Pirelli Ice Zero FR Sizes & review

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The Ice Zero FR is Pirelli’s Studless Ice & Snow winter tire developed for drivers of family sedans, coupes and minivans looking to combine stability and control in winter’s worst conditions with enhanced driving comfort on clear roads.

Ice Zero FR tires utilize a specialized winter compound molded into an arrow-shaped, directional tread pattern. The center of the tread features the highest sipe density to maximize longitudinal traction for confident braking and acceleration. Specifically designed sipes across the tire wick away the film of water that develops between the contact patch and icy surfaces, enhancing grip in icy conditions. Interlocking 3D sipes reduce tread squirm for improved clear-road handling and reassuring stability at highway speeds.

Ice Zero FR tires feature a wide and stable footprint to evenly distribute pressure across the face of the tire, improving traction while braking and enhancing wear characteristics.

Ice Zero FR tires meet the industry’s snow service requirements and are branded with the three peak three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol.

Install Ice Zero FR tires in sets of four only.
Due to the traction capabilities of Pirelli Ice Zero FR tires, Pirelli recommends using them only in sets of four to provide the best handling characteristics and tire performance.

12 COMMENTS

  1. Put these tires on my daughters Kia Soul as wanted her to be safe travelling from our town to the city to attend secondary school. She is a fairly zippy driver and didn’t want her to get in any accidents while making her 100 km daily commute. Always telling her to be careful but still she was zipping around on ice and snow and she was constantly saying “dad its okay” the car doesn’t slip/slide around. Driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee (4 x 4 c/w michelin all seasons) I always seemed to get around no matter what the weather. I borrowed her car one day to head to work (150 km 1 way) during cold icy snowy weather here in Alberta Canada and was completely surprised that her Soul felt like an all wheel drive with minimal slippage when cornering and no appreciable loss of traction and was actually better than my Jeep Grand Cherokee with the all seasons. When I buy tires for my VW Golf this winter I will go with the same “IceZero” tire and really can’t see the advantage of an all-wheel-drive as in my opinion that little Soul pulled and cornered better than any all-wheel-dive I have driven just by virtue of having good Winter/Ice type tires. I subsequently pul the Michelin X-Ice on my Jeep (Ice Zero didn’t have a tire that fit that application as yet) and of course provided great traction and cornering but really not exceptionally greater than my daughters (2 wheel drive) with the Ice Zero. I can say that the Pirelli Ice Zero is a great tire from times I have driven that Soul in very inclement weather and would say you would be splitting hairs in comparison to other excellent quality Ice/Snow tires. On the highway I would much rather be driving my daughters Soul with the Ice Zero than my Jeep with the X-Ice as it just felt more stable and smoother at speed (90-110 km), it was especially more appreciative when when hitting the dry or wet pavement…..just more comfortable as would be a summer or all-season in those particular seasons. Hope this helps with your decision!

  2. I have used dedicated snow tires for about 10 years now. I’ve had General Altimax Arctics, Firestone Winterforce and Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3. These are far and away the best snow tires I’ve owned. *The good:Very smooth and responsive in dry conditions. It should be noted that this is not a performance tire and I don’t have a performance car. Its responsiveness is great for a grocery-getter! Excellent traction on ice, in snow and rain. We’ve had a lot of rain and snow in Cleveland so far this year. There was one instance where we had freezing rain turn into snow leaving the roads covered in ice, slush and snow – it was a mess. These tires we so competent and I had so much traction that I cruised right over snow and ice where other people slid off the road and hit the curb. No problems what so ever! *The bad:they’re a little noisy. Although, I don’t really care about that since I bought snow tires for cold weather traction and performance NOT comfort, but people always complain about noise. (I don’t get it)We will have to wait and see about tread life.

  3. We bought these tires for my wife’s Lexus over other available winter tires. I was most impressed with the tread depth these tires have over the competition in the same size. I was able to drive home on completely dry roads with which these tires handled great (no noticeable difference over All Season just removed, the noise was less). Living in Rochester NY, we have been able to drive in all conditions – dry , wet, slush and of course snow. These tires paired up with the Lexus make an awesome combination. The do not feel like they “float” when the roads are watered covered and handled the ice covered side roads very well. Light to moderate snow is not a problem either. I feel very comfortable that these tires will serve my wife well this winter. Time will tell on the tread wear and we will see how they handle next winter.. Don’t be shy about trying these tires.

  4. For reference, I live in the Kitchener Waterloo area of Ontario Canada. Have had these for two seasons and they are one of the best tires I have ever had! Tread wear seems really good. But I haven’t directly measured.Was worried because its a new tire design, but they have been great. I didn’t notice just how great they were until I brought my car in for service and they had to keep it for almost a week. Immediately, I noticed that the tires were not great on the loaner so I just thought they were all season. Wrong, they were Michelin X-ice tires and were brand new?! I couldn’t believe it? I’ve only heard good things about X-ice so I was really surprised. Drives well through deep/light snow and slush and on dry/wet roads.Not the greatest on ice (we had freezing rain one morning and the salters did not get out yet) but I feel like the only thing that would be exceptional would be studded tires. It’s not like I was sliding around, but I had to be really really cautious.I’ve liked them so much I purchased a set for another car we just purchased. In short, purchase these tires with confidence!

