Michelin North America Inc.’s new Michelin X-Ice Snow tire, which is available now, “is designed to give drivers peace of mind when driving in extreme winter conditions,” according to Michelin officials.
Introduced late last week during a ride-and-drive event near Montreal, Quebec, the Michelin X-Ice Snow targets passenger cars, SUVs and CUVs and will be available this coming fall in 82 T- and H-rated sizes, ranging from 14 inches to 22 inches in diameter. Forty-one more sizes will be added in 2021.
With the roll-out of the Michelin X-Ice Snow, “we have an exceptional winter tire with a new tread design and innovative technologies, resulting in improved snow performance and leadership in ice breaking,” says Sylvaine Cuniberti, Michelin marketing director. Features include:
- Next-generation, V-shaped tread design “providing 100% use of the (tire’s) contact patch for optimal grip performance on snow and ice and for exceptional slush performance,” according to Michelin officials, who add that the design “maintains its shape even when worn to continue providing grip in winter conditions;”
- Michelin’s proprietary Flex-Ice 2.0 tread compound, “a full silica-based compound to maintain flexibility in severe cold climate conditions;”
- Michelin’s EverGrip technologies, which boast a rigid polymer for improved grip on both snow and ice for the duration of the tire’s life, and;
- Two types of full-depth, interlocking 3D sipes “for an increased claw effect on snow and ice and for long-lasting biting edges.”
The Michelin X-Ice Snow replaces Michelin’s X-Ice Xi3 and Latitude X-Ice Xi2 tires. The new product “has been developed, tested and proven in Michelin’s Nordic test centers under the most rigorous, constant, extreme-winter driving conditions.”
Eighty-five-percent of Michelin’s North American volume for the Michelin X-Ice Snow will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Nova Scotia. The tire’s size line-up will cover 80% of the North American market, according to Sabrina Garofalo, product manager, winter, for Michelin.
