A premium Nordic friction winter tyre that feels supremely sure-footed in snow and on ice, with a refined, stable character. Its trade-off is clear: on clear, wet or milder tarmac it can lag behind the best in-class for braking and composure.
Michelin's X-Ice Snow comes across as a true cold-climate specialist: it delivers outstanding traction in deep snow and consistently strong winter control on packed snow and ice, making it an easy tyre to trust on long winter commutes. That confidence is backed up by repeated top-tier results for ice braking/traction and very strong snow braking, alongside a planted, stable feel at speed. Owners also tend to be pleased with day-to-day refinement for this category, often describing it as comfortable and generally quiet, and many report impressive longevity with minimal tread loss across multiple winters.
The compromise is performance on cleared roads. In several comparative Nordic friction tests it gives away a noticeable margin on wet (and sometimes dry) tarmac, particularly for braking, and it can feel less forgiving when pushed-lower lateral grip and a more abrupt breakaway or slower recovery at the limit show up in multiple write-ups. A minority of drivers also find road noise higher than expected or increasing as the tyre wears, and while it's capable on wet asphalt for winter use, it isn't the tyre to choose if most of your winter is rain-soaked motorways and mild temperatures where strong wet braking is the priority. It best suits drivers in harsher, consistently cold regions who want maximum snow/ice mobility without studs, plus comfort and strong wear.
The quick answer
Owners say84%from 19 owner reviews88% would buy againRead the reviews
Strengths & weaknessesIce, ValueWet, DryRelative to its rivals across every test we hold
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tyre - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated October 2026.
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The X-Ice Snow is the winter specialist of this group. On snow and ice it is at or near the front in every test, and it drives with a precision most winter tyres cannot match, but it pays for that with the poorest warm and wet road performance in the field. A strong choice where winter dominates the year, a poor one where it does not.
Across the 10 wet-braking tests it has featured in, the Michelin X Ice Snow stops 7.7% longer than premium rivals, 4.4% longer than mid-range rivals and 5% longer than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews wet score of 28/100, and owners rate it 7.9/10 in the wet from 19 reviews.
How good is the Michelin X Ice Snow in the dry?
Across the 10 dry-braking tests it has featured in, the Michelin X Ice Snow stops 4.6% longer than premium rivals, 2.7% longer than mid-range rivals and 1.2% longer than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews dry score of 23/100, and owners rate it 7.8/10 in the dry from 19 reviews.
How good is the Michelin X Ice Snow in the snow?
Across the 11 snow-braking tests it has featured in, the Michelin X Ice Snow stops 7.1% shorter than premium rivals, 1.5% shorter than mid-range rivals and 2.4% shorter than budget rivals. Across the 9 snow-traction tests, it is 7.4% better than premium rivals, 0.7% worse than mid-range rivals and 4.1% better than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews snow score of 61/100, and owners rate it 9.4/10 in the snow from 19 reviews.
How good is the Michelin X Ice Snow on ice?
Across the 10 ice-braking tests it has featured in, the Michelin X Ice Snow stops 7.2% shorter than premium rivals, 1.5% shorter than mid-range rivals and 15% shorter than budget rivals. Across the 9 ice-traction tests, it is 4.5% better than premium rivals, 0.4% better than mid-range rivals and 17% better than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews ice score of 79/100, and owners rate it 8.6/10 on ice from 19 reviews.
How fuel efficient is the Michelin X Ice Snow?
Across the 3 tests measuring rolling resistance, the Michelin X Ice Snow's rolling resistance is 2.3% lower than premium rivals, 1% lower than mid-range rivals and 16.7% lower than budget rivals.
More questions about the Michelin X Ice Snow(11)
What treadwear rating and mileage warranty does the Michelin X Ice Snow have?
The Michelin X Ice Snow has no UTQG treadwear grade: winter and light-truck sizes are exempt. Michelin backs it with a 40,000-mile limited treadwear warranty (20,000 miles on the rear of a staggered fitment). New, it has 10.5/32" (8.3 mm) of tread.
What do owners say about the Michelin X Ice Snow?
Across 19 owner ratings the Michelin X Ice Snow averages 84%. Owners rate Snow Grip highest at 9.4 out of 10 and Handling lowest at 7.5. 7 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 100% of owners score it 70% or better.
