Well winter is finally over in the Smarticus Family. And how do I know this - well its simple, the winter tyres are now stored safely back in the shed and the Conti's have been returned to active service.

So shortly after the swap out, I can do a quick compare and contrast. The winter tyres were Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow 19". I had imagined these tyres would be noisier, less grippy and less precise than the Contis, but offer substantially greater grip in slippery conditions. Well the final point is definitely true, but to my surprise the other items were hardly apparant at all.

The Ice & Snow tyres worked brilliantly in all conditions, felt sure footed, precise and no increase in road noise. All that plus the confidence that if needed those tyres would offer enormously more grip in snow, ice, mud, grass, gravel and sand than the Conti's. The Conti's on the other hand can easily leave you embarrassingly short of friction in anything other than a smooth tarmac surface. So much so that the need to drive accross a grassy field (at a shoot, trail, over flow car park at a "do" etc etc) leaves you nervously sweating hoping that your pride and joy isn't going to leave you floundering to the delight of the 2 wheel drivers who skip past you without any stress at all.

The considered wisdom is that winter tyres only have a place on your vehicle in winter. But I am now seriously considering putting them back on for good. The winter tyres show no apparent wear after 6,000 miles since they were fitted in February, despite it being unseasonally warm (almost summer like), for much of that time. So the theory that winter tyres wear out fast on warm roads doesn't appear to hold true.

So what am I missing here ? Am I deluding myself ? Or are these winter tyres the perfect blend of characteristics to make a true All Terrain, All Season solution for the Range Rover Sport ? RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
Disco 4 TDv6 HSE Ipanema
Defender 90, 200tdi CSW

Last edited by Smarticus on Mon May 28 2007 7:06pm. Edited 1 time in total

You could have a point. I think Conti are now doing a winter version as well. TDV6 - gone
TDV8 - gone
Audi Q5 3.0 Tdi Sline wef 6/11/10

Smarticus,

I just did precisely what you did two days ago. Took my Pirelli Scorpion's off, Conti's back on. The Conti's make more noise and their performance is inferior. When the two sets get near the wear bars, it's Pirelli's year round.