For the longest time the Michelin CrossClimate 2 has been the best all season / all weather tire on the market, winning more tests than any other tires in its category, including my tests for the last 3 years!
However, since last year's test there have been not one, not two, but three new premium all season tires launched, all looking to dethrone the CrossClimate 2 from its category top spot.
Naturally I had to find out whether any of these new tires from Bridgestone, Continental and Pirelli can match the Michelin, so as usual I'll be testing everything, including wear, to see which is best! And I've also thrown in a couple of tires Dunlop and Yokohama, because why not.
Can any of these new tires really challenge the CrossClimate 2, or are they all going to be left wanting for more? Read on to find out!
Wet
I say it every year, but the wet performance of an all season tire is the most important performance.
As always I've thrown in a budget tire , and this time it's exceptionally bad. I don't recall ever having to concentrate so hard to stay on the track, and this is on a 1.4 golf. On a RWD vehicle this would be fully impossible.
As for the rest, they were all pretty good in wet handling. Yokohama and Michelin were the slowest of the bunch, both exhibiting quite a lot of understeer and the yokohama having a particularly soft steering feel, but they were fine.
A small amount ahead was the Bridgestone and dunlop, and it turns out not only does the Bridgestone look like the Michelin, but at least in wet handling it behaves like the Michelin too as it had more understeer than the tires ahead. Great levels of grip, but just not the best balance for track, but nice and safe for the road.
The Dunlop is the only asymmetric tire of the group, and it has the word sport in its name so it's is noticeable different to the rest? Well, not really. It was lovely to drive, and predictable, but didn't feel like the sports tire of the group.
The final two essentially tied for the win, which was the new Pirelli and Continental. The Pirelli did feel like the sports tire of hte group, but by tiny margins. It was a great steering tire with a nice neutral balance, the negative compare to the Conti was it just didn't have quite the detail at the very limit.
The Conti was excellent, a really well rounded tire around the lap, and while it wasn't as quick to steer as the pirelli it did give you a little more notice of where things were.
What about the all important braking? Bridgestone performed extremely well, with nearly a meter to second place, which was the new Continental, which was over a meter to third placed Pirelli. Very impressive from Bridgestone.
The budget was again terrifyingly bad, and where the Bridgestone had you stopped, you were still doing 45.1 km/h, that's braking from JUST 80 km/h. Over half the speed.
None of the tires really had any aquaplaning issues during wet handling, but once again Pirelli was at the front in the aquaplaning test with a clear margin, followed by Bridgestone and Michelin.
Dry
As these are 16" all season tires, out and out laptime isn't the most important factory for them in the dry, braking is way more important, but I have spent a lot of time doing steering response testing and aggressive lane changes to see how they handle in more normal use. Plus of course the dry handling lap as it's fun.
The slowest on the lap was the fronway. During the lane changes it actually felt pretty good, feeling more direct than the others but once you got it on track it had some wonderfully comical noisy understeer.
The rest of the tires were pretty close in handling and lane changes. Yokohama and Michelin were a little more understeer bias around the lap, but the michelin did have some of the best sub limit steering.
The Bridgestone was a little vague around centre which I didn't like, but once you were turning it felt reactive and sporty, which I liked. I'm not sure if overall it was my favourite but a very good tire, and fast around the lap with good brakes.
The Continental and Dunlop matched overall on laptime. The Asymmetric pattern of the Dunlop reacted quickly which was lovely, but the tire seemed to take a second to settle on the sidewall. The Continental was a joy to drive, one of only two tires you felt like you were really in control on the handling lap as the car reacted well to steering and throttle inputs well, really impressive lap and good during sublimit too.
But the quickest, and my favorite around sublimit was the Pirelli. Not only was this the most stable during the lane change and has some of the nicest steering, it also felt the most summer like during the lap, which is what I really want from an all season tire. Great job Pirelli, this new SF3 is shaping up really nicely, but also great job to Conti, Dunlop and Bridgestone.
