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
Because of the issues I had with my previous winter. tires I did some research on wet weather running as that is the condition that is most prevalent in winter, and settled on these tires, and they do not disappoint.
This is the first winter where I have had to battle heavy rain and heavy snow with these tires, last year was a mild winter. This year there has been a lot of snow and I just completed a trip where I was able to safely travel at 50 - 60 MPH on 4" of snow up the motorway, for over 100 miles in snow and a further 100 in slush which is significantly better than the tires they replaced.
We also just had torrential rain with plenty of standing water on the road and again the tires coped without any hint of loosing traction.
519/5000
It's the second train I use on my Ford S-Max 2.0 TD. Very heavy car with great engine torque.
With the first set I made 54,000 km and I changed them because the winter part of the tread was defined, about 4 mm, and we were in January.
With the second I have already done 30,000 km and are still in excellent shape.
Excellent tire in all aspects. Only the noise is a little more accentuated than the summer tires.
Next week I change cars and I have already ordered the same tires in 245/45 18.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
Got these for a good price for this winter season. Previously had Sottozero 2 on my car so I can compare to them too.
First of all, this is a great tire, they grip very well in every situation. They handle rain, snow, freezing temperatures very well. Better compared to Sottozero 2 in every of those aspects. Audis are not famous for feedback through steering wheel, but with this tire I think it is as good as it gets. On motorways, the ride is very comfortable, the tires respond quickly and in every moment you know what they are doing. Tried them through some ponds at high speeds and they proved great. Just had first snow today, and you can hear them working the slush but never lose traction. The rim protection is huge, biggest I have seen on any winter tire till now, and it doesn't look to baloony.
The only downside is the noise. It is not the tire roll itself, but a high pitching sound that appears especially round 100km/h and it rises as you speed up. It sounds like a laundry machine in the far distance :) It doesn't bother me too much, but if silent tire is one of your priorities - you just might skip these Pirellis. If you don't mind - go ahead, this is a great tire.
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Having used other makes of winter tires on a variety of cars and finding only Sottozeros came in the size needed for my XKR was interested to see if the premium you pay for them is justified.
Very pleased to say it sure is as the grip you get in the wet is remarkable, stopping distances are very close to dry and even on ice you never feel like you aren't fully in control of the vehicle.
Have also used them on an XF Jaguar and as with the XK the grip and handling are both brilliant, no matter what the weather throws at you.
Bought for my Golf 5 FWD, 320ps in North Greece mixed used in highways and suburban areas in the country and in central europe mostly.
Really, satisfied from the performance especially in the wet and snow. Better than my previous Nokian.
Comfortable at cruising, but not for spirrited driving when >15oC.
The wear, is normal in contrast with the reviews, i think its a pretty decent tire, better from all except TS860.
The tire really shines and performs outstanding in the morning wet roads at
Bought 4x Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3_XL(ExtraLoad)_215/55 R16 97H (Made in Germany) for approx €87 per tire (in winter time).
I have driven this tire on winter conditions for around 1000 km on the winding road to the ski resort, and I have to say I'm very impressed with them.
Softer compound, aquaplaning is well suppressed. Driving on snow have a fantastic traction. On frost-covered and slush road surfaces Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 grip very well.
Great tires especially under heavy snow and also great for aquaplaning when passing at high speed in deep water. For winter these are very good and also when it comes to the money you pay for the quality.
Member
225/45 R17
If you drive soft winter tires in the summer, and then complain that they wear quickly...
Everything is excellent except the wear.
I drove it from Dec,2014 - Nov,2015. around 27k kms.
The front tires has less than 3mm left.. so have to buy 2 fronts again this year.
I won't buy it again only because its wearing too fast as i use them all year.
Otherwise its excellent including good fuel consumption..
I'm running these tires on a 2015 BMW 520d M Sport F10. The fronts are 245/45 18 and 275/40 18 on the rear. I have heard that you can run 245 on all 4 wheels, even as a staggered setting but I have not tried it myself.
The tires are without doubt the best winter / all-round tires I've ever had.
Many folk in the UK think that just because it's not snowing for the majority of the winter then you don't need winter tires. They stick to summer tires through the whole 12 months. Hence why the UK road networks grind to a halt as soon as we have 1cm of snow.
BMWs have never been great in the snow and ice but with these tires I've not found anything that has been challenging. I have recently returned from Alpe D'Huez in the French Alps and there was 3ft of snow and ice on the roads.
If you push them the tires will break traction but they won't under normal driving conditions. There's plenty of feedback from the road surface and you get a good idea where their limits are before you reach them.
They are outstanding in heavy rain and water too.
Five stars out of five from me!!
91%
Member
Alfa Romeo
225/50 R17 V
20,000 miles
Mostly Country Roads
Average
Nice tire. Very good at wet conditions.Had some terrible heavy rain this winter at Hungary, but these tires kept me on the road, even when 2 cars suffered clear aquaplaning crash ahead of me. Also saved the life of an idiot on an unlighted bycicle. Very stable under heavy breaking, so thanks for Pirelli!
