it. I'm not sure what to do about winter tires. I'm planning to drive it to Taos, but there is a lot of dry pavement between here and there...

 

[Ogg]

I've got a nearly-new 6 speed crosstrek, too. I love it.
I have the original tires on it. I'm not sure what to do about winter tires. I'm planning to drive it to Taos, but there is a lot of dry pavement between here and there...

I was just(as in just before I clicked on this thread) shopping for tires for my wife's '13 Crosstrek on Tirerack and it looks like there's a rebate on the Falkens right now making them pretty reasonable.

 

[Racerxxx]

View attachment 176099

A new one looks like this.

Excuse the rocks. It's after driving on a National Park forest road.

So, it doesn't have full depth sipes that some people claim the CC2 have from their "expert analysis" like Justin Bieber, the engineer, from Engineering Explained youtube video (which was merely him regurgitating Michelin marketing notes).

The shoulder sipes have become partial. The center tread "stepped" sipes are gone... it's looking more like the original CrossClimate/CrossClimate+

Performance in the dry has already dropped off, since I can get traction control kicking in accelerating from a stop to merge onto the highway. If I'm taking a curved on-ramp hard, stability control is intervening.

I seriously hope winter traction doesn't take a dump... but I do have cable chains, just in case.

View attachment 176099

A new one looks like this.

Excuse the rocks. It's after driving on a National Park forest road.

So, it doesn't have full depth sipes that some people claim the CC2 have from their "expert analysis" like Justin Bieber, the engineer, from Engineering Explained youtube video (which was merely him regurgitating Michelin marketing notes).

The shoulder sipes have become partial. The center tread "stepped" sipes are gone... it's looking more like the original CrossClimate/CrossClimate+

Performance in the dry has already dropped off, since I can get traction control kicking in accelerating from a stop to merge onto the highway. If I'm taking a curved on-ramp hard, stability control is intervening.

I seriously hope winter traction doesn't take a dump... but I do have cable chains, just in case.

I don't claim to be a tire expert but I have been a auto mechanic for 35yrs. Judging from your pic the tire wear looks good and appears there is 6/32 to 7/32 tread depth remaining at 20k. The tire must be designed with hard compound rubber. I wouldn't expect those tires to be good in snow and ice when they where new. Nothing beats having a dedicated set of real snow tires such as blizzaks.

 

[Tony S]

I've got a nearly-new 6 speed crosstrek, too. I love it.
I have the original tires on it. I'm not sure what to do about winter tires. I'm planning to drive it to Taos, but there is a lot of dry pavement between here and there...

Sounds like exactly the use case for this kind of tire.

 

[KingGrump]

I've got a nearly-new 6 speed crosstrek, too. I love it.
I have the original tires on it. I'm not sure what to do about winter tires. I'm planning to drive it to Taos, but there is a lot of dry pavement between here and there...

All you need is one good storm to break even.