3 Surprises Swapping From All-Terrain Tires to Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires On a 2023 Ford Bronco Sport Badlands, Read Our Initial Review Findings

The Ford Bronco Sport Badlands is neck and neck with the Subaru Forester Wilderness as the best winter vehicle ever created. Both ship with three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) stamped tires suitable for severe snow duty, and both have endless all-weather powertrain tricks. In our latest tire test, we decided to swap out the original equipment Falken WildPeak A/T3W tires for some dedicated winter rubber from Michelin.

You can view a TikTok video on this tire test here.

Don't Miss This Update: First Snow Test - Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Tires Offer So Much Grip, They Are Hard to Even Evaluate On Our 2023 Ford Bronco Sport Badlands

Why We Are Switching From All-Terrain to Winter Tires
Your author spends a bit of time each winter deep in the mountains of New Hampshire in a cabin. It’s a great writer’s retreat, and if you like off-pavement driving, there is no better place than central New Hampshire. Part of the route to the cabin is a very steep, unmaintained dirt road that freezes over with ice and snow by late November and doesn’t unfreeze until late March. We’ve pushed the WildPeaks past their limits a few times, being stuck off road in snow, slipping down an icy hill, and sliding around more than we liked on pavement during ice storms. It was time to take the Bronco Sport’s winter traction to the next level with some Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV tires.

Wheels, TPMS, Mounting, and Balancing
I was fortunate enough to connect with a fellow Badlands owner who purchased a new set of wheels and tires when his Bronco Sport was new. I got four matching wheels, complete with Ford TPMS sensors, for under $1,000, including shipping from California. I hit the lottery getting the wheels. Michelin has supplied the tires in this test, and Boston Mobile Tire is our go-to installer.

Surprise 1 - Nearly Perfect Wheels and Tires
The wheels turned out to be identical to my own BSBL wheels, and Jay from Boston Mobile Tire scanned the TPMS sensors, confirming that they are an identical match generation-wise and frequency-wise to my own. The wheels and tires mated up, and the tires only needed about half an ounce of balance weights each. Remarkable, really. Jay said this was one of the most exact combinations of wheels and tires he had balanced.

Surprise 2 - TPMS Magic
After we had the new wheels and tires mounted, Jay took out his trust scan tool, complete with OBD2 mating cable, and began following a long set of instructions to have the new TPMS sensors be recognized by the Bronco Sport’s TPMS computer. He was hitting the stop-start button over and over, moving around the vehicle, and seeming a bit frustrated. At the end of many minutes, he and I decided that I’d take the Bronco Sport to my local Ford dealer to let them program the sensors. Not a big deal, since I had planned it that way, and already had an oil change scheduled for the following day.

However, after I drove the BSBL a bit, its TPMS display jumped from 32 PSI, which was the pressure of the tires taken off, to 36 PSI all around, which was the initial setpoint for the new tires. Like magic, the Ford Bronco Sport recognized the new TPMS sensors. Jay likely succeeded and didn’t realize it would take a few minutes of the vehicle being driven for the new TPMS sensors to display their pressures. Call it luck, or Jay’s hard work, whichever you prefer. I bled each wheel down to 33 psi, and the correct position showed on the TPMS display.

Surprise 3 - The Winter Tires Are Quieter
On my initial drive after installation, I drove on some rural back roads over varying surfaces and quickly noted that the Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV winter tires were quieter than the A/T tires that had come off. What a bonus! I never thought of the Falkens as noisy. In fact, they seem quite nice and are only really loud on certain highway surfaces. On the highway test I conducted, the Michelins dropped the noise to barely a whisper. Wind and powertrain noise are much louder, and I could not really even hear any hum from the new Michelins. This was a pleasant surprise I had not expected.

Driving Impressions - Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires
I’ve owned many sets of winter tires from Michelin and Bridgestone in the past, and I knew what to expect. The winter tires feel “softer” over rough roads; they are a little squirmy at first, and they don’t corner quite as sharply as all-season tires. Compared to the WildPeak A/T tires, they were very similar in some ways. Only in tight cornering were the WildPeaks a bit sharper. On the highway, they track predictably and don't require any steering inputs to keep heading down the road in a straight line.

Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires - Pricing
As we mentioned at the outset of the article, these tires have been supplied by Michelin for our testing. We turned to Tire Rack to see what the cost would be. Here is a list of prices:
1) Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV - $190
2) Vredestein Wintrac Pro - $165
3) Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 - $164
4) Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 - $164
5) Firestone WinterForce 2UV - $159
6) Continental Viking Contact 8 - $153
7) General Altimax Artic12 - $151

Michelin is the most expensive of the tires offered, and they add about $100 to the total cost of the tires plus installation, which comes to about $960.

Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires - Sample Owner Reviews
Tire Rack has over 200 reviews of the Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV tires and an overall score of 4.5 out of 5 stars. The tires earn a score of “Excellent” in every category with a whopping 9.5/10 Light Snow score, 9.3/10 Deep Snow score, and an 8.9 Ice Traction score. Here are a few selected posts by owners of the Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV tire:
 - New York State - “We have these on our 2023 Honda Pilot Elite (AWD). They do very well in the snow, which is what we primarily bought them for. They are very sure-footed in packed snow/ice and in slushy intersection conditions. Overall, we are very happy with them. They are quiet on dry roads and on the highway.
 - Upstate New York - “These are winter tires for Buffalo, NY, heavy snow winters, and they performed well. They are relatively quiet for snow tires, and I trust Michelin from all my past experience with them. Only used one winter season, but performed great, ~ 2500 or 3000 miles.”
 - Paulden, Arizona- “We didn't expect it to be this good! Drive includes several miles of dirt roads to and from home + 40+ daily miles around highway/city for work.”
 - Central Iowa - “Noticeable improvement over all seasons on ice and snow. Good traction and more confidence while driving in inclement weather. Definitely recommend!”

Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires - Initial Impression
Based on the install and first drives, the Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV winter tires seem like a good match for the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands. They are quieter than expected, and the installer mentioned that they didn't require much in the way of balance weights. We will be heading toward winter weather as soon as this coming weekend. Please check back for more updates.
 

Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires Test - Fast Facts
Size tested = 225/65/17
Load rating = XL
Test inflation = 33 PSI
Tread depth measured = 8.37 mm

Vehicle Starting Mileage - 12,200

If you have owned Michelin X-ICE Snow SUV Winter Tires, please drop us a comment below. 

Test Note: The tires used in this test were provided by Michelin. The author paid for mounting and balancing. 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.