I must confess to not having searched properly so I may be covering old ground (I usually lurk in the Octy 3 section only) but I'd be interested in the opinions of anybody that has fitted CrossClimates and has direct experience of them. If there's another thread just point me at it!

 

I have been running a separate set of wheels with winters on for several years, but this time I decided to give the CrossClimates a try as they seem like the ideal Southern UK solution. No more messing around with wheels every 6 months. My initial impression is not great. There is a lot less grip than I anticipated at 6-7°C with a damp (not soaking by any means) road, and in general they feel a bit floaty. I'm going to play with the air pressures but so far I'm wondering of this will be my first and last set!

 

In their favour, when they do start to give it's certainly progressive, nothing sudden and I know exactly what's happening, but they feel more like worn tyres than new ones!

How many miles have you done on them?  Seem fine in the wet NW England - seem less likely to get slip on wet greasy roundabouts.   

Following anything like this with interest. As I do the same with a spare set of wheels and tyres. 

A friend of mine bought them from Costco before Xmas and has them fitted to his Focus TDCI estate 2006. I have asked him recently how he found them and the response was positive,particularly in the damp conditions. His driving is 60/40 motorway and A roads with a few roundabouts thrown in. TBH I find the Nokians WRG2's I have amazing in snow etc, but very poor in the damp. 

 

Hope some other members can give thoughts, because at approx £60 a corner fitted, he got a good price for 205/55/16 V XL therefore represented good value for me. 

Have a look here: 

We've had Cross Climates on our Yeti for a while and they're great! Quiet, grippy and progressive I haven't been able to make them spin (our 170bhp 4x4 Yeti's wheels) even in cold and very wet conditions. We bought them to allow us to be legal in the Alps and they've not let us down. We'd have them again - but they're not cheap for us at £137ish from black circles each (225/50r17).

 

Hope this helps.

Edited 2 February, 20179 yr by PirateSyrett

We’ve had cross climates for about a year now on our 4x4 Octy II and have found them excellent with none of the issues the OP describes.  However, I do run them a few of PSI higher that the recommended pressures given the softish sidewalls.

Thanks for the link PirateSyrett. I bought them because I have only seen positive reviews about them, but wheel spin is easy and cold greasy roundabouts are exactly where I noticed the lack of grip most! I've only done about 200 miles, but that should be enough to scrub off any mould grease or such like.

 

Describing them as being like worn tyres was perhaps harsh, and one thing in their favour is that the all seem to lose traction at a similar point, where I would expect worn summers in a FWD car on a damp road to just plough straight on these are actually quite controllable, but I just expected a little more before reaching that point I suppose.

3 minutes ago, skomaz said:

However, I do run them a few of PSI higher that the recommended pressures given the softish sidewalls.

 

What makes you call the sidewalls soft (other than experience)? I was going to up the pressures this weekend as I was wondering whether this was contributing to the floaty feel.

Not much searching needed, not even a google.

Just look down this page at a thread, then go to page 2 and a thread on Michelin CrossClimate's.

Edited 2 February, 20179 yr by Offski

I'm running these in R17/225/45 size at 39psi, gotta agree some progressive slip but, controlable. We didn't get the snow here in the south to test them but, I'm not unduely concerned by them and I can run pretty close to the ragged edge when road conditions allow.

 

I kinda knew they were gonna be a compromise when I brought them but, so far so good

2 hours ago, Geek42 said:

 

What makes you call the sidewalls soft (other than experience)? I was going to up the pressures this weekend as I was wondering whether this was contributing to the floaty feel.

 

Probably a bit of both - I know winters tend to have softer sidewalls and therefore need a few extra PSI and the Cross Climates have a soft-ish compound as well.  Also they did feel a little bit spongy both physically and when driving (if you get my drift) which a few extra PSI has helped with.

 

I'd certainly have them again but it does sound like your experience is rather different to other's

Maybe I'm just being over critical. My initial reaction was that they were OK, although not as solid as the previous tyres, hence my 'floaty' description. I started to question them after two very minor incidents, one was quite a lot of slipping around a roundabout, and the other was an inability to put much power at all down when pulling away. The second was pointing uphill and it was cold and greasy, so I won't write them off yet!

 

I'll try different pressures and see what feels best. I'm currently at 32psi, so quite some way below TMWKA's 39.

^^^ How many miles had these tyres covered?

 

Remember they are not winter tyres when people are talking about higher pressures on winter tyres and soft side walls and stuff.

They are Summer Tyres with 3 Peak Certification, ie All Weather or All Season or All Year depending on which language is being used or which translation.

 

They are good tyres but they are a compromise, and also need 'Run In' or the newness off them obviously, & then the tyre pressure set to the ambient temperature and the use / load.

How long does it take to run in a tyre? They've done around 200 miles.

Around that if not a bit more, release agent and the newness is the reason so many cars collect new from dealerships get crashed.

 

Greasey / damp roundabouts can be diesel spill on roundabouts obviously and new tyres front or rear wheel drive might well not get much traction 

so nothing new there.

 

?

What tyres came off for the CrossClimates to go on?

Michelin Primacy HP.

 

I had been running Goodyear Ultragrip 8's during previous winters, but they never got out of the garage this year!