What is the Michelin X Ice Snow's EU tyre label rating?
Across its range, the Michelin X Ice Snow most commonly carries EU label ratings of C for fuel efficiency, E for wet grip and 69 dB for noise.
How comfortable and quiet are the Michelin X Ice Snow?
Owners rate the Michelin X Ice Snow 8.8 out of 10 for comfort and noise across 17 reviews.
How well do the Michelin X Ice Snow wear, according to owners?
Owners rate the Michelin X Ice Snow 9 out of 10 for wear across 17 reviews. 7 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles, and the typical review covers 6,000 miles.
Would owners buy the Michelin X Ice Snow again?
88% of owners say they would buy the Michelin X Ice Snow again, based on the 17 owner reviews that answered the question. 65% of them gave it the highest possible answer.
What do owners say about the Michelin X Ice Snow's ice grip?
Of the 16 owner reviews analysed for the Michelin X Ice Snow, 13 mention ice grip: 10 praise it (grips on ice) and 3 criticise it (slides on ice). One owner wrote: "Positive point: excellent snow and ice". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Michelin X Ice Snow's snow traction?
Of the 16 owner reviews analysed for the Michelin X Ice Snow, 13 mention snow traction: 13 praise it (strong snow traction) and 0 criticise it (weak snow traction). One owner wrote: "Phenomenal tire in deep snow". Read those reviews
What does the Michelin X Ice Snow replace?
The Michelin X Ice Snow is the successor to the Michelin X Ice Xi3 in Michelin's range.
Sorry, we don't currently have any questions and answers for the Michelin X Ice Snow. Why not submit a question to our tyre experts using the form below!
Drivers describe the Michelin X-Ice Snow as a confidence-inspiring winter tyre with standout traction in snow and strong overall control in mixed winter conditions (slush, packed snow, and typical ice), often noting predictable handling and good braking. Many also report good comfort and low wear over multiple winters, making it a popular choice for harsh climates and long winter commutes. A smaller subset mentions that road noise can be higher than expected (or increases with wear) and that grip on smooth/glare/black ice can feel weaker than studded options or some prior winter tyres.
What owners mention most counted across 16 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 19 ratings
Owner score84%
Snow Grip94%
Wear90%
Comfort88%
Ice Grip86%
Wet Grip79%
Dry Grip78%
Road Feedback76%
Handling75%
Featured reviews
Most helpful 87%
“Very good tire for my 2023 Lexus is 350 . 19 inch tyres for my car is expensive, so I went with my favourite brand Michelin . Did 7000 km on them , in Quebec, Canadian winters . So far I am very satisfied with the...”
“This is my third set of Xice tires Just bought a new set have had two sets previously Have driven on many different studded tires from cheapest to premium, went to studless as I was doing a long highway commute and was...”
Had these on our Corolla for the last 5 winters and they have performed great. Wear is minimal, although we only have 15,000mi on them. We get surprisingly good gas mileage (37-40mpg). Snow performance is amazing. Even in the wet, sloppy snow/slush, they performed great. Changing lanes in these conditions and not getting pulled around is very confidence-inspiring. Ice performance is very good as well. Had one small slip on some black ice in a corner on an on-ramp, but other than that they have been great in the winter.
Phenomenal tire in deep snow. It'll go through just about any snow as long as it's not over the bumper. Also has done very well in a wide range of winter conditions, slush, ice, packed snow. I can cruise by cars that can barely stay on the road on their "all season" tires (dumb name for tires that really shouldn't be used in snow). My only reservation is they seem to be getting noisier on dry pavement as they wear. Though they haven't seen much dry pavement this year and it's almost time to switch to warmer weather tires anyway. I also uploaded a photo so you can see what kind of conditions this tire does well in. They've been in even worse than that but I wasn't taking any photos then. Too busy trying to find the road!
Which tyres do you drive?
Researching the Michelin X Ice Snow? Rate the tyres you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
Just bought a new set have had two sets previously
Have driven on many different studded tires from cheapest to premium, went to studless as I was doing a long highway commute and was sick of the noise, and legal limits on when to have the tires on and off.
I drive in the worst of Canadian weather in Newfoundland Canada. Snow slush freezing rain we see it all.
