Winter tyres vol 2

Author
Discussion

Falconer

299 posts

49 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Just dug out the winter tyres. They are Pirelli’s Sotto zero 2 and I’m puzzled by the tread pattern. ( had them. 3 years, just noticed).
They look like directional tyres but are not marked with the direction , the inside 1/3 having a diagonal pattern the rest fairly standard blocks. but they are marked inside/ outside.
When you line up left and right, the tread pattern with the diagonal pattern runs differently in each side .
Given you are advised not to use different tyres in the same axle this seems wrong.
They seem to work fine and had no issues with them.
Anyone else had these or can offer an explanation?

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Falconer said:
Just dug out the winter tyres. They are Pirelli’s Sotto zero 2 and I’m puzzled by the tread pattern. ( had them. 3 years, just noticed).
They look like directional tyres but are not marked with the direction , the inside 1/3 having a diagonal pattern the rest fairly standard blocks. but they are marked inside/ outside.
When you line up left and right, the tread pattern with the diagonal pattern runs differently in each side .
Given you are advised not to use different tyres in the same axle this seems wrong.
They seem to work fine and had no issues with them.
Anyone else had these or can offer an explanation?
Loads and loads of forum posts asking about the pattern on this tyre (I googled). In this post someone has asked Pirelli and received a response.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/are-pirelli-win...

Falconer

299 posts

49 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
mstrbkr said:
Falconer said:
Just dug out the winter tyres. They are Pirelli’s Sotto zero 2 and I’m puzzled by the tread pattern. ( had them. 3 years, just noticed).
They look like directional tyres but are not marked with the direction , the inside 1/3 having a diagonal pattern the rest fairly standard blocks. but they are marked inside/ outside.
When you line up left and right, the tread pattern with the diagonal pattern runs differently in each side .
Given you are advised not to use different tyres in the same axle this seems wrong.
They seem to work fine and had no issues with them.
Anyone else had these or can offer an explanation?
Loads and loads of forum posts asking about the pattern on this tyre (I googled). In this post someone has asked Pirelli and received a response.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/are-pirelli-win...
I notice the newest version 3, has a more conventional pattern.

Pica-Pica

13,617 posts

83 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Falconer said:
mstrbkr said:
Falconer said:
Just dug out the winter tyres. They are Pirelli’s Sotto zero 2 and I’m puzzled by the tread pattern. ( had them. 3 years, just noticed).
They look like directional tyres but are not marked with the direction , the inside 1/3 having a diagonal pattern the rest fairly standard blocks. but they are marked inside/ outside.
When you line up left and right, the tread pattern with the diagonal pattern runs differently in each side .
Given you are advised not to use different tyres in the same axle this seems wrong.
They seem to work fine and had no issues with them.
Anyone else had these or can offer an explanation?
Loads and loads of forum posts asking about the pattern on this tyre (I googled). In this post someone has asked Pirelli and received a response.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/are-pirelli-win...
I notice the newest version 3, has a more conventional pattern.
It sounds like they are asymmetric tyres and not directional, similar to Vredestein Quatrac 5 (all-season tyre), so not unusual. Once fitted correctly to a wheel, it can go on any corner on a square set up.



Edited by Pica-Pica on Friday 23 October 10:55

21st Century Man

40,659 posts

247 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
I put a set of Quatrac 5 on our Panda, I don't like them much, they make the car feel quite wobbly and jelly like, whereas the Snowtrac 3's we had on it drove fairly normally, squishy compound aside. I was happy with the tests/reviews/price and was going to put a set on the Century too, but not now I've had experience of them, I'll go for CC+ instead. I expect the Quatrac's will be OK in bad weather though.

Slow

6,973 posts

136 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Wasn’t sure where else to put this!

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Slow said:
Wasn’t sure where else to put this!
Brilliant! Even the pic of the driver is very apt!

Pica-Pica

13,617 posts

83 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
21st Century Man said:
I put a set of Quatrac 5 on our Panda, I don't like them much, they make the car feel quite wobbly and jelly like, whereas the Snowtrac 3's we had on it drove fairly normally, squishy compound aside. I was happy with the tests/reviews/price and was going to put a set on the Century too, but not now I've had experience of them, I'll go for CC+ instead. I expect the Quatrac's will be OK in bad weather though.
We have Quatrac 5s on my wife’s Fabia, no real difference between them and Conti Premium 2 (summer tyre) with regards ride and handling, a bit quieter though. Never had the weather to see what they are like in ice or snow - as you can imagine, we have them ‘just in case’.
I would prefer Continental Allseasoncontact over Michelin CC or CC+, but for our use, I wanted an asymmetric all-season tyre rather than a directional tyre.

21st Century Man

40,659 posts

247 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Pica-Pica said:
21st Century Man said:
I put a set of Quatrac 5 on our Panda, I don't like them much, they make the car feel quite wobbly and jelly like, whereas the Snowtrac 3's we had on it drove fairly normally, squishy compound aside. I was happy with the tests/reviews/price and was going to put a set on the Century too, but not now I've had experience of them, I'll go for CC+ instead. I expect the Quatrac's will be OK in bad weather though.
We have Quatrac 5s on my wife’s Fabia, no real difference between them and Conti Premium 2 (summer tyre) with regards ride and handling, a bit quieter though. Never had the weather to see what they are like in ice or snow - as you can imagine, we have them ‘just in case’.
I would prefer Continental Allseasoncontact over Michelin CC or CC+, but for our use, I wanted an asymmetric all-season tyre rather than a directional tyre.
Curious. I do expect a softer ride and a bit more give/slop from a winter/all season than a summer, it's a softer compound and I think there are carcass differences too? They replaced summers which were quite age hardened though, so the difference is more apparent. I used to switch between summers/winters but when both sets got to ten years old and needed replacing (it only does 4k a year so tyres age rather than wear) I decided on the all seasons to stay on all year.

