Watch full episode:
Rocks in Your Treads—Harmless or Harmful?
TOPICS:2026 Tire Top PicksAdvanced Safety GearAEBall-season tiresAll-weather tiresandroid autoapple carplayAutomatic Emergency BrakingautomotiveautosBest Tirescar safetyConsumer ReportsCRevaluationhub_talking_carsHydroplaningSnow Tractionsnow/winter tiresTalking Cars Episode #483Talking Cars podcasttestingtire testingtire tread lifeTop Rated Tirestrackvehicles
October 20, 2025
I remember when I was selling my OEM Michelin Energy Saver A/S and X-Ice Xi3 sets of tires that I had to spend hours to remove hundreds of small VERY Deeply embedded tinny rocks which was extremely tiring. The All-Weather CrossClimate 2 set that replaced those two sets of tires do pickup larger rocks but 10+ times less and extremely to remove those when I was selling the first set before the 5 year 60,000miles/100,000Km warranty was up (still had 5mm tread depth) to get the second set. Not only it requires less maintance, they also provide the same summer/winter 60MPG/50MPG millage on a HEV as the previous two sets of tires without the financial burden of swapping twice a year while also providing the best safety for fall days. These fall days when 37F morning/late night with forest on the road which requires winter tires and 67F in the afternoon with heavy rain which would be the worst performance & safety for the winter tire, this set of one of the best summer/winter performance tested All-Weather tires puts me to ease as long as I make sure the tire pressure is set correctly.