Italians have always identified the color red with passion. And while red sports cars are probably the most identifiable example when it comes to driving passion, there is also Pirelli’s P Zero Rosso (Rosso, ro’ so, Italian for red). P Zero Rosso Max Performance Summer tires were developed to combine high performance, high speed and a high degree of comfort.
Specific design techniques, raw materials and manufacturing methods have been incorporated to produce Pirelli’s most comfortable Max Performance tires. Pirelli’s warranty does not cover tires that develop compound cracking due to use in ambient temperatures below 45° Fahrenheit (7° Celsius), so the P Zero Rosso, like all summer tires, is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.
The P Zero Rosso System includes both asymmetric and directional tread designs, each tuned to satisfy the unique performance needs of different types of vehicles and uses. The P Zero Rosso Asimmetrico is the most widely used because it’s designed for both front and rear axle positions of front engine front-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive cars (and on all cars driven on the track). The P Zero Rosso Direzionale is designed to offer enhanced hydroplaning resistance and is primarily for use on the lighter load carrying front axle positions of mid-engine and rear-engine rear-wheel drive cars (which are then combined with the P Zero Rosso Asimmetrico tires on the rear axle positions).
Both of the P Zero Rosso tread patterns are elegant. The Asimmetrico tread pattern retains the “Zero concept” of earlier P Zero tires by combining a semi-slick center rib that enhances driving precision while accelerating and braking with robust outer shoulder and intermediate tread blocks that are connected by circumferential “multi-ring” ribs to enhance dry grip. The independent blocks of the inner intermediate rib and inside shoulder are separated by wide grooves to help eject water to reduce hydroplaning and enhance wet grip. Considerable use has been made of curved grooves, which complement the circumferential grooves to reduce noise.
P Zero Rosso tires use a silica-enhanced tread compound to provide better grip in low temperatures in the wet and lower rolling resistance in the dry. The tread is supported by PenTec (a material developed by Allied Signal for space exploration) cord which is used to reinforce lightweight steel belts and give more high-speed stability while reducing tire weight and temporary flatspotting when parked overnight.
While most Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires wear a red “P Zero” logo, selected sizes simply feature the “Rosso” logo as part of the embossed black sidewall styling along with the black letters.
Founder at Tiresout. Used to be working as an engineer at Bridgestone Tires Akron Technical Center. The responsibilities included but were not limited to technical computing, indoor & outdoor testing of new tires.
Purchased this tire for my 2009 G8 GXP and have been nothing but impressed. I have always heard people talking about the P-Zero for a high performance tire but was not expecting this level of performance. In dry conditions these tires provide monster grip, perfect for accelerating and deceleration quickly. They have great lateral grip while cornering and run out very well at high speeds with little tire noise. As for wet conditions they hook up better than most tires, being in a high horsepower car it is hard to get grip in the wet but even cruising on the highway in the rain they allow for smooth sailing and very little hydroplaning. Tire noise is next to none, tread wear is exceptional, and price is right on par with competition. By far the best tire i have ever used.
I have a 08 Mustang GT with only 12K miles on her. Its primarily used as a promotional/show car for my business, Westside Powder Coating, Romulus Michigan. I have done some modifications, one is replaced the factory 17″ rims with 19″ Ford Racing Track Pak rims. Theses tires 255/50/19 fit beautifully. They really fill up the wheel wells nicely. They replaced Goodyear eagle F1 super car tires that I bought used with about 50% tread life remaining. I enjoyed the Goodyear’s, but they are very soft and wear very fast. Also, the initial cost of the Goodyear’s and the life are far to expensive in my opinion. These are incredible! They hook up great, throw the car into a turn, no slide. Well worth the money and so far a great tire. Definitely recommend these tires.
No real problem with tires performance is as expected. Will probably return to Michelin which were original equipment on this car just because the Michelin felt better and seemed to wear better. Wish Pirelli would have kept the highlighted red markings to distinguish them from others.
