Which Snows and Why Poll?

[Snow Drift]

I'm risking it with the Sottozero 3 235/45R18 94V tires. But, I would probably suggest people go with the Sottozero 245/45R18 tires instead. They have a enough load rating and would give the car a tiny bit more ground clearance.
I'd recommend the DE version, as the tread width is the same as the 235 and they're lighter!

245 is super wide for snow. 235 is bad enough as it is.

I run 225 on my 18x8.5 winter rims for the STI.

 

[RyanT]

Let the games begin.

I'm anxious to put them on to see how quiet they are, balanced correctly and TPMS works. But I really should wait at least another month.

I have my Xice 18s on now. They are definitely quieter than my OEM 19s.

 

[usofrob]

245 is super wide for snow. 235 is bad enough as it is.

I run 225 on my 18x8.5 winter rims for the STI.

Like I said, the tread width is the same if you get the tires from Germany (DE).
And it's hard to find a narrower tire that will fit on the available 8" or 7.5" rims.

 

[Snow Drift]

Adding a pic of my X-ICE Xi3 235/45-18. I have an appointment at the Mt. Kisco SC to install in November.

 

[mswlogo]

I plan to mount my X-ice wheels on car tonight to verify Balance, TPMS, and quietness.

I bought TPMS from Tire Rack and they look exactly like the OEM ones. Made by Continental. 433hz.

It is a hassle. But I just couldn’t waste my money on Sotto 2’s. One of the biggest complaints is they wear out fast. And low efficiency.

Some folks are selling their take offs with OEM Tesla sensors.

 

[Skione65]

I plan to mount my X-ice wheels on car tonight to verify Balance, TPMS, and quietness.

I bought TPMS from Tire Rack and they look exactly like the OEM ones. Made by Continental. 433hz.

It is a hassle. But I just couldn’t waste my money on Sotto 2’s. One of the biggest complaints is they wear out fast. And low efficiency.

Some folks are selling their take offs with OEM Tesla sensors.

@mswlogo,

What was the cost of the TPMS? Do you have a link I can’t seem to find them.

Ski

 

[mswlogo]

@mswlogo,

What was the cost of the TPMS? Do you have a link I can’t seem to find them.

Ski

https://www.tirerack.com/tpms/detai...odel+3&autoModClar=Dual+Motor+All-Wheel+Drive

TPMS Sensors from Tire Rack worked !! No Programming or Activating Needed.

After about 5-10 minutes of driving the Car Popped up a message "Reset TPMS" and I said yes.
Bingo they popped up.

X-Ice tires are quieter than the 18" All Season Primacy "Acoustic" tires.

Hard to measure how much, but I'd say 10-20% better.

Balance was good too.

TireRack price is $47.00

I looks at bunch of Used and New OEM Tesla TPMS on eBay and they were all Continental stamped on them.
They looked just like the ones I got.

 

[Latorre]

I grabbed the Pirrelo Sottozero 3’s cause Tesla has spent Millions on R&D and I figured, I’ll take their advise and run with it.

Wrapped them around some sick Grey T-Sportline 19’s

 

[coleAK]

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9.

In Alaska, I’ve tried them all and no other tire comes close to Nokian for winter tires we run them on all our vehicles.

 

[RyanT]

X-Ice tires are quieter than the 18" All Season Primacy "Acoustic" tires.

Hard to measure how much, but I'd say 10-20% better.

I agree. Don’t tell anyone but I left them on my Model S half the summer this year. That and they are good for efficiency.

 

[mswlogo]

I grabbed the Pirrelo Sottozero 3’s cause Tesla has spent Millions on R&D and I figured, I’ll take their advise and run with it.

Wrapped them around some sick Grey T-Sportline 19’s

Let us know how they are. Sotto 3 are definitely better than Sotto 2.

Personal preference of performance on dry vs wet vs snow.

