Testing the new Michelin winter tires, which have a new chemical compound, on a Chevrolet Equinox EV. Michelin says the tires work just as well on an EV as on a gas-powered vehicle.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
It’s a challenge for a tire manufacturer to sell a new tire to drivers. For most people, tires are round and black and far too expensive. They can’t see the years of development that went into producing the chemistry and design.
It can be just as challenging to sell the concept to the media – to people like me. Any testing away from a computer simulation is dependent on the vagaries of the weather and on the consistency of the driving. If this tire stops a car more quickly on ice than that tire, it may be due just as much to the quality of the always-changing ice than the rubber itself.
So Michelin did the best it could recently to demonstrate the quality of its new X-Ice Snow+ tire on a snowy racetrack in Quebec. The “Snow+” replaces the current “Snow” as the French maker’s mass-production winter tire and its engineers claim improvements in traction, fuel efficiency and longevity. The tread pattern is exactly the same as before – it’s the chemical compound of the rubber that’s changed.
The tread pattern is the same from the previous Snow model, but the chemical compound is different.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
Tire rubber is created with a foundation of elastomer, then silica as a filler material and then additional additives called plasticizers, which are generally oils that provide different properties at different temperatures.
“Of those three main components, we changed two completely and we tuned another one,” says David Griese, Michelin’s winter product category manager. “We developed a brand new elastomer to put into this compound mix and we selected new oil type to put into it and the silica mount – we fine-tuned just a little bit how much silica we put in this tire. In layman’s terms, we changed everything about the compound to get this breakthrough.”
The result, says Michelin, is a tire that grips and brakes a little better in snow and on ice as well as on cold roads that are both wet or dry. It also outperforms its competition for both comfort and longevity and works as well on electric vehicles as it does on gas-powered vehicles. (EVs are more demanding because they’re heavier and quieter than their gas equivalents.)
Which is why I came to Quebec, to put the claims to the test.
Testing the Michelin X-Ice Snow+ and rival tires in the gas powered GMC Terrain on an ice and snow track in Quebec.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
I drove an icy slalom course in a Chevrolet Equinox EV, first with the new Michelin tires and then with competitive winter tires: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5s and Continental Viking Contact 8s. All three tires are considered “Tier 1” tires with no compromise for price, compared to less expensive Tier 2s and even cheaper Tier 3s.
The current price for a Michelin X-Ice Snow tire at KAL Tire is $250 for a 16-inch tire to fit a Honda Civic sedan, or $286 for an 18-inch tire to fit a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, plus tax. The new Snow+ tire is expected to cost about the same when it comes on sale for next season. A tire from a Tier 2 manufacturer, such as Nordman or Sailun, will probably cost about $50 less, while a Tier 3 tire from a manufacturer you’ve probably never heard of, will likely be about $100 less expensive.
Those cheaper tires are often rated as just “M+S,” or mud and snow, often with a three-peak mountain snowflake symbol.
More capable winter tires rated for severe conditions now have a recently introduced “Ice Grip” symbol, with the stamp of a mountain within a triangle. Michelin tires made in Nova Scotia also have a Made-in-Canada stamp on their sidewalls.
It was tough to say there was a clear winner, but the Michelins were certainly just as capable of steering and braking on the very slippery surface. I drove again on a two-lap race on a similar course in gas-powered GMC Terrains when the surface was even more icy and the level of grip was impressive.
I then did the same thing with the same sets of tires on a deeply rutted road filled with about 30 centimetres of snow, driving Toyota RAV4s. The Michelins always held their course between the ruts while the other brands did seem to bounce around more at the back and even created a few “oops” moments when the SUV bumped against the snow banks to the side.
I even drove a pair of front-wheel-drive Toyota Corollas on a snowy course with tires that had been shaved down to a tread depth of 4-32s of an inch – twice the legal depth but well worn from the original 10-32s of an inch when new. For this test, the comparison tire was the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, and the Michelin tire was clearly better but, to my mind, this test was not an apples-to-apples comparison.
As I discovered in testing last year, the Blizzak WS90s and DM-V2s use a more-capable Multicell compound in only the first 55 per cent of their tread depth. On those tires, the remaining 45 per cent of tread features a standard winter tire compound. In other words, they are a much more capable winter tire for the first half of their life and, as I reported at the time, “tire technicians often suggest using the worn-down Blizzaks through the summer after their final use in snow, which is generally after about three seasons.”
Bridgestone now makes a more expensive Blizzak 6 winter tire that is consistent throughout its tread and is believed to be good for an extra season. The new Michelin X-Ice Snow+ makes a similar claim for improved longevity, though Michelin recommends no tire be kept for longer than 10 years.
Testing the new Michelin winter tires on a Toyota RAV4 in about 30 centimetres of snow.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
“It’s going to vary, depending on where you are,” says Griese, “but we are confident that you can get another season of performance out of the tire.”
It varies mostly by the distance you actually drive, of course. If you typically put about 5,000-to-10,000 kilometres on your tires each winter, the new Snow+ will probably add that distance to their use, or one more winter, compared to the current Snow tires before they need to be replaced.
Among those competitive brands, only Michelin offers a tread-life warranty. Other makers shy away from guaranteeing a minimum mileage for their winter tires because if they’re used in summer, they’ll wear far more quickly on the warm roads. Michelin currently offers a 60,000-kilometre warranty for its X-Ice Snow tires, however, and says that will increase for the X-Ice Snow+. As well, purchasing its tires provides three years of roadside assistance at no extra charge, which includes your rescuer changing a flat tire or towing your vehicle to a dealer if needed.
The writer was a guest of the manufacturer. Content was not subject to approval.
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