Michelin Latitude Cross Reviews - Page 3

Been using these on my land cruiser for around 5 years now. They have great traction off road in all conditions and perform well on the road, the slight noise.being hardly noticeable above my noisy Diesel engine. But so do most SUV tires so I'll focus on what really mattered, how they shape up as an All Season tire on snow and ice. I had my doubts as they don't bear the official snowflake emblem, but they do have the M+S rating which I'm told also denotes All Season status. They haven't let me down,I live out in the sticks and even in heavy snowfall they've pulled me up all the hills, and held their line with only minimum wander when pushed on bends. Critically they allow the cars other attributes (permanent 4wd, hi-lo ratio and diff lock) to come into play, unlike inadequate tires which can reduce the best 4x4 to a Renault Clio in the snow. That said, I drive a Range Rover with full blooded winter tires in the Alps and they are on another level, treacherous snow covered Alpine roads in below -12C can be attacked with virtually the same confidence as in the dry. But for the worst snow and ice conditions the UK can offer, these Michelin Latitude Cross tires are just fine, I certainly don't feel the need to swap them over twice a year, they do the necessary and more all year round.

Brought these tires after a lot of research to replace the Hankook tires fitted on my Vauxhall Antara which were no good in wet weather. I was looking for a tire that could cope with the varied British weather, wet, dry, ice and snow. The Michelin's are expensive tires but you pay for what you get. The Michelin's handle very well in the wet, much better than the previous tires. In the dry they are are also good but obviously not as good as a premium summer tire. There is some road noise but no more than the previous fitted tires. I have had mo issues with the tire losing grip on icy roads. Where I was most impressed is in the snow. In mid December last year there was a few inches of snow that fell and I had to take my wife to work which was a good test for the tires. My Antara has 4 wheel drive that only kicks in if the front wheels start to spin. Once the snow had got into tire treads the cars grip was exceptional. There were various cars even a 4x4 Audi estate that were stuck going up a steep section of road that is just under a mile in length. I sat at the bottom of the hill until cars coming down had cleared and then just drove up the hill overtaking the stranded cars trying to get up the hill. Not once did I feel the car wheels spin and I believe it was mainly down to the tires. We have more snow forecast this week and having these tires certainly gives you more reassurance in bad weather conditions. I have these tires for 16 months. I do about 10,000 miles a year and after 14 months there was still 8mm if tread depth.

Had a lot of snow and ice so far this winter and the colder months are yet to come - I was already impressed with these tires through a very wet spring and had intended to wait until after winter to add another review about them but I have been both surprised (good) and disappointed at the same time. Firstly, the bad - a small very low speed (about 10kmh) slide on icy paving saw my car gently come to rest against the concrete gutter. It was such a gentle collision I simply drove away but on inspecting the tire an hour later, the sidewall had two fractures. I drove back to the site to inspect the gutter and where my tire had hit was a seam where sections of concrete joined. This concrete seam had caused the rip in the sidewall. I was deflated even if my tire was not - an expensive near new tire rendered worthless by an innocuous piece of concrete kerbing. Now the good - These tires are MUCH better than my previous dedicated winter tires, wet roads, dry, slush, snow and ice. The biggest surprise so far is how good they are STOPPING on icy roads (yeah okay, even without the help of concrete guttering!). Seriously, you feel them biting into the road to help stopping making my ABS work overtime. Overall, I love these tires but not impressed by the sidewall strength (and mine are the XL version, supposed stronger sidewalls for extra load).