Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow - Conquering Treacherous Winter Conditions
Written: Feb 02 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inexpensive; Great Tread Life; Excellent Performance; Minimal Traction Loss; Good Warm Weather Performance
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: The Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires are a great way to keep your SUV safe in the worst possible conditions.
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| soupcraze's Full Review: Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow Tire |
When you live in an area like the Midwest's snow belt, it is very important to have a set of winter tires in order to promote safety in very harsh conditions. When the Bridgestone Dueler H/T tires proved to be absolutely horrendous in winter conditions, I realized that once those pieces of trash finally wore out, I needed better tires. Therefore, I opted to purchase the far superior Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S and the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires. I compared the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow to the more popular Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires. I was not turned off from Bridgestone since I know their more expensive products are quite better. Nonetheless, they were considerably more expensive per tire, and the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires still had very high ratings for a lower price. I opted for the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires, and could not have been happier.
-WORD OF CAUTION-
*The Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow are winter tires. This means that they are unique from typical all-season tires due to their considerably more aggressive tread pattern as well as being made of a softer compound. What exactly is the significance of the softer compound? You see, the problem is that tires are supposed to be soft. When it becomes very cold, all-season tires become hard, thus hindering performance. On the contrary, winter tires remain soft which gives excellent performance in very cold weather. Therefore, these tires are NOT meant to be driven in warm climates since this will cause excessive wear. Therefore, if you decide to purchase these tires, they can not be used year round. They must be complemented with either summer or all-season tires that you will use during the warm seasons.
-PRICE-
*Pirelli is a very reputable tire manufacturer. I was pretty much set on Bridgestone for winter tires based on all the great things I heard about them. Just as I was about to purchase the Blizzaks on The Tire Rack, I ran into the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow. They were considerably cheaper at what I remember to be around $104/tire. The Bridgestones were closer to $150 or so. Therefore, I was saving a considerable amount of money by choosing the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires over the Bridgestone Blizzak tires.
Generally speaking, SUV tires are considerably more expensive than tires for a typical sedan or other car. But the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow were priced at the lower part of the pricing spectrum. They were considerably cheaper than the Bridgestone Blizzaks, yet still had very high ratings.
Before you go and say that they are too expensive and pointless, think of winter tires as an insurance policy. I would much rather spend around $450 or so once over a few years and not have to worry about getting into an accident in horrible winter conditions. Think about it... If you were to crash your car, your insurance premiums would sky-rocket, and your deductible alone will probably be more than purchasing these tires. The tires, if used exclusively in cold conditions, should last you a few winters depending on how much you drive. Also, by purchasing winter tires, you will put less wear and tear on your regular season tires.
More importantly, think of what is riding on your tires. You, your children, your friends, and just about everyone. No matter how fancy your car is with its traction control or other stability features, ultimately, the only part of your car that will be touching the ground is your tires. Therefore, if you have bad tires, you can have an accident no matter how expensive your car is or how incredible the features are. Safety should be your number one concern, and purchasing winter tires will make your vehicle far better suited for horrid wintry conditions.
-PERFORMANCE-
*DRY CONDITION* - The tires feel a bit mushy when it comes to dry pavement performance, but they still corner well and definitely hold their grip. I do not hesitate to drive at excessive speeds on the highway of around 80mph or more. These tires grip very well and am quite pleased with the dry pavement performance.
*WET CONDITIONS* - In the rain they also feel a bit mushy, but I have not experienced any problems of losing grip. In wet conditions I tend to tone down my driving. For a typical driver, they would work pretty well in the rain. Also, in freezing rain, the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow held traction quite well. This was considerably better than my old Duelers which would cause the car to continuously lose traction.
*WINTRY CONDITIONS* - This is where the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow really shined. The first day it snowed there was about an inch of snow. On that day, I did not lose traction at all. This was a far cry from the Duelers which would lose traction even in the smallest levels of snow. I also noticed that I was able to pull into driveways that were covered in snow with 2WD instead of 4WD. I was never able to do this with the Duelers with rear-wheel drive only. Without a doubt, the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow have given me exceptional performance where it matters most. I was able to safely drive in the snow without any loss of traction. I also went over ice with no problems when driving safely. Even when I drove over ice at a safe speed and both hands on the wheel with the Duelers, they would give out. The grip and handling was also good, where I had a very good feeling about the car. Even in deeper snow where it was a few inches, the car did very well in 4WD. I would lose traction in 2WD in soft snow in their later days, but still maintained a great level of control when in 4WD.
*WARM CONDITIONS* - I have taken road trips to warmer climates, such as Florida, when it was winter in Illinois. While I was not driving in 90 degree weather, I was still driving in warmer conditions than those recommended for the tires. I found the tires to still feel mushy due to their softer composition, but without doubt they still held on to the road very well. I was able to drive on the highway at high speeds and still corner very well. In the rain they also handled quite well in warmer weather, though I would lose traction when hitting the gas too hard when in 2WD. When I came home, I did not notice a significant amount of wear and tear with the tires from the warmer conditions. I also would like to mention that every now and then there are abnormally warm days during a Chicago winter. So with the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow you can always be prepared for warmer climates! Also, I do not recommend driving in warmer conditions with these tires, but if you must, they hold their ground extremely well.
-DURABILITY-
*The tires did quite well. I have driven a lot over the winters and put a little over 40,000 on the tires before getting rid of them. I do drive hard, and also during the season, did not rotate my tires like I was supposed to. Therefore, it put non-uniform wear and tear on the tires. Nonetheless, considering they were made of a softer compound, they lasted me quite a while and completely outdid the Bridgestone Dueler H/T tires that I owned (I should have replaced them much earlier!) Therefore, if you run these tires on your car during the cold season, you should get quite a bit of use out of them!
-THE VERDICT-
*The Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow have the snowflake symbol on them, showing it meets the requirements to conquer the industry's worst possible weather conditions. Based on my experience with the tires, I feel that this rating is well-deserved. The Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow have provided excellent performance. Even though they were cheaper than the popular Bridgestone Blizzak tires, I feel that they did not fail to impress. If you need winter tires and would like to save a bit of money over the Blizzaks, I would highly recommend looking into the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow tires.
Recommended:
Yes
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soupcraze
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Member: Soup Enthusiast
Location: Chicago, Illinois
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