In snow, an X-Ice or Nokian R3 will run circles around any Sotto. But on wet handling the Sotto will win. So Tesla didn’t choose the “best” snow, they just chose the trade offs for you.

There is no one perfect snow tire.

Here is the Euro Label on Sottozero 3
I’d personally be most concerned on how quiet they are. That’s a big deal to me.

 

[mswlogo]

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9.

In Alaska, I’ve tried them all and no other tire comes close to Nokian for winter tires we run them on all our vehicles.

I think you have unique requirements in Alaska. I personally would never ever run studs in New England anyway ( they used to be common around here but now pretty rare). There is nothing better on icey, packed snow. But on dry or wet they are worse at stopping.

 

[coleAK]

I think you have unique requirements in Alaska. I personally would never ever run studs in New England anyway ( they used to be common around here but now pretty rare). There is nothing better on icey, packed snow. But on dry or wet they are worse at stopping.

Agreed. Alaska dosn’t use salt on the roadss so on a typical winter it’s all ice and packed down cold snow. Some Years my tires rarely touch the asphalt for 6 months. Majority of people run studs up here. However if I lived in an area with a more veriable winter I would still use Nokian but a studless version.

We have a 2004 Mercedes e320 with Nokian Hakkapeliitta 4 on their 8th winter 50% tread life and almost no studs remain and they are still better than most other studless tires older than 1-2 winters.

So my expectation is that I want a winter tire that preforms on winter roads as close to all seasons on dry roads as possible. The best out there, I’ve always figured if it prevents me from being in one wreck it’s worth it.

Bask to the original question of why Nokian Over the others. In our experience on Mercedes (E, G500), Lexus LX 570, subaru (legacy, Sti), audi (allroad, S4) Nokian have better all the way around. We’ve had Nokian Hakkapeliitta (4,5,7, 9), blizzak, x-ice, hankook ipike, and general studded years ago (like 20-30 years ago). My wife really didn’t like the sound of studs and wanted to try studless about 6 years ago we tried blizzak and x-ice (but went back to studded Nokian). Both are similar but lose their grip fast, really only good for 1-2 winters than preform like a all season. I know a few people up here that run blizzak and get a new set every winter (thanks Costco). Pirelli are terrible I work with a guy with a 911 4s that came with a set on the winter wheels, he switched them out within a month. I had a set of hankook studded I-pike that came with my winter wheels on my current car. They were the worst studded winter tire I have ever had usless on ice, I quickly sold them on Craig’s list and bought Hakkapeliitta 7 when I got my LX 570. I have a set of Hakkapeliitta 9 waiting in my garage that are going on my wife’s model 3 LR AWD when it gets here... hopefully next week

 

[mswlogo]

Agreed. Alaska dosn’t use salt on the roadss so on a typical winter it’s all ice and packed down cold snow. Some Years my tires rarely touch the asphalt for 6 months. Majority of people run studs up here. However if I lived in an area with a more veriable winter I would still use Nokian but a studless version.

We have a 2004 Mercedes e320 with Nokian Hakkapeliitta 4 on their 8th winter 50% tread life and almost no studs remain and they are still better than most other studless tires older than 1-2 winters.

So my expectation is that I want a winter tire that preforms on winter roads as close to all seasons on dry roads as possible. The best out there, I’ve always figured if it prevents me from being in one wreck it’s worth it.