I use them on my track/race prepend delsol and the vehicle extremely well under harsh racing conditions
After 3000 miles of mainly city driving in Northern California ( 20 % hwy – interstate 5, when the need for speed felt ) I was pleasantly surprised with the little tread wear my tires took. Brand new the specs stated it has 9/32 and the front still has the same measurement the rear did go down to 7/32. Makes me think maybe I should rotate them. I am happy I will not need them replaced for 2 more years at least assuming I don’t change my driving habits. Definitely recommend these “sticky” Pirelli p zeros Rossi summer performance tires for Porsches. I do not recommend driving these tires on snow even though I have not tried it.
These are the oem tires. They have been great over the years. Only after about 22000 miles did the performance start to decline. In the early miles the grip was amazing. They would not break loose on hard acceleration. I will purchase another set. Most of the miles have been on California s mostly concrete freeways. To those that complain of premature wear, you have to take into account the road surface you drive on. Just one of many variables.
Brand new set of these came on my car when I bought it. From the get go, I noticed how loud and uncomfortable they were. They only go louder as they wore down. The tread life was terrible. In wet conditions, I could feel the car losing grip. I had to to be very careful. I would not recommend purchasing these tires. It is worth it to spend a little extra money on Contis or Michelin.
Vehicle Tires were Tested with Porsche Cayenne S : If you want to stick to the road and push your vehicle hard, this is a great tire. Performance and Handling are excellent. I drove with this Tire all winter, I am now a professional drifter and can handle the car better than ever on dry pavement. In other words…. This tire is aweful in the snow/ice conditions. Summer use only,with 5 Stars in my book! If you like a quite tire this tire could go both ways, during break in or between the 1,000- 2,000 miles mark they made me think my transmission was grinding at 40-60MPH. Dont bank on getting more than 20,000 miles out of them either, im at 21,000 and replacing immediatley. I am buying another set for my vehicles summer work out with plans to replace with dedicated snow in 6 months. Hope this helps others
Terrible! My SL500 came with Michelin Pilot Sports which made me fall in love with the car’s handing. But I bought another set of wheels on which the P Zero Rosso were fitted. I had great expectations of the Pirellis but they completely destroyed my confidence in the handling of the car. The wouldn’t grip as well, easily lost traction in the wet, were noisy, would follow grooves in the road so I had to fight the steering wheel. The only thing they didn’t do is wear out quickly enough! I got so fed up with them that despite having more than 70% tread left, I replaced them with Michelin Super Sports. The difference was like night and day. The grip was back, quieter, smoother, easier to turn the wheel and the steering wheel doesn’t fight me on uneven roads. Don’t even think about these tires.
Only buy these tires if you like to spend a couple of grand on new tires every 10,000 miles. They are also extremely hard riding and have absolutely no traction in even a tiny bit of snow. AVOID. Get Contis or Michlins instead and buy yourself a new pair of Louboutins with the money you save.
We bought our Q7 new and had Pirelli’s from the factory. The dealer had to replace 2 tires at 8,000 miles due to cupping. The service manager expressed that they have a multitude of problems with this tire on this car. They may be good on a smaller car but are no good on this one.This is my second set of Pirelli’s and have yet to be satisfied with any.
These are too sensitive to air pressure. The slightest drop in pressure makes them unpredictable. I slid into a curb and it cost me $300 to get a couple of wheels straightened, no more pirelli’s for me. They showed 42 lbs pressure down from 46.
After 5K miles a pretty good experience. Good off-the-line grip, stable cornering and tracking, good braking hold. Limited wet road exposure, but in light to moderate rain no cornering breakaway or hydroplaning at 80 mph+. The tire is noisier than I’d like; running at 38-40 psi and tread wear is almost non-existent. This tire had gotten mixed reviews (cupping, rapid wear) but with proper inflation and rotation I’m hoping for 30K plus.
Compared with the 18″ Continentals that were the previous summer tires (stock wheels) on my A5, these tires are awesome. Combined with the HR spring (1.5″ lower) and sway bar kit, the A5 is like a different car. Very quick steering response and the grip from the Pirelli’s is awesome.