Dry braking reconfirmed the Pirelli was the best in the dry as it had over a meter lead to the next best, which was the Bridgestone. This meant the usual dry braking master, the Michelin could only place third, with a bit of a gap to the last four tires. Like in the wet, the residual speed calculation told a stark story, with the worst tire of the group still going nearly 40 km/h when the best had stopped.
Snow
The good news is that once again all the all season tires performed well in the snow, apart from maybe the Dunlop. It wasn't terrible, but as I've already mentioned it's the only non-directional tire of the group you can really see why all these tires are going directional now - asymmetric tires struggle in the snow. It was the slowest around the lap and gave the usually very stable golf a quite wandery rear end. It was the most fun if you want a challenge but not the best balance for the road.
Next up was the Bridgestone. This felt very comfortable over the snow which is weird, and once again the steering was very light. The balance was very good, the rear was planted, but it just didn't quite have the grip of the best. Snow and wet are VERY hard to do well in a single tire, and the big advantage it has in wet braking seems to have cost it some snow performance.
The Yokohama was another step up in grip. You never really felt like you were going quickly as it was all undramatic, but it felt really good during traction and braking. A good tire in the snow.
Fourth and third places were tied by the new Continental and the budget Fronway! While the times were all but identical, the Continental was the more predictable to drive and felt better out of the corners. Obviously the big difference is that the Conti worked well in the dry and wet too, whereas the fronway was simply horrible, THIS is the difference between a cheap tire that does one thing well and a premium tire that does everything well.
Second place went to the new Pirelli, and like in the dry and wet it was really fun to drive. It was the happiest when turning, but also did a really good job of traction and braking while turning. I really enjoyed this tire, it was second best in lap time and almost my favourite to drive in the snow.
However, once again the Michelin CrossClimate 2 was the best in snow handling. As always I was testing blind and about half way round lap 1 of set 4 I was wondering if it was the Michelin as it was just awesome in the snow. Strong braking, very good transient grip, safe balance, it did it all. While it might have been surpassed in the dry and the wet, it seems the Michelin is still the king of the snow.
Snow Handling
How does all this line up with the objective tests, traction, braking and snow circle? Pretty well. The Conti and Yoko were joint best in snow traction, the Michelin and Yoko were joint best in snow braking, and of course the Michelin was the best in snow circle.
Ice
In a rare change of pace, I actually had the time to test ice. The Pirelli was the best in ice traction with the Continental very close behind, and the budget Fronway again doing well. At this point I'm assuming the Fronway as simply a winter compound molded into an all season pattern.
Ice braking had the Yokohama performing very well, with the Continental again extremely close, and the Michelin third. That means on average, the Continental was the best on ice, though none of these tires will have been designed with ice in mind.
Value
The wear results for this test again come from a real world convoy test, which is the gold standard in wear testing and provides more accurate results compared to machine testing. Sadly it's also very expensive, so the budget tire wasn't included.
The results had the new Continental as best of the group, projected to cover nearly 50,000 kilometers before reading 1.6mm. When you consider how good the grip of the tire has been thats very impressive. The surprise result was the new Bridgestone in second place! In recent years Bridgestone have nearly always underperformed in wear tests, but this new tire did incredibly well and hopefully a trend that will continue. If you're from north america you might be confused at the Michelin CrossClimate 2 in third as your tire has a 60,000 mile warranty, don't fret, this is the EU version that has much lower rolling resistance, but a lower starting tread depth.
When you compare wear against purchase price you get a value metric, which the Continental also led, with the Yokohama sliding into second place thanks to good wear and a low purchase price. The real losers were the Michelin thanks to its high purchase price, and the Pirelli as it underperformed in the wear test.
Michelin had the lowest rolling resistance, closely followed by the Dunlop, and the Yokohama lost some of its value points with the highest rolling resistance, over 30% more than the best.
Comfort
Finally I didn't get a chance to properly dig into comfort, but these are a 16" tire and they were all pretty smooth. The external noise test was all very close, and my gut says the Bridgestone, Dunlop or Michelin would be the most comfortable in general.