  5. I’m located in the midwest where winter conditions vary widely from day to day. I’ve had Michelin xIce xI3, and General Altimax Arctics in the past (on FWD Honda vehicles). I decided to try these Pirelli Ice Zero FR tires on my RWD e320. I have Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires for the other 3 seasons, so I’m comparing these Pirelli’s to a very well-rated Michelin:In normal/dry conditions, these feel like my Michelin all season tires. By far the best of any snow tire I’ve usedThese are also as quiet as my MXM4’s, except for a little tread hum around 55-60 mph. Quietest snow tire I’ve used on dry pavement.Stability is excellent, even on the highway; they corner like an all season when roads are dry, and they didn’t mess with my steering/alignment “feel” like the Xi3 did on my last vehicle.In light snow and freezing rain (ice), traction/braking is on par with snow tires I’ve run in the past. Really no better or worse, but those were both highly rated winter tires (so these Pirelli’s are excellent).Of the 3 snow tires I’ve owned, these are by far the best “per dollar” value.The only negative I can say is that they hydroplane worse than an all-season tire in a torrential downpour, but downpours are rare in the winter.Cannot comment on tread wear or deep snow traction yet, but overall I am extremely satisfied with the tires. I would buy these again in a heartbeat

  6. I only have about 1500 miles on the tires with my WRX and so far am very satisfied with my purchase. We had an 8 inch snow last week, which made getting around hard, but my WRX just drove as if the roads were dry. Sure, I was careful, but I could stop, start and change direction without any problems. True, they are not the best handling tires on a dry road, feeling a bit wobbly and imprecise, but that is to be expected with any pure winter tire on a car with the power and handling of the WRX, but they seem to be better than average. I plan to keep them on until the middle of March and then put the max summer tires back on until I change them up. Great service from The Tire Rack as well, getting the tires to my installer very fast and in good shape. Don’t know how they compare to other winter tires, but I am pretty happy with my choice.

  7. Got these put on in CT in late October and have been running them since. Had a few small snow falls in CT so far this year and they have performed well. Last week we had 3-4 inches of light fluffy snow and they did have a little sliding with turns entered at greater than 30mph. Stopping distance is good in snow, very good in dry and wet. Haven’t had that much ice yet. The tire is overall very quite, good at highway speeds. At times in the snow I did feel that it did not handle the power of the WRX all that well and I did have some wheelspin and TCS did blink its light a few times. For the price I think I would definitely recommend them, but I would be careful with power delivery on a more powerful car, it seems to bring out the weaknesses of the tire.

  8. These are the first set of snow tires I’ve ever driven. I only have 1500 miles or so on these tires, but I am very impressed. We had a mild winter this year, so I can’t comment on deep snow performance. They have been excellent in light snow – I have to really try in order to make them slide. On ice they perform much better than the OE all-seasons, but ice can still be a problem when cornering. The steering response is sluggish compared to the (almost bald) all-seasons, but I have read that about all snow tires. These are quite a bit louder than the OE all-seasons, but not enough to be bothersome. When these were brand new, they would hum pretty loud at about 40mph on smooth pavement. This has since gone away. Since these don’t have a treadlife warranty, I was worried they would wear out very quickly. I haven’t measured them, but they haven’t worn noticeably in 1500 miles.

  9. Haven’t had a ton of windshield time with these tires but from what I can tell they bite more than my 7 year old blizzaks which still have 9/10 tread (I’m sure they are dried out now and should be replaced). These have a much more responsive steering feel vs other snow tires I’ve owned and are quieter. They still have that wallow of course but that’s to be expected in a soft compound. My wife drove through some very adverse weather last week – very icy roads in which many people could barely get up gradual inclines – the roads were a disaster – and she said she could get around with ease and didn’t understand why people were having problems. I reminded her she was driving an AWD vehicle with proper tires for the conditions. I’m very impressed with these for an ice and snow tires and they provide a very good compromise between ice/snow traction and dry weather performance for slightly spirited driving.

  10. Great tire for a cold weather. Great traction in rain and snow. Road noise was expected. Tire treads are very good looking that shown the performance + fine treads for winter/fall.

  11. Definitely the best winter tire I’ve ever personally experienced. Very smooth quiet ride, excellent grip, and impressive tread wear. This is actually my very first experience with a Pirelli product, let alone with Russian made tire. When I saw “Made in Russia” on the tire, I wondered if it would be any good, but after an entire winter season of driving on them, the Russians are very good at making a high quality tire.

  12. Best all around winter tire I have ever used. Very quiet, responsive and comfortable on wet and dry roads. Amazing in deep snow and ice as well. I have put this tire on two different vehicles and I have been very happy with its performance on both of them. I highly recommend!

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