Looked today....mine were made in Germany
Michelin X-Ice Snow SUV
- Thread starter OVERKILL
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I’m in Ontario as well and seen this happen with Defenders. Primacy were fine though.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Did they sit in the sun and not move? We've had Primacy as well as, lord, must be 7x sets of LTX's starting with the LTX M/S over three separate SUV's. Only reason we have Conti's on the RAM is that they were rated just as well as the Defender LTX and were considerably less expensive.
I bet you don't miss those Hankooks at all. Never had a tire where I felt the white knuckle experience when the weather was bad like those. Some Nokians solved that issue. Costco has 150 off Michelins now so may take a look.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Not in the least, these are better riding and, so far, my experience has been that they are FAR better on ice than the Hankook's ever were. I'll do a full review once I've had them in some real weather.
Mine in the USA were made in Canada mounted them last weekend
It was a daily driven car. Not a lot of km, but driven daily.
I recently got X-Ice Snow on a Civic. I feel a big weight difference vs my all seasons. Engine definitely has to work harder.
I will have to weight them and compare when I switch back. They are both on OE steel wheels.
I will have to weight them and compare when I switch back. They are both on OE steel wheels.
The older Xice I've used are pretty much lightweight standard snowtire construction with thin sidewalls. A new full depth snow tire, compared to a half worn all season, probably feels a little squirmy and has more rolling resistance. After the xice tires get broken in I don't find much difference in rolling resistance.
My OE tires are 93 SL. The Michelin are 97 XL so I suspect there is a weight increase for the higher load tires.
I was curious with how you ended up with XL tires? but then had a look at tirerack's spec for x-ice snows and see that most sizes are XL? But the tire weights still seem pretty comparable to SL tires of the same size. @CapriRacer might give us some insight on why Michelin did this?
The WS90 has a high max inflation pressure of 44psi but still has most of the sizes as SL?
I can think of several reasons why - and in no particular order:
While it seems unusual, some factories might only have materials to produce XL tires.
If there are both SL's and XL's needed, why not produce only the slow and save warehouse space.
Michelin may be anticipating when current models convert to electric and need a higher capacity tire that fits in the wheel well.
The tires are great otherwise. Great traction, and comfort as well. Love how they absorb bumps and how quiet they are.
Mine are also made in Canada. Blizzaks are made in China and cost the same...
Mine are also made in Canada. Blizzaks are made in China and cost the same...
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Update, since I'm on winter #2.
Still very impressed with these tires. We got a pretty solid dumping the last few days and there was about 3-4 inches of wet snow, slushy in sections, on the road last night. I decided to play around a bit.
- Bite on steering was good when pushed
- Going forward, if you tickled the loud pedal a bit you could break traction pretty easily, have a bit less traction in this scenario than the old Hankook iPike tires
- Dropping off the gas from an enthusiastic 4-wheel spin, they bit HARD, and stopping capability was incredible, this was impressive and unexpected. I tried this a few times in case it was a fluke.
The larger voids in the iPike are likely why they are better under hard acceleration, but in every other category these are worlds better.
Still very impressed with these tires. We got a pretty solid dumping the last few days and there was about 3-4 inches of wet snow, slushy in sections, on the road last night. I decided to play around a bit.
- Bite on steering was good when pushed
- Going forward, if you tickled the loud pedal a bit you could break traction pretty easily, have a bit less traction in this scenario than the old Hankook iPike tires
- Dropping off the gas from an enthusiastic 4-wheel spin, they bit HARD, and stopping capability was incredible, this was impressive and unexpected. I tried this a few times in case it was a fluke.
The larger voids in the iPike are likely why they are better under hard acceleration, but in every other category these are worlds better.
Good to know. Thanx for feedback after some time.
In my first winter with these on a BMW 5 and a Sienna. In my area we've seen very little winter conditions when I've had to drive (all of the locals can thank me for the snow-free winter since my household purchased 3 full sets of new winter tires for this season).
