82%
- Audi
- 225/50 R17
- 3,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Spirited
Very good grip on dirty roads.
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 Owner Reviews
Review this tireWhat owners say summarised from 53 reviews
Owners rate the Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 highly overall, most consistently praising the secure wet grip and strong winter ability, with good traction and predictable handling on snow (and reassuring ice performance for many). A notable downside is noise: around a third of owners mention it being loud, especially at motorway speeds and often more so as it wears. Tread life is more mixed (roughly three in ten discuss it), with plenty reporting long service but around one in eight to one in ten feeling it wears faster than expected, particularly if used outside its ideal winter window.
What owners mention most counted across 53 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 59 ratings
- Owner score 81%
- Wet Grip 88%
- Dry Grip 88%
- Handling 86%
- Road Feedback 81%
- Snow Grip 79%
- Comfort 76%
- Wear 76%
- Ice Grip 70%
Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 Reviews - Page 3
Score spread across 54 written reviews
88%
- Jaguar XF S
- 285/35 R20 W
- 7,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Spirited
A very good winter tire, gives you more confidence in the wet and when there is a spell of cold weather. Very good in the wet.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
89%
- BMW X1 X Drive
- 225/55 R18 H
- 10,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Spirited
Love driving with this tire. Predictable drift performance in snow and great snow grips in straight lines. This tire gives me so much confidence in the snow that I actually look forward to having snow on the road first time in my life! Was able to keep around 70 to 80% of my dry speed in the snow with this tire and pull off some crazy tight drift U turns and drift thanks to it’s predictability.
Dry and wet performance when there’s no snow are really good as well.
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Researching the Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3? Rate the tires you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
84%
- 225/60 R16 H
- 40,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Average
Hello from Italy!
Winter tires with sporty character, essentially good and reliable in all conditions.
Precise both in the dry and with the rain, these tires show good resistance to aquaplaning, safe breaking, confident road feedback and fairly good subjective handling.
With snow they ensure good traction, good road holding and satisfying stopping distance.
Not too bad on ice, although not excellent, they tend however to lose some stability and traction as snow melts, becomes wet or muddy. This behavior occurs usually progressive and predictable, so one can compensate in time.
Good wear despite spirited driving (after three seasons, about 40000 km, still usable).
Not too much noisy, fairly good comfort.
Average fuel consumption.
Relative expensive but, all in all, money were well spent.
100%
- BMW 525D
- 225/45 R17
Excellent!
87%
- Alfa Romeo 147
- 215/45 R17 H
- 7 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Spirited
Great winter UHP tire. Surprisingly quiet and comfortable, yet very good grip on dry and wet. Wear is acceptable for this class of tires, it is average. For the huge amounts of grip, the price that is to be paid is a bit of rolling resistance comparing to summer tires, but it is absolutely normal. Increase of fuel consumption can be also attributed to lower ambient temperatures so it doesn’t have to be tires fault entirely. And God it handles well! Not a cheap product, but boy, you are approaching a Ferrari/Bentley/Lambo OEM fitment territory, so don’t expect it will cost peanuts.
93%
- Peugeot 208 1.6 vti
- 205/45 R17 V
- 8,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Average
Bought these for my late 2015 208 GTI, and they are absolutely amazing, they are good in the dry and not too bad in the wet, in the snow they are utterly amazing in fact the 208 in the last 2 bouts of heavy snow the south of England had this Feb (2019) and last year in March (2018) the car was just unstoppable...it drove and stopped like it was just on a wet road... it had more grip than my 4x4 Grand Cherokee with proper Cooper AT3 chunky tires! I would absolutely recommend them and will be buying a set for our F11 BMW 528i for winter.
90%
- Audi A4 1.8T Quattro
- 235/45 R17
- 9,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Spirited
After reaching 4mm of thread left from my Nokians WRD4, I searched for a tire with better thread wear, even if the nokians are absolute awesome winter tires. I eventually chose the Pirellis Winter Sottozero 3. After one winter with them, I can say that they feel like a very good summer tire on dry roads with temperatures beneath 15 grades celsius, on wet they perform excellent, they are very silent and the steering is very precise, even though they give a pretty decent confort ride. However, on snow and ice, they are not as good as the Nokians were, but you can have a normal drive with a little more care. However, they are far better than many other brands. And, the most important aspect, after one winter and 11000kms made, they lost only 1mm of thread! (The nokians lost 3 in the first winter). I would definitely buy them again.
