Over three years and 90,000KM with the Michelin CC2s. This is my end of term Cross Climate 2 long term review summary. I’ll go through various weather conditions and give my thoughts.
Snow/Ice – Cross Climate 2 Long Term Review
For a non-dedicated snow tyre, I thought their performance was excellent. Definitely a big step up in capability over tyres which do not have snow capability.
I tried them in some pretty extreme conditions, here and here for example and I found them great. No complaints.
A couple of CMs of snow would have me being a bit concerned on normal tyres. Not so with the Cross Climate 2, I had full confidence they would get me where I was going. Sure they have limits for example ice and step roads like in this video but apart from that, normal roads, no problem.
If you need a bit of snow capability, in my experience, they gave it, even after 2 years.
And when the tyres did give up, I thought those conditions would really need chains or studded winter tyres.
Rain
The Cross Climate 2s were good in the rain. Not amazing, not excellent but good. I could carry decent pace with them. But they are not on the same level as something like a Pilot Sport 5 in winter rain and summer rain. CC2s are good but there are better.
Dry
Again, the CCs were good. Not excellent and not amazing.
The Cross Climate 2 gave plenty of confidence to lean on the chassis, I knew where I was with them. But the limits are not what you can get from a summer tire. They are not on the same level as a Pilot Sport 5. And I think a good all-season tyre (without snow capability) will be better than the CC2s.
Stamina
The tyres have been on the car for three years. How did they stand up?
I’d say well. Although coming into the third year now I think I’m noticing a fall off in their dry and wet performance. Let’s call it 10% less grip.
Value/Recommended?
Were they good value? Would I buy Cross Climate 2s again?
No, because Cross Climate 3 is now available but if you find a set of CC2s, new and cheap, would I recommend them?
Only if you need a bit of snow performance and/or the piece of mind knowing, that if it does snow you are probably going to get where you want to go without too much of a problem.
I bought them because I wanted the snow performance, I see snow a couple of days a year and even a bit of snow would make normal tyres a bit marginal. I was happy to give up a small bit of performance the rest of the year, to know I wouldn’t get stranded if it did snow.
And for that use case, they did exactly what I wanted.
Proviso
If the car they were fitted to was a “performance” car, then I wouldn’t fit the CC2s as an all year tyre. I’d have something like the Pilot Sport 5 for Spring, Summer, Autumn and have the CC2s for the depths of winter. ie I’d have two sets of tyres and wheels.