Results
1st: Continental AllSeasonContact 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very good in dry handling, best in wet handling with short wet braking, best snow traction, best in ice overall, lowest wear on test, best value tire on test, low rolling resistance. Extended dry braking, low aquaplaning resistance. The new Continental AllSeasonContact 2 was the tire that does everything well. The only negative point I can really mention is that it wasn't that great in curved aquaplaning, and ideally I'd like to see it better in dry braking, but in all the other tests it was just great. And it had the lowest wear which made it the cheapest tire per 1000km. And it had low rolling resistance. And excellent snow grip, and was the best in the wet. And the best overall on ice. You get the idea. Outstanding product from Continental.
 .Read Reviews Buy from £99.71 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2nd: Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Good in the dry and wet, good aquaplaning resistance, low wear, good value. Below average snow performance (but still way ahead of a summer tire), average rolling resistance. The new Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 is a well balanced mild climate all season tire. Bridgestone has clearly focused on improving the treadlife of the tire, which historically has been a weak point, while retaining the excellent dry and wet performance. The snow performance wasn't great compared to the best, but it's going to be way better than a summer tire so if you're in a region that rarely gets snow, this is a really great tire. The only thing it seems to have reduced in order to improve the wear is rolling resistance, as that was relatively high, but overall the new Bridgestone is an excellent product.
 .Read Reviews Buy from £93.07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd: Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Best in dry with shortest braking distance and fastest lap time, very good in wet, best aquaplaning resistance on test, very good in snow traction and snow handling, best ice traction, low noise. Slightly extended snow braking, highest wear resulting in lowest overall value. The Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 would have been the test winner if I hadn't tested wear, and honestly, was my favorite tire to drive on. It was the best in the dry, one of the best in the wet, very good around snow handling and its rolling resistance was plenty good enough too. The fact it has high wear might not be an issue for some, plus it's not much higher cost per 1000km than the Michelin, but if wear is important to you, then this is not the tire to buy. Certainly the most summer feeling of all season tire which will be appealing to some.  .Read Reviews Buy from £120.70 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4th: Michelin CrossClimate 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Good grip in the dry, high aquaplaning resistance, best in snow, lowest noise in test, lowest rolling resistance on test. Long wet braking, high purchase price with average wear means expensive per km. The Michelin CrossClimate 2, the tire that's won every test I've featured it in, dropped down to fourth behind the new trio of tires. I think the biggest surprise wasn't that it was the best in the snow, I've said this tire is too good in the snow many times, or had the lowest rolling resistance on test, it's always done that well, but the fact it wasn't best in dry braking which is historically the Michelins party piece. I really hope Michelin can bring wet improvements to the next product, even if that means sacrificing a little snow. The CrossClimate 2 is still a great all season tire, but according to this test, it's no longer the greatest.  .Read Reviews Buy from £104.03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5th: Dunlop Sport All Season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Good handling in the dry and wet, good snow braking, low rolling resistance. Extended braking distances in the dry and wet, lowest grip on ice, increased wear resulting in average value. The Dunlop Sport All Season is another good tire, but another tire that was out classed by the new breed. Its asymmetric pattern left it vulnerable in snow handling, and while it was good in the dry and wet handling tests, it struggled in braking. It did have a low rolling resistance and its wear result was ok, plus is had a low rolling resistance making it cheap at the pumps. Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6th: Yokohama BluEarth 4S AW21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very high levels of grip in snow, best ice braking, lower purchase price. Low levels of grip in the wet, long dry braking, very high rolling resistance. The Yokohama BluEarth 4S AW21 is another tire that is better in the snow and ice than the dry and wet. It's not a bad product, and it was very good in the snow, but perhaps a bit too good for an all season tire as it was firmly outclassed when not in winter conditions. Read Reviews Buy from £79.99 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th: Fronway Fronwing AS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Low purchase price, good performance in snow. Poor dry grip, dangerously low grip in the wet. For the price, the Fronway Fronwing AS was awesome in the snow. But as this is an all season tire test, and it it had extremely low wet grip, it does not make it a good all season purchase. The Fronway is one of the worst tires I've had in the wet for a while. Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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