I often get questions about my experience with the Pirelli Snow/Ice tires on my 300C SRT-8, so I thought I'd post a more comprehensive review.
BACKGROUND
I live in Indianapolis, and we get random amounts of snow from around December 1st until the end of February each year. We don't normally see snow covered roads a lot of days, but we often have frost, or just blown snow glazed over roads, or simply asphalt temperatures under freezing. perhaps 5 road days per year I will face 5 inches of snow on unplowed roads to/from work.
In November of 2005, the first morning the temps dropped into the low 30's I took off from a stop light as I normally would (which is a bit heavy-footed). My car nearly slid off the road on the Goodyear F-1 Supercar tires. Those tires are not only horrible in snow, but even cold asphalt makes them nearly worthless and highly dangerous. They are truly, as marketed, a "summer" performance tire.
As a result, I ordered Pirelli Snow/Ice tires in size 255 45R20 and put them on my stock wheels on all four corners. I used them for 3 months during the winter of 05/06, and used them for 3 months this winter, and just took them off yesterday.
CLEARANCE
I have never had the tires rub. Although the SRT-Engineers state that 255's will rub on the front in "extreme" situations, I have yet to rub the fronts. I also am not on the racetrack in December on snow/ice tires either. In daily driving I am not aware of anyone yet reporting these tires rub on the fronts.
TREAD LIFE
I have now accumulated 6 months of driving, and about 7,000 miles on the Snow/Ice tires. After removing them yesterday and inspecting them, I would estimate I have used only 1/4th of the tread life. I expect the tires would last me 8 seasons, or 28,000 miles of driving at a minimum. This number could be as low as 6 years, or as high as 10 years, but I think with 3 months of typical driving, an individual will likely get 8 years of winters from these tires.
SNOW-COVERED ROADS
Although we don't get a lot of snow, several times a year I am forced to drive to/from work on 15 miles of roads with enough snow on them that I hear the bottom of my car scraping the entire time. I accelerate as well as anyone on the road, with the possible exception of SUV's with mud/snow tires. I accelerate as well as SUV's on all-season tires. I face several stoplights with uphill starts (you know - the ones where traffic gets backed up because once stopped, people can't get going again). I have never had a problem - even with 5" of snow on the roads. (note: we get/got much more than 5" of snow. That's just the accumulation that remained on the roads). Stopping distance and control was great. However, as always, be prudent with your stopping distances in any snowy/icy conditions. These tires are great, but they won't offset complete stupidity or lack of awareness.
WET ROADS
In wet roads, which we experience often in the winter here, the tires handle and perform as well as any all-season tire. Some concerns have been expressed about how these would handle without snow or ice. I believe they are at least as good as typicall all-season tires.
DRY ROADS and HIGHWAY SPEEDS
I've taken a number of road trips around the state with dry/warm conditions. I don't notice any additional noise, and certainly no handling issues. My only concern was that I would be wearing the tires down too quickly. At my current 8 year pace, I'm no longer concerned. I think the rubber may go bad more quickly than I wear these out.
DRY TRACTION
You will certainly break these tires loose at stoplights on dry roads more easily than RSA's or F-1's. However, if driven like a responsible adult would, you will not approach the limits of these tires. Control your burnout urges until Spring. That being said, I have done numerous burnouts, and did not experience any adverse "chunking" of the tire tread. I certainly sped up my wear a bit, but appear to have done no harm to the tires.
CONCLUSION
It's a no cost option. Every mile you spend with these tires on is simply another mile longer before your summer tires wear out. I get the benefits of summer performance when I want it, and winter performance/safety when I need it. The net increase in cost over time approaches zero. My tires are in bags in the garage now, and I'll keep putting them on for years to come.
I realize this thread is more timely in October than today, but I thought it good to post a review having just removed them yesterday after my second consecutive winter of use.
P.S. I purchased from Tirerack (no affiliation):
Pirelli Snow/Ice tires in 255 45R20
