Winter Tire Evaluation (video)

Summer is fast approaching, but many of us are still haunted by memories of the record-breaking snowfalls of last winter. We, at Auto123.com, were actually happy to see Mother Nature throw her white powdery stuff at us. Why? We spent the entire cold season putting Michelin's X-Ice winter tires to the test. It's now time for a recap.

For this test, we called on one of our colleagues, who traded her Michelin Primacy MXV4 all-season tires for the new X-Ice. She went through snow, ice, sludge, sleet and hail.


Only the beginning...
From the get-go, her perception was different. She commented: "The rubber seems softer or more flexible than the other tire's."

The first storm was waiting right around the corner. However, the Michelin X-Ice tires took a strong bite in the snow and always made our test-driver feel in control. That's peace of mind right there.

After a couple of snowfalls, parking proved just as easy as on dry pavement. The vehicle even had no problems overcoming small snowbanks created by plow trucks or changing lanes on snow-covered roads. But there was more to come...

As you may remember vividly, huge amounts of snow fell from the sky in the following weeks, and road conditions seemed to worsen each and every day. Yet, our colleague no longer feared the winter extremes.

Ice and sleet
Ice is particularly well known by Quebec drivers. It's very different from snow, so the available grip on the road is equally different, not to mention one's reactions behind the wheel. Obviously, the tires also act differently on ice-covered roads, losing traction and affording less control. As a result, the car feels lighter, especially the steering. You have to be more careful and avoid sudden movements.

The Michelin X-Ice fared pretty well, although our collaborator felt less confident after a few kilometers on this type of surface. For her, or any careful driver for that matter, the secret is to reduce the vehicle's speed. Sound driving habits and alertness behind the wheel are always recommended, though.

As for sleet, sludge and water build-up, these Michelins hugged the road as reassuringly as in snow. The evacuation seemed to satisfy our test-driver; she told us she felt the tires bite the road and make their path on this kind of surface.