Have had two of these original tires develope sidewall weakness and bubbles. Concerned about having a blow out. Did NOT develope this due to tire damage from road conditions or tire trauma. Multiple reports of Pirellis having this problems dating back 10 years. Were original tires on vehicle. Why does Audi keep putting them on such great cars????
Very surprised Audi chose these tires for the S4, and disappointed in Pirelli for selling them. I took the car to the dealer with less than 15,000 miles on it thinking the tires needed to be rebalanced, but the technician informed me that there was significant cupping and the wear bars indicated the tires need to be replaced! I have continued to drive the car until now and the vibration, road noise, and wet braking are terrible. So excited to get a new set of tires. I do not recommend these to anyone with an Audi S4. Maybe they are designed for a different car, but I’ll never buy these again or recommend them.
OEM tire on my 2011 Audi A4 Avant S-Line. Good handling on dry and wet roads. Noticeable tramlining. Once wear was over about 50%, road noise increased considerably. Now getting close the the wear indicator at just over 15k miles, so longevity is not a strong trait. I would not buy these same tires as replacements.
great tires – you can corner the car at high speeds, great stability, great for agressive and non-agressive driving alike. negatives include lot’s of road noise and impossible noise levels once worn down to the 2/32. mine got worn down after 12 months and 6000 miles. once worn they lose their grip like nobody’s business. don’t buy this unless you are acustomed to changing your tires with your oil change.
So far I’m pleased with the tires. I only run them in the warm weather, so my mileage is limited. Some wear is evident after the 4,000 miles. Other responders complained about the tread wear and now I can concur with them. I do like the aggressive tread pattern.
My car came stock with these tires. These are the best tires I have ever driven on. There was very minimal skidding at any time wet or dry and these really stick to the road like nothing else. The only drawback is the tread life is less for such a great performer. I did’t know this but found out quickly. If you want performance then this tire is recommended. Please expect tread life will not be 40k.
OEM tire on V-6 MUSTANG, 6 spd automatic. Average driving in Tucson Arizona climate with an August trip to Wisconsin last 2 years. Two rotations and 4-5/ 32nds left at this mileage. Predict replacement somewhere around 30K miles. Only change noticeable to me is tire noise. Quiet when new on most road surfaces, somewhere after 10K miles you hear them more at hi way speeds. No flats or heavy tread impacts. Ordinary radio volume covers up the increased noise issue but I’m not big into radio anyway.
Excellent tire and recommended by Lamborghini for the 2001 Diablo VT 6.0 which is an all wheel drive with rear drive bias by 73%. Extremely good traction and road feel and feedback. Contributes immensely to excellent road holding & handling at high speeds and wide open acceleration. Grips the road like a leech at all speeds. Worth the price and high tread wear. The price to pay for such extreme motor sport and is a pittance to losing control and wrecking your ride. If people want economy and long tread life, buy a Prius. My Bentley GTC Speed and Aston DBS use the same Pirelli P zeros with equally excellent performance.
Purchased these tyres after I had a great experience when I had them on my car when I had 18″ wheels. After upgrading to 19″ wheels and purchasing these, $/km was definitely not worth itGrip level, initial bite and cornering performance was fantastic (as were the 18″ versions)Performance in the wet was even better. I rotated, balanced and aligned my tyres every 5000kms (3106mi) between interval services and still I only managed to do this 3 times, which was extremely disappointing compared to the last set I hadThe tyre performance is still acceptable as I only 20% tread on the fronts (FWD), but the noise as they degraded is terrible. Can’t wait for them to wear out and get something different
The tires have become very noisy as they have aged. Also, they have begun to hydroplane very easy even though there is still plenty of tread left. I’m going to have to purchase new tires even though they still have some usable life left.
OEM tire on my Audi S5. This is an excellent tire when it is new. The tires are sticky, stiff and responsive. However as the tire wears they started to track badly. Once you get near the wear indicators the tires get very loud. I would not purchase again due to the tracking and road noise. Decided to try Michelin Pilot Super Sports.
This is the best way to get new tires on your car. The price was unbeatable. I ordered 4 new ones online. TireRack shipped them directly to my local NTB and I simply went there to have them installed. Mercedes dealer did not have these in stock so I was looking for them online. So glad I found TireRack.
