Drivers largely praise the Pirelli Sottozero Serie II for excellent wet grip, secure handling and braking (even at higher speeds), strong comfort/low noise, and surprisingly good wear, with many keeping them on year-round in mild climates. Snow performance is generally confident-especially on packed snow and slush-transforming RWD cars in winter. A minority report the tyre is only average on ice or in deeper, unplowed snow, and some note it softens and can get noisier in warmer temperatures. Overall sentiment is strongly positive with high scores dominating.
What owners mention most counted across 26 reviews
Excellent winter tyres for a BMW. Great grip in all conditions. In the snow they will provide excellent grip on fresh snow, slush and compacted snow. A little lively on very cold greasy surfaces but my 740d does have 313bhp so no surprise.
Got these on sale for 90EUR each. Realy pleasently surprised with them, coming from Nokian before them. Great in wet, reasonably silent, great in snow, very comfortable and stable in subzero temperatures. Very good road feedback. Definitely recommend these to everyone, Pirelli produced an alrounder premium tyre. And, if anyone cares, they look good too ;)
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
Excellent in snow, somewhat acceptable performance on pure glass-like ice, regardless of the fact that a studded tyre would have been an entirely different story. On dry and warm they are of course soft, however still perform nicely, predictably let go, on wet, especially during winter temperatures they perform greatly. Next winter I'm gonna get these again.
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Early days yet, but these are really impressing me. They are extremely expensive, but arguably the best tyres I've ever used. I love them so much I just wish I could keep them on when the summer comes back.
Amazingly - these are winter tyres but hard to tell as they also perform well in dry and warmer conditions to.
A particularly amazing feature is the levels of comfort and noise, which for this 35 profile example are nothing short of amazing.
Massive prices, but the value is there. Recommended if you have a high-performance car and you want to use it in the UK winter.
Installed these tires on my Maserati GranTurismo one year ago. They are so good that I decided to keep it all year long and not only during winter. Great wet/light snow traction, great performance also on dry pavement and since in Seattle temperatures are always in the low side and it rains every other day, this seems an excellent choice for us in the PNW. 11,000 miles so far and still great condition
I have just fitted these tyres on a Mercedes E Class estate. As you may know this car has one common feature with many BMW's in that it has rear wheel drive and is like a sledge on snow. Well I can say without any doubt that this is one of the best investments I have ever made. On both snow and ice this car has been transformed into a relitive Pussycat. You still need to remember to allow for others behind who may not be able to stop so quickly and in bad conditions you still have to take care, however, at least you are still mobile.
These tires blew me away. In my opinion, they are best for 'cooler' winter climates (-30C to 0C), although they still work completely acceptably above freezing (they just soften up a bit and seem a bit noisier). Their second strength is wet, especially things like puddles and slush or damp roads.
The snow and ice performance was good - much better than an excellent all-season, and even slightly better than some mid-range snows, but these weren't exceptional in deeper snow (they were better in packed snow than fluffy snow) or ice. But not bad at all.
But when you are on very cold roads, or in slushy environments or with plentiful puddles of salty water (likely super-cooled), these tires actually let you drive like on a summer day. I'm not kidding. I'm so happy with these. If you live in a city and don't do too much commuting to the back country, and live somewhere where it can get fairly cool, and the roads get reasonably plowed within a few hours to a day, and you if you like spirited driving in the winter, these are positively joyous.
Strangely, tire wire (at least for the first season) is almost undetectable, and the ride was very nice, and no noisier than my stock all-seasons (however, my stock all-seasons are a bit on the noisier side, so its a relative comparison). I honestly hope they don't mess with this formula at all, because I will definitely buy this again.
Simply an outstanding transformation occured to my 320d. Going from an absolutely appalling and down right terrifying drive on even a flat road with one inch of snow, to a car which felt like I had 4 wheel drive. Better even than my disco in the snow and ice. Definitely buy these again. Did 11000 miles and the rear ones wore down quite a bit, but will still get another winter out of them. Worth every penny, for safety and peace of mind.
87%
Member
BMW
205/55 R16
1,500 miles
A Combination of Roads
Average
Fitted in December and transforms car from sit in the drive vehicle during snow to one which can be driven on any road. In snow grip, steering and braking are totally transformed and car feels safe and sure footed.
These tyres are comfortable with no appreciable increase in road noise over summer continentals. In summary I was a bit sceptical about merits and cost of winter tyres but have been totally won over, especially for Rear wheel Drive vehicles.
Put these on just before Christmas 2010, a very, very cold December and January. Stuck to the road in some very icy conditions. So glad I fitted these.
I have just fitted these tyres to my carrera to replace Michelin Pilot sport for the winter. I live in Beijing, cold dry winters. The morning temp in winter is usually minus 10 - 15. The Michelins are great in summer but in winter the car is almost undriveable, a lot of wheel spin braking terrible, ABS engaged as soon as you start to brake, even at low speeds.
The Pirellis are magic, awesome in all respects, braking is as good now as the summer and I haven't as yet managed to get them to lose traction and as well very quiet. I would highly recommend them to anyone, who has to drive in temps below 7 degrees C.