61%
- SEAT Leon Cupra ST 290 (FWD)
- 235/35 R19 W
- 1,000 miles
- Mostly Country Roads
- Spirited
This is an excellent winter tire but... They are pretty much fabulous on every surface except... they don't last on B category roads and break easily. It's hard not to be dissapointed given the price you have to pay. I check my tire pressure every 2 weeks so it's not a matter of not taking care. I had no problems with my summer tires so far (Michelins) but I lost two winter Pirellis within 2 months so I'm questioning their endurance. I won't buy them again.
84%
- BMW M235i
- 225/45 R17
- 7,000 miles
- Mostly Country Roads
- Spirited
Two winters on my M235i: 320 BHP & RWD, so very sensitive to grip and handling in wet and snow. Multiple trips down to the Alps for winter skiing. Previous car was a 330d with Pirelli Sottozero Winter Serie-II for comparison. I've also had Vredestein, Dunlop and Michelin Alpins on previous cars.
Really an outstanding winter tire for performance car if you're certain to find yourself on snow. If you weren't certain of an Alpine ski trip or likely snow then consider the Serie-II, which handles slightly better in the dry. But the S3 is better than the Serie-II in heavy rain and standing water (the penalty is the 'chunkiness' makes it a bit noisier). The S3s did snowy hill starts and slow, windy uphill roads without recourse to chains so really pleased with them. Very good resistance to aquaplaning back in the UK winter rain and didn't let me down even during lapses of concentration in the cold and wet.
Definitely would buy these again when the time comes.
Really an outstanding winter tire for performance car if you're certain to find yourself on snow. If you weren't certain of an Alpine ski trip or likely snow then consider the Serie-II, which handles slightly better in the dry. But the S3 is better than the Serie-II in heavy rain and standing water (the penalty is the 'chunkiness' makes it a bit noisier). The S3s did snowy hill starts and slow, windy uphill roads without recourse to chains so really pleased with them. Very good resistance to aquaplaning back in the UK winter rain and didn't let me down even during lapses of concentration in the cold and wet.
Definitely would buy these again when the time comes.
93%
- Toyota 2012 Verso 2.0 D4D UK
- 225/45 R17
- 50,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
My background, I am a City and Guilds Qualified and Approved Vehicle Technician (retired) and certified Advanced driver. I have two styles of driving - safe and effective - when I need to get there a little quicker and that of 'Driving Miss Daisy' .. in otherwords, cruise control on and set the speed (on average 62mph) - I find this is the best economical speed for a 2012 Verso 2.0 D4D.
What am I reviewing?
The Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3, 215/55/R17, which have accrued a total of 49,997 miles after three years. There was 1.7 mm of tread on the front and 1.72mm on the rear before the TWI's would have been 'activated' or level with the road surface area of the tire. In fact, I would have said I could have possible got another 500 miles out them, possibly 1000, but I think that latter might have been pushing it.
The tires were fitted in December 2015 to ensure insurance compliance and during the time fitted, as you can see, I have chosen my scores based on overall performance on a variety of road surfaces and heavy snow. During the heavy snow and thick ice down the south west, I sailed past 4x4s, emergency response vehicles, jack knifed articulated vehicles and more and many of these were from a stationary position.
As with any tire, as the tread wears, the performance degrades, however, I was extremely surprised that even at 3.25mm tread, the vehicle did not aquaplane during a sudden downpour and many surface pools appeared, what they did was 'bite' into the surface water and you could feel the vehicle speed reduce and with no loss of steering control.
My only niggle... the db level does make you think you might have a wheel bearing gone, but that was only within the latter 3,000 miles.
Comfort, as good as any high performance winter tire and extremely positive road feedback/handling.
Will I buy again? Yes, I hope they keep this model on for the foreseeable future because there are many that do not provide such positive results.
Price wise, they could be a little cheaper but still a good investment and equally good return. Now to find my next set at the best possible price.
What am I reviewing?
The Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3, 215/55/R17, which have accrued a total of 49,997 miles after three years. There was 1.7 mm of tread on the front and 1.72mm on the rear before the TWI's would have been 'activated' or level with the road surface area of the tire. In fact, I would have said I could have possible got another 500 miles out them, possibly 1000, but I think that latter might have been pushing it.
