Michelin CrossClimate on 06 3.0 TD Quattro A4

Hey Quattro owners, and those with heavy engined FWD or 4WD cars –
Michelin CrossClimates seem really good reading up, for a tiny fall in dry performance – wet and winter driving is apparently much improved. Spendy but maybe worth it?

I live in Brighton and have an 06 A4 Avant Quattro Diesel 3.0 and it wears the outer 1.5″ strip on the front tyre before the rest of the tyre is done, I’m pretty sure the tracking is OK and this is a heavy engine “feature”. Bought the old girl a year ago with the current front Goodyear Eagle F1s 235/40/R18Y and now the bit of tread there that was incorporated into the minimally treaded strip on the outer edges is quite worn.
The Eagles when new

Those edge strips on many modern wide tyres look like they are designed to resist some of that edge wear.
So – my question does the (more treaded, so perhaps less hard wearing) front outer edge on the Crossclimates scrub off worse than tyres with quite solid edge strips like Pilot4 and Eagle F1?
For now, I’d be putting just 2 on so “standard” advice would be to put those on the back. Then 2 more on the front once the Pilot 4s I’ll be moving to that end wear out. Hence the question.
thanks lots, advice much appreciated

Watching with interest …

I’ve found most of my Audis have worn that strip as well, must be something to do with the setup of the cars.

I’ve never run cross climates on them but I am interested in running some soon so have been reading some reviews and I don’t remember anyone saying they are wearing quicker than a normal summer road tyre.

There is a good review of them here:
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/2015-02/michelin-crossclimate-tyres/

The advice I’ve been given with Quattro’s is to keep the same brand/ make on all 4 wheels ..though the scary part for me was that all 4 tyres should be changed together..( which isn’t the case as long as you change two together on the same axle ) …?

though the scary part for me was that all 4 tyres should be changed together

I have heard that before for Audi and for BMW 4WD as the different rotational sizes of some worn and some new tyres causes transmission shunt on the BMWs with the diff not being able to function correctly. Not sure it is such an issue on an Audi as it is on the beemer though, made me sell my X1 instead of putting new tyres on it!

I had Cross Climates years ago and found them handy when driving to snowy villages or cold conditions where normal tyres stay cold/hard.

On my RWD 5 series, they couldn’t handle heavily loaded holiday car in the summer in Scotland.

They would lose grip in the wet until I lowered the air pressure. I did have the reinforced sidewalks for heavy cars.

Probably allow lower air pressure than the handbook recommended in wet mountain areas. Fine everywhere else.

Gave my car to my Dad, still running X climates. Quiet tyre too.

I put CrossClimates on my 17 plate A6 Quattro 2.0 diesel Avant a bit over a year ago. It has since done about 20k miles and they still have about 1/3 life left. All 4 seem to wear at same rate and evenly. I’m expecting to replace them late Spring with same. Miles better than the OEM tyres in all conditions here in west of Scotland.

Done nearly two years and 50k on ours, not a particularly heavy car but it has a torquey diesel 2.2 lump and the sidewalls seem to be fairing OK i.e they have worn but no worse than other all-season tyres. They feel better in the summer/dry than others we have tried.

https://www.michelin.co.uk/tyres/michelin-crossclimateplus?fromTyreSelector=true&brand=AUDI&selectorMode=byCar&model=a4%20quattro&range=a4&engine=3.0%20tdi%20272&year=2006%20-%202010&zp=false&fromTyreSegment=1&carId=4W29332&idkFitment=true

I’ve been running CrossClimates since before they were the STW tyre d’jour

Never on anything with 4WD but on a series of fairly powerful FWD card

Latest is a Focus ST. They wear very well. Quite impressed by how long they last compared to both Goodyear Eagle F1 and Michelin Pilot Sport.

Not noticed any uneven wear at the edges and the Focus has got pretty aggressive toe in / camber

I’m running cross climates on an Amarok pickup, so far (and I haven’t done snow yet), they seem better than the standard summer tyres I took off wet, dry, warm or cold. No issues with wear, they all look pretty new after 4k miles. I’ll be in the Alps in 2 weeks – will be able to see how they work in snow at that point but on performance so far, I’m going to fit them to my wifes Q5 quattro as soon as her tyres wear out.

I can’t comment on the Crossclimates but I had a series of A4 3l Tdi Quattros and found the fronts always wore more quickly than the rears, even on the one that had a rear biased 40/60 torque split. I always changed two tyres at a tme, never all four as I was told ( by the dealer) changing all four was unnecessary. I never had a problem with the diffs etc. I made sure all the tyres were the same of course

That’s good to know jimw ..other than the fact that if I wanted to put cross climates on the Audi ..then I would have to change all four ..
With regard to the video posted above ..I’ve two cc’s on a front wheel drive Insignia ( on the front) ..and haven’t had any problems so far ..but then they aren’t dedicated winter tyres ..
I’m not anticipating the type of problems the BMW had in the snow..

Had them on a Subaru Legacy spec b.
Found them OK, but would not buy again.
Mainly because there winter use is not as good s a full winter tyre.
They were a bit disappointing on slushy road
Too much of a compromise for winter driving a full on winter tyre is well worth the extra hassle of changing them to suitthe seasons.
But we live in Scotland , but in Brighton this would not be such An issue.
I would buy and treat them as summer tyres but with a bit of winter attributes rather than like I did a good 4 season Tyre.
We got our Legacy with 18 wheels, and I got a spare set of 18 wheels with winter tyres.
However the Mrs get hitting pot holes and ruining tyres, so I compromised and got 17 wheels and went for the 4 seasons thinking it would be a good option. But not as good.
But OK in normal driving conditions.

Great feedback everyone, thanks so much.
Bloody great resource this. Much appreciated and thanks due to Mr. Chipps and his elves.

Good to read about lack of edge wear, even good overall wear. Thanks.

Has anyone tried those CC tyres just on the rear of a 4WD car tho?
Good to know Hodgynd is doing OK with just 2 CC’s upfront on his front drive car.

That video! does make me think hard about just fitting only 2, to be fair it is certainly ridiculous to put 2 more grippy tyres upfront (although in my youth I follow the rally boys and I did it for years in a Mini in the 80’s with MS tyres on 12″ wheels upfront) – In this case though I’ve some to my senses and I was already going to put them on the back.
Also, as was pointed out, they aren’t full WINTER tyres, just a more wet and cold capable summer tyre really. (and Brighton is quite a way from the Arctic circle)
Unfortunately I can’t bin 2 Pilot sport 4s with only 8K on them so maybe its 2 more of those this year.

As you’d expect, I am a little more undecided, I wonder if anyone has tried a pair just on the rear of a 4WD car?
I thought bike tyres were hard to choose (Maxxis Shorty’s every time this season round here ;~})

Driving the A4Q worked pretty well last Winter on the Pilot Sport 4 rears and Goodyear Eagle fronts, but I do recall one snowy North Downs carpark incident. Hmm, maybe that was Winter 16 – in my now sadly missed but well dead A6 Quattro, however, that was on Pilots too.

Maybe it’s wait a while ’til the Pilots are worn, As mentioned I’m wearing fronts quicker as is normal, so getting 4 to wear at the same time might be quite a trick to pull off!
Living here with little snow and a car that’s already 12 years old it would be too spendy to get a spare wheel set. That’s why the CrossClimates peaked my attention.

thanks all, Mr. Indecisive of Brighton