The original Xice was better in deep snow
The newest ones are great winter tires but twitchy at the limit of traction
I only miss studs on wet smooth ice
If you drive on a well serviced road these are great tires
Had blizzacks DMV 2 on our van. There better but wear extremely fast
If you get a lot of smooth ice or wet ice go with the studded version or a Hakka 10 studded
Third set debating between Xice studded or Hakkas for my wife’s Subaru as she makes a trip across Newfoundland Canada at least once a winter 1000 km drive.
Michelin X-Ice Snow is an excellent winter tyre for northern Sweden. The road conditions are extreme, with deep snow, as well as slippery wet ice. Not a single time I have missed the studded tyres I used the previous two winters on this car.
Very good tire for my 2023 Lexus is 350 . 19 inch tyres for my car is expensive, so I went with my favourite brand Michelin . Did 7000 km on them , in Quebec, Canadian winters . So far I am very satisfied with the handling, grip in heavy snow and icy roads. Very comfortable ride , very quiet to. Almost no wear noticeable. I highly recommend these tires .
Positive point: excellent snow and ice. I took a road trip in a Mazda MX5 to the North Cape in Norway in winter, -25c° icy road and everything went very well. Wear. Price. Negative point: very average dry and wet road but they are not made for that Redemption? Maybe, I plan to do another road trip to Scandinavia in winter, they will be on my short list
Fitted the x ice snow as they were one of few nordic winter tyres available in my size. The other one was Hakkapeliitta R5. I have had hakkas before with great success, but decided to go for michelin this time because of better longevity, since these alfas are known for eating front tires. The x ices was 1250 euros fitted on car.
Where i live there are either tarmac or ice. Rarely snow. And the snow get to slush, and then ice again. So that is the conditions these tyres are tested on.
Asphalt, dry or wet. Very reassuring, and calm feeling trough the tires. Good grip, with early signals when pushing the car too much. The general comfort and rolling is great....maybe a little bit more noise than i expected. More than pirellis fr's for example. But i think that is to blame for the knobby, tractor like tread pattern of the x-snows.
Ice.... terrible! I don't know if that is just me being used to studded nordic tyres, but even the studless hakka r3 i remember was better on ice than these. I suspect that has to to with harder compound. That is just not for michelin, but a trend that seems to be in almost all tyres nowadays. Maybe because of high torque cars. I miss the really soft rubbery tyres for like 10 years ago. I have a car with bf ko2' and they are just a little bit worse than x ice snow on the same hill.
I know x ice snow was best with r5 in ice grip, so don't take my opinion for granted, but at least on black ice of western norway, there was not much grip to be found.
But then the snow came, at least for 2 days. And wow! I understand the name x ice SNOW. The pattern just paks down the snow and grip. No need to explain. Other than a 4x4 volvo struggled where i drove straight up a snowy hill with fwd.
So these tyres are great at snow and overall driving on asphalt. Wet asphalt are my 80% driving so that is good. The only drawback are grip on ice. But maybe my only option for that should have been the x ice north 4 studded. But studless tyres is because i don't have to pay stud taxes in the cities.
After 300 miles the tyres settled more in i can feel. Will try on ice again.
I've had these fitted to my 2013 Outback 3.6R for this snow season in northern Michigan. Unless the car is over bumper height in snow and at a dead stop, you can just keep driving. They are predictable on ice and will actually stop. Lateral behavior in the snow is extremely impressive and can carry frankly irresponsible speeds around corners.
Steering feedback is decent. They're no summer tire but better than the General Altimax RT43s that they replaced on this set of wheels.
I purchased these tires for my 2014 Buick LaCrosse (FWD) in November 2022 just before the first significant snowfall of the North Dakota Winter. Since then we have had and continue to have plenty of snow and icy roads. They have performed way beyond my expectations and easily navigate through 4-6 inches of fresh snow. Our streets quickly become icy with packed snow and the tires proved themselves with a sure grip. I don't try to go where it is obvious a 4 wheel drive is necessary, but if you respect Mother Nature and realize your limits, you will be very happy with these tires.
Last year I replaced a set of Michelin x-ice xi2 with the x-ice snow. I have found the x-ice snows have more grip in the snow and ice and particularly more lateral grip than the xi2. While still a fairly quiet and comfortable winter tire, the x-ice snows are less so than the xi2. However, I am happy to make that trade in a winter tire. So far wear has been excellent.
