Michelin is one of the most popular brands of tire and they have a very good reputation when it comes to product quality and a wide range of tire types such as the Michelin Agilis Vs CrossClimate. These tires are what you want to opt for if reliability and versatility is the most important because both are all-season tires capable of delivering great road performance. If this sounds like what you want to aim for by installing a new set, let’s see what we can expect from the tires here.
In this comparison, we are going to talk about:
- What are All-Season Tires
- What are Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate
- What are the Features in Michelin Agilis
- What are the Features in Michelin CrossClimate
- How are the Dry Road Performance of Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate
- How are the Wet Road Performance of Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate
- Michelin Agilis Vs CrossClimate
All-Season Tires
Having your own vehicle is great, we can conveniently transport people and goods from place to place, travel without having to rely on public transportation, as well as having the freedom to go wherever you want to visit this time. However, being an owner we also need to do maintenance from time to time to make sure the vehicle is always in good condition when you need them. The most often we do is probably changing the oil and checkup then changing the tire.
Installing a new tire can be a very confusing part especially if this time you decide to try another set that is not their original equipment. There are also so many factors to consider depending on what you are trying to aim for from treadwear, rating, speed ratings, as well as the temperature they are properly designed for. In the past people had to change their tires when the weather turned cold because the typical tires are not made for the condition until 1977 when Goodyear released the first all-season tire.
Currently all-season is the most popular type of tire and chances are your vehicle also comes out of the factory with a set of all-season tires as the original equipment. As the name suggest, all-season means they are good for usage in most places but also in most time of the year but, it doesn’t mean that we can install a set and then forget about it because not all of us are living in the same place and living in the same type of area or having the same driving conditions.
All-season tires are designed with tread patterns and rubber compound that helps them stay reliable in wet conditions as well as hot and cold temperatures. They can handle light snow with no concerning issues which means we can use them all-year round with a note that you are not living in a place where the winter is severe because if so then winter certified tires will be the best choice. They are boasting the versatility as well as reliability in most conditions but not on the extreme side.
In general, installing a set of all-season tires will give you decent traction on wet surfaces thanks to the complex tread patterns which helps move water from the contact patch. They can be effective and stay reliable for as low as 40 degree Fahrenheit on cold days. Typically they are long lasting as well and can be used for approximately up to 80K miles. They will most likely fit any type of vehicle too including sedans and minivans. Overall they will give you the confidence to mix terrains and conditions.
About Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate
Just like most products, it is best to match the option with your application because it will help a lot in optimizing the performance and overall experience. If your driving condition is not extreme or you don’t need something to tackle mud or heavy snow, typical all-season tires should do the job wonderfully. However, not all similar tires are going to be the same and this is why we need to shop wisely to make sure that the tire will work reliably for the type of application that we are doing.
Choosing them based on budget, brand, or what they are specialized for can help a lot in the buying process. Personally we recommend getting one from named brands such as Michelin because they are often the more reliable choice. This company has been around for quite some time and probably one of the most well-known when it comes to performance tires such as Michelin Primacy MXM4 Vs Pilot Sport All Season 4. However, they are also carrying a wide range of amazing all-season tires.
Some of them are Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate which are designed for tackling the various conditions of your driving situations. In comparison Agilis will be the older tires and they have the newer variant that combined both technologies called Agilis CrossClimate so this is the tire that we will be comparing today. The Agilis is also very well-known to be a Highway tire that is designed for those who want a durable tire to handle heavy load and capable of staying reliable in various driving situations.
The CrossClimate on the other hand is more of a grand-touring variant so comfort and confidence are what you will be getting from this tire. As the name suggests it is boasting the ability to handle the typical weather in moderation including snow yet, no snowfall certification for this tire initially as it is not for severe winter. In comparison, they may be looking quite different from each other but on the performance side both Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate are very similar.
Michelin Agilis Features
Before checking how these tires will behave on the road, let’s see how they will achieve it first starting from the Agilis, in this comparison the CrossClimate version. Some options from this tire is already achieving 3PMSF symbol to be used in the snowy condition. The tire has all-season compound with symmetric tread pattern for its LT-metric sizes or directional pattern for the Euro-metric commercial vehicle sizes. All are using the StabiliBlok technology claimed to gives a wider and longer tread blocks while maintaining heat and handling high torque loads.
It is using SipLock technology too for delivering the hundreds of biting edges when you are driving on wet or snowy conditions but this feature also helps for maintaining tread blocks stability as it is wearing. It also has CurbGard sidewall protectors to resist damage when you have to drive in a tight urban environment while the lateral grooves with open shoulder slots will evacuate water from the footprint area. On the inside it uses a two-ply polyester casing with two or three heavy-duty steel belts and a polyamide reinforcement ply.
Michelin CrossClimate Features
On the other hand, CrossClimate in this comparison the CrossClimate2 is made with Michelin’s Thermal Adaptive tread compound which is molded into a V-form as you can see on the sample picture above. This design is made to deliver dry, wet, and wintertime performance. You can also find the PIANO noise reduction in this tire which should be tuning out airborne noise by augmenting tread element geometry as well as timing variation. As you can see it also has longitudinal dry grip and is promoted by the center portion of the tread with blocks that align with the fore and aft forces.
For the braking traction, the V ramp chamfer is molded into the leading and trailing edges of the block so it can increase contact with the road surface when under load. On the outboard, the shoulder blocks align with the tread for increasing forces as well as control. It has the 3D SipeLock too, integrated on the tread that is supposed to improve block rigidity for confident handling and grip on wet surfaces. On the construction it has two-ply polyester casing supported by two steel belts and a polyamide reinforcement.
Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate on Dry Road
Now for the most important part, let’s see how the Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate perform on the road. In comparison both of them are very good at maintaining traction on dry roads so there is no complaint here. These tires are excellent for typical driving conditions and also feel very stable, especially for the Agilis as this is also meant for heavier load. Steering is very responsive, the tire reacts predictably the way you want it to.
Cornering is impressive as well and in general the dry traction is superb, better than many other typically all-season tires. The two also surprisingly comfortable as well but CrossClimate is giving the better ride quality as it feels softer yet, for the noise level both tires are about the same.
Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate on Wet Road
Next is for the wet performance and what’s surprising is both Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate are almost the same too compared to when they are on dry road. These tires are losing probably just a slight of the grip from what they can offer on dry surfaces because we feel like they behave the same. In comparison however, it seems the CrossClimate is just a shy better when keeping the traction in this condition but it is hardly noticeable.
As for the winter traction, they are suitable for moderate snow and here we do think both tires are about the same. They can work really well on snow and ice as long as not for deep piles but for an all-season they are performing much better than many other similar tires in the same category.
Michelin Agilis vs Crossclimate
The Michelin Agilis and CrossClimate are among the best all-season tires you can rely on. These tires are very well performing across applications or conditions and side by side very comparable to each other. The CrossClimate may be just slightly better at maintaining grip on wet surfaces as well as on ice traction but it is not as noticeable. The comfort is noticeably better in CrossClimate however while noise level is about the same.
| Michelin Agilis | Crossclimate |
|---|---|
| - For heavy load | - For daily application |
| - Good wet traction | - Better wet traction |
| - Good ice traction | - Better ice traction |
| - Less sizing | - More sizing |
Conclusion
You can go amazing with any of these tires based on which seems to fit you the most but personally we recommend the CrossClimate for the slightly improved performance on all conditions unless you will need the LT variant because it is only available on the Agilis line.
