Michelin CrossClimate 3 being released - contact Michelin to encourage them to make it for Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Main Forum' started by Hammersmith, May 23, 2025.

  1. Hammersmith

    Hammersmith Senior Member

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    Michelin has just announced the new CrossClimate3 and CrossClimate3 Sport for Europe(North America sometime later). The CC2 is arguably the best all-weather tire on the market, but it doesn't come in Prius sizes. With Michelin coming out with the CC3 and CC3S, maybe we can influence them to consider us poor Prius owners. ;)

    Certainly can't hurt to drop them a line and let them know there's interest.

    Contact us form
     
    #1 Hammersmith, May 23, 2025
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  2. Paul Gregory

    Paul Gregory Senior Member

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    I tried winter tires, which have a special rubber compound that grips on ice at temperatures below freezing (depending on formulation) I believe. The downside of this, I found, is that the tires become very slippery at temperatures higher than this. So much so, that I was often getting stuck on level, snow surfaces. The car appeared to have zero traction, and the tires would spin out in a small depression, leaving the car immobile.

    This did not happen with the all-season tires I had on. I was able to easily manage on all the road surfaces I encountered throughout the winter. Safety trolls will no doubt gang up to tell me I'm stupid, but I find all-season tires to be safer overall.
     
    #2 Paul Gregory, May 23, 2025
  3. Hammersmith

    Hammersmith Senior Member

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    Yes, that's the point of an all-weather tire. (note that we're using the North American definitions, not the European ones)

    Basic tire categories:
    Summer - great on dry and wet; made for temps above 40F/5C; terrible on any snow/ice
    All-season - made for dry, wet, and mild snow; best at temps above 0F/-15C
    Winter - great on snow and ice; not for use above 40F/5C
    All-weather - truly made for all seasons - wet, dry, med/heavy snow & ice; good at all temps; not quite as good on wet/dry as dedicated summer tires or as good on snow/ice as dedicated winter tires, but very close with no serious weaknesses

    Which category you go with depends on your conditions. I'm currently going with all-season during the summer(the stock Toyos) and winter tires for winter(Mich X-Ice Snow). But I don't really put on enough miles to justify two sets of tires(they will get too old before they wear out). All-weather tires would be perfect for my case, but nobody makes them in stock Prius sizes.

    General rule of thumb in areas where all-seasons aren't really enough in winter:
    12k miles/20k km per year or less- definitely 1 set(all-weather)
    15k miles/25k km per year - borderline
    18k miles/30k km per year or more - definitely 2 sets(all-season + winter)
     
    #3 Hammersmith, May 23, 2025
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  4. soft_r

    soft_r Active Member

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    Honestly I'm glad I sold my stock wheel setup and grabbed some light weight 16s and CC2s. Winter driving has been great and I've got enough tread wall where I have very little concern over wheel damage. Even just on wet roads there is a noticeable difference in grip. Had a couple light oversteering on wet roads with the stock tires but same roads, weather, and speed with the CC2s never have an issue.
     

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    #4 soft_r, May 23, 2025
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  5. sufyant

    sufyant Junior Member

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    what rims are those and where did you get them from?
     
    #5 sufyant, May 24, 2025
  6. Zeromus

    Zeromus Active Member

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    Not entirely true on the rule of thumb depending on where you live.

    In Quebec, winter tires are required by law, and I get a discount on my insurance here in ontario with winter tires for the winter months as well.

    They tend to perform better through most of the winter and it regularly gets down below -10 to -15C. So swapping the tires, even though we average 15k km a year on the main car, works well for us.

    Unless of course, I'm misunderstanding and all weather tires qualify for winter tire benefits under the laws and insurance discounts as well.
     
    #6 Zeromus, May 28, 2025
  7. Hammersmith

    Hammersmith Senior Member

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    First, a small rabbit hole...

    Like most everything else, "all-weather" is really just a marketing term. That being said, all the quality brands make all-weather tires that qualify for the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol (3PMSF), a.k.a the Alpine symbol. There are probably some low-quality brands that label tires all-weather but without the symbol, but I don't pay much attention to that segment of the market. (I've had enough bad experiences that I now view it as tires=life and I don't skimp on them.)


    now to the point...

    I can't speak for Canada, but I understand that having the 3PMSF rating means all-weather tires that have it qualify as winter tires in at least some(all?) states where winter tires are required.
     
    #7 Hammersmith, May 28, 2025
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Michelin's going to look at 5th gen Prius sales volume, how many other cars have that size, and of those groups, how many are looking for an all-weather option. In other words, see if it's worth it.
     
    #8 Mendel Leisk, May 28, 2025
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