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Pirelli Winter Carving Edge tires get a real test, finally

Perry

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#1
And they passed. A solid B+.

Kansas City got thwacked with a foot of snow and bitter cold over the last day or so, and this afternoon, as things settled down a bit, I took my FiST out to run "errands" and test out my winter wheel/tire setup. The wheels are Sport Edition SE-16s, and they're clad with Pirelli Winter Carving Edge 185/60/R15 tires, all mounted and balanced courtesy of our friends at Tire Rack.

The tires have tolerated the horrible, nasty cold well. Unlike the stock summer tires, they don't turn into marble donuts when the temp drops through the floor. The ride remains good, and their pavement grip doesn't require much of any adjustment of my driving due to cold alone.

Their ability on snow and ice was for me the real question. And here they did surprisingly well, especially given that they're rolling about under a very light car. I was able to plow through foot-deep snow with no difficulty, and, more impressively, when given the opportunity to skate across a burnished patch of hard-packed snow, the tires preferred to grip as long as I didn't spin 'em up or ask too much. If I drove reasonably, they behaved. Too fast, or too abrupt, and they started to slide about. But then, so did the 328xi in front of me on State Line Road, on its Michelin X-Ice tires.

In general, my impression is that these tires do at least a little bit better on snow than the Continental All-Seasons I had on my recently sold Honda Fit Sport. Granted, these are not all-season but rather winter tires, and so they should do better than straight all-season tires, but I'm trying to be conservative in my evaluation and comparison, seeing as how my experience is limited.

I cannot give a direct or even indirect comparison to the popular Bridgestone Blizzaks, but I can say I'm happy with my choice.
 


rodmoe

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#2
As long as they work they are good . I have the Blizzak's and they do ok but then I do miss my Nokian Hakkapeliitta's
 


OP
Perry

Perry

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Thread Starter #3
FWIW: After more time driving around through snow, ice, slush, frozen slush, packed snow, etc. I can affirm that I'm still quite satisfied with the performance of these Pirelli tires. I share this information simply so those with a need for knowledge can know that the Pirelli Winter Carving Edge tires seem a reasonable alternative. I got the Pirellis at significantly lower cost than Blizzaks would've been, and cost was for me a significant factor, but I couldn't readily find decent information about the Pirellis' actual performance. [I mention Blizzaks only because they seem far and away the most popular choice around here, and seem an easy reference point. I've got nothing at all against Bridgestone, their tires, etc.]
 


MKVIIST

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#4
Great review Perry, if they are still new you should take a quick photo so we can see how much wear happens after one season.


I just grabbed a few pictures off the internet so we can use for reference for capturing great angles for comparison.




 


OP
Perry

Perry

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Thread Starter #5
Good idea--I'll do that when we hit the end of winter season.
 




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