This is a terrible tire, even though it was supplied by Mercedes as original equipment. The rear set needed replacing after only 17,000 miles, and the front set after only 21,000. The second rear set also lasted less than 20,000 miles.I seem to recall getting similar unsatisfactory results from another Pirelli OE tire on a Jaguar XJ a number of years ago.Recognizing that a summer tire isn’t designed for snow or ice, I still think that a tire supplied by Mercedes as original equipment should be drivable in the occasional minimal snow conditions of Northern VIrginia. These Pirelli P Zero Rosss were utterly useless under those conditions — we simply couldn’t use the car.
With limited miles the tires have been good. I am amazed at the noise and vibration of the tires from 10 mph to 20mph, but after that the tire is quiet and smooth…so far. It’s almost like a small set of rumble strips every time the car is between 10 and 20 mph. Where does all that noise and vibration go above 20mph??? For the discounted price and the 220 UTQ I can deal with it.
Since there is such a wide range of reviews for these tires, reading them all didn’t help making up my mind about them but the price did. One interesting fact about the seize 275/35ZR20XL is that they were developed for a +4500lbs Bentley and most importantly manufactured in Germany. Take note that many other sizes aren’t & are manufactured either in Turkey, Romania, Italy or G-B. This might be a probable cause for such a quality built discrepancy mentioned in these reviews. Mine is based on comparing them against the OEM PZero on the Camaro SS, the Nitto NT-05 that I drove for one summer & Michelin Pilot Super Sport that I drove for one summer too. After driving the Pirelli Rossos 250 miles on track circuits & 7000 street miles total: I think these are great overall street performer! On Highway speeds in dry conditions; they are better than oem PZero & the NT05 has they do not wonder as much between road ruts and are quieter. They feel similar to the Michelin PSS. For city driving; better off the line traction than oem PZero, less grip than NT05 but similar to the PSS. Provides good steering feel & are more agile than all in quick lane changes. On Track crcuit; given this is a street tire, it’s pretty solid, Runs better between 35-38psi when hot. Lots of screeching but very progressive let go after 8/10th. Not as sticky as the NT05 and a tad less than the PSS but very sure footed & very fun to drive. When Wet driving; they provide absolute confidence at any speed. The best by far in this pack! The tread wear is very good so far, they only loss about 3/32. For Winter driving: No tested, but I won’t recommend any All Summer Performance Tires since they are not meant to be driven below 38 degrees. Like all low profile tires, they need to warm up to get going & they will provide some steering shaking in the process but in less and 2 miles, you are good to go! I grade these has my all-around champion. They do everything good.
Love the system tires. Had the originals on a previous Boxtster. My S was ordered with 18″ rims and came from the factory with ContiContactSports. I think the Rossos are an extreme upgrade to the performance, steering and road feel, as well as noise and ride comfort. I’m extremely happy. It’s nice to get back on a set of P Zeros.
These tires are in the front of my 09 bmw 328i coupe . car currently has 118,000 miles on it . i don’t corner too hard when i drive . i drive mostly freeway . max allowable press. is 50 psi cold . the trick to getting high mileage was this , set tire pressure cold at 45 psi . and don’t drive over 85 mph . this is what i did . tires now have 72,000 miles and still going . there is more wear on the outer side of the tire due to too much positive camber , set from the factory . when i replace these front tires with the same exact ones , ill be sure to tell the tire installers to set front camber to zero . this should yield another 10,000 or so miles . the only draw back , of course , is that steering will be a little more sensitive . I THINK ILL LIVE WITH THAT .
I recently purchased an Audi A5 Quattro with what appeared to be relatively new Pirelli P zero rosso tires. I’ve driven it about 15,000 miles in the months I’ve had it and my rear tires are showing their age quite a bit. The front tires are actually not particularly bad comparatively. Aside from treadwear. Its overall performance is pretty good. Wet weather traction leave a little room for improvement. And road noise is not terrible but for original equipment on a luxury car it could be improved upon. Overall, I’m probably going to be trying out a different set of tires soon. Because I feel there’s better options out there for less money.