In a couple of slushy/fresh snow conditions there was (to me) a shockingly high amount of braking grip. R2s, R3s and Wintersport 3D all seemed to have more acceleration grip than stopping, sometimes leading the driver to misread the road. So far so good but they haven't really had a good test yet.
In wet/dry on the Sienna they're just like driving in the summer on all seasons - it's a van, they're fine. On the BMW I've found them variable - never a problem but I've had significantly varying grip and don't yet understand why. Some times they seem to run circles around how I remember my R2s. Other times they seem worse ("this much understeer? Already? I'm barely doing anything!").
The lower grip situations may be those times when it's dry, but close to freezing and high enough humidity that salted surfaces pull moisture out of the air. Those days where it's cold and dull out, generally dry, but those tire tracks on the driveway stay wet and never dry out without the sun. That might be the situation where I'm observing lower grip than I was expecting. It's dry but almost wet... Still working on the pattern.
Overall satisfied so far - extremely quiet, great on the highway at speed, round, smooth, and don't feel like I need to tip toe gently in the BMW.
In a couple of slushy/fresh snow conditions there was (to me) a shockingly high amount of braking grip. R2s, R3s and Wintersport 3D all seemed to have more acceleration grip than stopping, sometimes leading the driver to misread the road. So far so good but they haven't really had a good test yet.
In wet/dry on the Sienna they're just like driving in the summer on all seasons - it's a van, they're fine. On the BMW I've found them variable - never a problem but I've had significantly varying grip and don't yet understand why. Some times they seem to run circles around how I remember my R2s. Other times they seem worse ("this much understeer? Already? I'm barely doing anything!").
The lower grip situations may be those times when it's dry, but close to freezing and high enough humidity that salted surfaces pull moisture out of the air. Those days where it's cold and dull out, generally dry, but those tire tracks on the driveway stay wet and never dry out without the sun. That might be the situation where I'm observing lower grip than I was expecting. It's dry but almost wet... Still working on the pattern.
Overall satisfied so far - extremely quiet, great on the highway at speed, round, smooth, and don't feel like I need to tip toe gently in the BMW.
So many people here are concerned about wet and hydroplaning performance. But I buy winter tires for WINTER performance. All the H20 is solid-state here in Iceberta.
I've also never had problems with Michelins cracking even after 8 years, while I have had problems with Continentals and Yokohamas cracking after just 4 years.
I have the Michelin X-Ice Snow (and before that, the previous model X-Ice Xi3) and they have been my favourite tire ever. Just superb in extreme winter conditions, confidence-inspiring. And in the dry they drive just like an all-season tire, I cannot tell the difference at all.
I've also never had problems with Michelins cracking even after 8 years, while I have had problems with Continentals and Yokohamas cracking after just 4 years.
I have the Michelin X-Ice Snow (and before that, the previous model X-Ice Xi3) and they have been my favourite tire ever. Just superb in extreme winter conditions, confidence-inspiring. And in the dry they drive just like an all-season tire, I cannot tell the difference at all.
I'll also add that my X-Ice Xi3s had eight (8) winters on them and still had 4-5 32nd inches on the treads and still had decent winter performance. I changed them out at that time because I was bored and wanted to treat myself to new tires and also because I was planning a winter road trip and figured it was a good time. But I probably could have pushed them for another winter or two if I had absolutely no money to spend.
Nokians are $$$$$ in Canada, but you can find Michelins at Costco for decent prices and they usually have a rebate/sale on every few months.
Nokians are $$$$$ in Canada, but you can find Michelins at Costco for decent prices and they usually have a rebate/sale on every few months.
Same here, but it really depends where you live. If i would live in central Europe i would aim more for wet performance levels. Do they sell x ice north 4 in Canada? Those tires are better in extreme winter condition vs the x ice snow
This has been the tire I use on my Accent. It's a winter car so I got to leaving them on all year. Can't wear out the tread but he sidewalls would crack way before the tread was gone. May be the tires were always old as they have discontinued them in my size and had a hard time getting the last set from DTD.