Falconer

299 posts

49 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Pica-Pica said:
Falconer said:
mstrbkr said:
Falconer said:
Just dug out the winter tyres. They are Pirelli’s Sotto zero 2 and I’m puzzled by the tread pattern. ( had them. 3 years, just noticed).
They look like directional tyres but are not marked with the direction , the inside 1/3 having a diagonal pattern the rest fairly standard blocks. but they are marked inside/ outside.
When you line up left and right, the tread pattern with the diagonal pattern runs differently in each side .
Given you are advised not to use different tyres in the same axle this seems wrong.
They seem to work fine and had no issues with them.
Anyone else had these or can offer an explanation?
Loads and loads of forum posts asking about the pattern on this tyre (I googled). In this post someone has asked Pirelli and received a response.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/are-pirelli-win...
I notice the newest version 3, has a more conventional pattern.
It sounds like they are asymmetric tyres and not directional, similar to Vredestein Quatrac 5 (all-season tyre), so not unusual. Once fitted correctly to a wheel, it can go on any corner on a square set up.



Edited by Pica-Pica on Friday 23 October 10:55
No they are nothing like that.

Pica-Pica

13,617 posts

83 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Falconer said:
Pica-Pica said:
Falconer said:
mstrbkr said:
Falconer said:
Just dug out the winter tyres. They are Pirelli’s Sotto zero 2 and I’m puzzled by the tread pattern. ( had them. 3 years, just noticed).
They look like directional tyres but are not marked with the direction , the inside 1/3 having a diagonal pattern the rest fairly standard blocks. but they are marked inside/ outside.
When you line up left and right, the tread pattern with the diagonal pattern runs differently in each side .
Given you are advised not to use different tyres in the same axle this seems wrong.
They seem to work fine and had no issues with them.
Anyone else had these or can offer an explanation?
Loads and loads of forum posts asking about the pattern on this tyre (I googled). In this post someone has asked Pirelli and received a response.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/are-pirelli-win...
I notice the newest version 3, has a more conventional pattern.
It sounds like they are asymmetric tyres and not directional, similar to Vredestein Quatrac 5 (all-season tyre), so not unusual. Once fitted correctly to a wheel, it can go on any corner on a square set up.



Edited by Pica-Pica on Friday 23 October 10:55
No they are nothing like that.
Stick up an image of them, then we can see. Quatrac 5 is an asymmetric all-season tyre. I expect an asymmetric winter tyre to be, well, asymmetric but winter oriented, that is the outside tread is less summer oriented as the Quatrac is.

Edited by Pica-Pica on Friday 23 October 16:39

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
Falconer said:
No they are nothing like that.
Just fit them with inside and outside on the correct sides. There’s no direction arrow on them. You have your answer!

Pica-Pica

13,617 posts

83 months

Friday 23rd October 2020
quotequote all
mstrbkr said:
Falconer said:
No they are nothing like that.
Just fit them with inside and outside on the correct sides. There’s no direction arrow on them. You have your answer!
Indeed. sottozero 3 = directional, you must fit to wheel with the arrow in direction of rotation, and then you cannot (ideally) swap a wheel and tyre from one side to the other.

Sottozero II = asymmetric, and so, like all asymmetric tyres these must be fitted with ‘outer’ on the outside of the wheel. You can then swap a wheel and tyre from one side to the other.


Edited by Pica-Pica on Friday 23 October 22:28

bolidemichael

13,717 posts

200 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
SW London here abs yet to fit winter tyres. We've have a couple of sub 5°C evenings/mornings but now we're back up to highs of 16°C and lows not far behind!

I think that I'll take the opportunity this weekend to dress the sidewalls with the tyre cleaner and lacquer system that I purchased then protect the alloys with bilt hamber double speed wax ready to fit them in a couple of weeks, perhaps.

I'm not really driving very far nor fast any time soon and the urban roads around me are all well trodden and 20mph.

loskie

5,143 posts

119 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
you sound like the type of person who winter tyres would be a complete and utter waste for

Ron99

1,985 posts

80 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
Random question of the week....

Recently there seem to be a series of diesel spills near me (hard to notice in the dark) and I've had a couple of nasty fishtails while trying to avoid vehicles which had already collided, presumably due to the spill.

Would winter/all season tyres be expected to cope better, worse or about the same with a diesel spill compared to summer tyres?

blueST

4,378 posts

215 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
I don’t think it would make much difference. Diesel is on tarmac is nasty combination.

JakeT

5,406 posts

119 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
My winters went on yesterday. Down an inch in wheel size and more rubber to compensate. As is the norm, more comfort, but less steering feel.

ecsrobin

17,016 posts

164 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
So not specifically winter tyres but fitted a set of Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen2’s to the Mrs’s Citroen C1 that I’m currently commuting in. My cars I’ve always run things like Michelin PS3/4’s or equivalents and been impressed with grip as you’d expect but I’ve been blown away by how they’ve transformed the car and cornering in the wet there’s so much grip I think I surprise a few cars on the commute. Even she’s noticed a positive difference and she’s oblivious to anything rofl

With that in mind I’ll definitely invest in a set of all seasons for winter for my next car.

RicksAlfas

13,354 posts

243 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
My wife never notices even though her winter wheels are a completely different style and... colour!!