I have fitted 20 inch wheels and General Grabber ATs to my 2014 SDV6 AB Dynamic which are necessary for the off-road driving I do in the winter months but the extra noise/vibration is noticeable on the motorway and the grip in the wet isn't great,

I have kept the original 21 inch wheels and (brand new) Pirelli Scorpion tyres and am considering running them in the summer months.

My question is - are these tyres in any way tougher than normal road tyres - ie. do they have any puncture protection? What are people's experiences of these tyres in terms of getting punctures and in light off-road use are they any good?

Annoyingly I have the 7 seat version with no spare which is why this is important to me...and with a 10 month old baby on-board I don't want punctures ruining everyone's day!

I have heard mixed reports - some people saying they're surprisingly good off-road and others saying they had endless punctures with them...

Any thoughts very welcome!

No tyre is puncture free,at the end of the day if you run over a nail regardless what tyre it is you will get a puncture.A nail in the road doesn't pick which tyre is is going to puncture im afraid.Some cars have runflats fitted which when they get a puncture it wont go down but the light on the dash will inform driver that a tyre is loosing air & then it will get you to the nearest place of repair. Andy.
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Thanks Andy - I understand all of that however some tyres are clearly more prone to punctures (whether it’s a nail or a side-wall “pinch” from a pothole) than others - I ran a 2002 FFRR on 22 inch wheels (sadly it came with them!) for 2 months and had three flat tyres. Swapped to 20 inch General Grabbers and have run them for 5 years now (on 3 different RRS) without a single puncture and off roading every weekend in the winter....

Just interested to know people’s experience with the Pirelli Scorpions.

On my last RRS i changed the Continentals for the Pirellis, i much preferred them they are a good tyre. SVR 2018 in Santorini Black.

Presumably your Pirelli's are 275/45 R21 Scorpion Verde All Season. While Pirelli do offer run-flat and 'seal-inside' in some sizes of Scorpion Verde All Season, they do not offer those features in that size. What you will likely have though is just the XL = Extra Load rating. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I like the Scorpion Verde All Season as an excellent overall tyre. I have done about 30,000km on them so far - no punctures.
However, if you have the Scorpion ATR tyre, imho that leaves a lot to be desired in the wet, after some wear. There is also a new Scorpion AT Plus tyre available - still waiting for opinions on that. MY15.5 SDV6 HSE Dynamic without the H . Yulong White

What Greg said 👍

Thanks Greg -

"Presumably your Pirelli's are 275/45 R21 Scorpion Verde All Season" - those are exactly the tyres I have and following your thoughts on them I will swap back to them for the spring/summer as I have had a couple of scary moments in the wet on the General Grabber ATs...

I’m running Verde All Seasons and they coped really well in last years snow and ice. Not as good as a dedicated Winter tyre like say a Nokian but enough to get me out of my village and along uncleared and ungritted country lanes.

Jim