Bask to the original question of why Nokian Over the others. In our experience on Mercedes (E, G500), Lexus LX 570, subaru (legacy, Sti), audi (allroad, S4) Nokian have better all the way around. We’ve had Nokian Hakkapeliitta (4,5,7, 9), blizzak, x-ice, hankook ipike, and general studded years ago (like 20-30 years ago). My wife really didn’t like the sound of studs and wanted to try studless about 6 years ago we tried blizzak and x-ice (but went back to studded Nokian). Both are similar but lose their grip fast, really only good for 1-2 winters than preform like a all season. I know a few people up here that run blizzak and get a new set every winter (thanks Costco). Pirelli are terrible I work with a guy with a 911 4s that came with a set on the winter wheels, he switched them out within a month. I had a set of hankook studded I-pike that came with my winter wheels on my current car. They were the worst studded winter tire I have ever had usless on ice, I quickly sold them on Craig’s list and bought Hakkapeliitta 7 when I got my LX 570. I have a set of Hakkapeliitta 9 waiting in my garage that are going on my wife’s model 3 LR AWD when it gets here... hopefully next week

I’ve had studless Nokians on 2 cars for over 20 years.

I went with X-Ice because they are rated 1 notch better on noise and one notch better on efficiency by some tests/reviews. Two characteristics I typically wouldn’t be so anal about. But I am on this vehicle. And it’s the only snow tire with a tread life warranty. I don’t know if they will last as long as Nokians but I suspect they will last longer than most snow tires. Buying snows every 2-3 seasons is nuts (that’s what I suspect will happen with SottoZeros). And so many people do. Because they were to cheap to buy something like a Nokian.

Any decent snow tire will do fine when new on an AWD.

Wow, I didn’t know Alaska doesn’t use salt.

Nokian R2 even beat X-Ice Xi3 on TireRacks testing. But they didn’t measure noise or efficiency. I would trade better noise and efficiency for slighter worse longevity and snow traction.

 

[jsmay311]

Here is the Euro Label on Sottozero 3
I’d personally be most concerned on how quiet they are. That’s a big deal to me.

Hey @mswlogo , can you please share where you’re finding these EU tire rating labels?

Thanks!

 

[usofrob]

The Euro label is available on many european tire websites. Also, the rating is per tire size. So, you can't assume that all tires of the same type will have the same ratings. (At least that's how I understand it as someone from not-Europe.)

 

[mswlogo]

The Euro label is available on many european tire websites. Also, the rating is per tire size. So, you can't assume that all tires of the same type will have the same ratings. (At least that's how I understand it as someone from not-Europe.)

Correct and correct.

Just google search for "Euro Label" along with the tire model and you should find a site in Europe that will have it.

Like Sottozero Euro Label. You might have to sift through a few sites to get it.

I was not careful to match tire size in each case I dug up. The specs are usually close. But they might vary a little on tire size.

Speed Rating and Load rating can change a lot. Efficiency and Noise tend not to.

Note the Euro Noise Rating is for EXTERNAL noise, not cabin noise which can be very different.

 

[mswlogo]

I'm risking it with the Sottozero 3 235/45R18 94V tires. But, I would probably suggest people go with the Sottozero 245/45R18 tires instead. They have a enough load rating and would give the car a tiny bit more ground clearance.
I'd recommend the DE version, as the tread width is the same as the 235 and they're lighter!

They do make a 98V version of the Sottozero 3 235/45R18 94V

They make 3 versions.

Run Flat 98V
Selfseal 94V
PNCS (Acoustic) 98V

How available each are who knows.

I personally wouldn't put on a 94V tire. You'd probably void any warranties on the tires and possibly other warranties as well.
Even if it's not the fault of 94V sh$t happens and entities try to find ways out of paying.

Sottozero 2 235/45R18 98V also exists. And no 94V.

 

[usofrob]

My understanding of the reviews are that the Sottozero 2's aren't as good as the 3's.
Also, the Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 is a good option in the correct size and load rating. They were my other item on my short list.
Discount tire had more good winter tire options, but they didn't have a wheel combo that would work at the time. Getting the tires mounted, balanced and shipped directly to me was valuable to me.

 

[run-the-joules]

Ordered Nokian R3s. I'll swap them on for trips to Tahoe and take 'em off as soon as I'm home, so the day-to-day noise and efficiency doesn't matter to me (though I fully expect the R3 to crush the competition for efficiency). Having the best tool for the job when I need it is what matters.