The tires were fitted in December 2015 to ensure insurance compliance and during the time fitted, as you can see, I have chosen my scores based on overall performance on a variety of road surfaces and heavy snow. During the heavy snow and thick ice down the south west, I sailed past 4x4s, emergency response vehicles, jack knifed articulated vehicles and more and many of these were from a stationary position.
As with any tire, as the tread wears, the performance degrades, however, I was extremely surprised that even at 3.25mm tread, the vehicle did not aquaplane during a sudden downpour and many surface pools appeared, what they did was 'bite' into the surface water and you could feel the vehicle speed reduce and with no loss of steering control.
My only niggle... the db level does make you think you might have a wheel bearing gone, but that was only within the latter 3,000 miles.
Comfort, as good as any high performance winter tire and extremely positive road feedback/handling.
Will I buy again? Yes, I hope they keep this model on for the foreseeable future because there are many that do not provide such positive results.
Price wise, they could be a little cheaper but still a good investment and equally good return. Now to find my next set at the best possible price.
93%
- Toyota 2012 Verso 2.0 D4D UK
- 225/45 R17
- 50,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
My background, I am a City and Guilds Qualified and Approved Vehicle Technician (retired) and certified Advanced driver. I have two styles of driving - safe and effective - when I need to get there a little quicker and that of 'Driving Miss Daisy' .. in otherwords, cruise control on and set the speed (on average 62mph) - I find this is the best economical speed for a 2012 Verso 2.0 D4D.
What am I reviewing?
The Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3, 215/55/R17, which have accrued a total of 49,997 miles after three years. There was 1.7 mm of tread on the front and 1.72mm on the rear before the TWI's would have been 'activated' or level with the road surface area of the tire. In fact, I would have said I could have possible got another 500 miles out them, possibly 1000, but I think that latter might have been pushing it.
The tires were fitted in December 2015 to ensure insurance compliance and during the time fitted, as you can see, I have chosen my scores based on overall performance on a variety of road surfaces and heavy snow. During the heavy snow and thick ice down the south west, I sailed past 4x4s, emergency response vehicles, jack knifed articulated vehicles and more and many of these were from a stationary position.
As with any tire, as the tread wears, the performance degrades, however, I was extremely surprised that even at 3.25mm tread, the vehicle did not aquaplane during a sudden downpour and many surface pools appeared, what they did was 'bite' into the surface water and you could feel the vehicle speed reduce and with no loss of steering control.
My only niggle... the db level does make you think you might have a wheel bearing gone, but that was only within the latter 3,000 miles.
Comfort, as good as any high performance winter tire and extremely positive road feedback/handling.
Will I buy again? Yes, I hope they keep this model on for the foreseeable future because there are many that do not provide such positive results.
Price wise, they could be a little cheaper but still a good investment and equally good return. Now to find my next set at the best possible price.
What am I reviewing?
The Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3, 215/55/R17, which have accrued a total of 49,997 miles after three years. There was 1.7 mm of tread on the front and 1.72mm on the rear before the TWI's would have been 'activated' or level with the road surface area of the tire. In fact, I would have said I could have possible got another 500 miles out them, possibly 1000, but I think that latter might have been pushing it.
The tires were fitted in December 2015 to ensure insurance compliance and during the time fitted, as you can see, I have chosen my scores based on overall performance on a variety of road surfaces and heavy snow. During the heavy snow and thick ice down the south west, I sailed past 4x4s, emergency response vehicles, jack knifed articulated vehicles and more and many of these were from a stationary position.
As with any tire, as the tread wears, the performance degrades, however, I was extremely surprised that even at 3.25mm tread, the vehicle did not aquaplane during a sudden downpour and many surface pools appeared, what they did was 'bite' into the surface water and you could feel the vehicle speed reduce and with no loss of steering control.
My only niggle... the db level does make you think you might have a wheel bearing gone, but that was only within the latter 3,000 miles.
Comfort, as good as any high performance winter tire and extremely positive road feedback/handling.
Will I buy again? Yes, I hope they keep this model on for the foreseeable future because there are many that do not provide such positive results.
Price wise, they could be a little cheaper but still a good investment and equally good return. Now to find my next set at the best possible price.
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