Michelin X-Ice Xi3
French manufacturer Michelin recently announced major improvements to its factory in Nova Scotia, specifying the upgrades are so that it can produce a new Latitude winter tire for the company. But this product is made for trucks, and the company has said nothing about producing a replacement for its current X-Ice Xi3 tire for cars.
The Xi3 is a hot item in Canada, but while it has many qualities it also has a few faults – notably, in very snowy regions of the country where it struggles to provide adequate grip. Its grooves fill up quickly and don’t evacuate slush and snow quickly enough. In regions prone to those elements, we only recommend this tire for all-wheel-drive vehicles, and most definitely not for rear-wheel-drive models.
Those who cover long distances on the highway will appreciate the quiet ride it delivers on dry pavement. But again, as soon as the road has any kind of snow accumulation, grip tends to falter.
Michelin does vaunt the greater durability of the tire. For our part, some performance versions of the company’s Pilot Alpin winter tire seem to us more effective on performance cars.
