The Scorpion Ice & Snow Run Flat is Pirelli’s Light Truck/SUV Performance Winter / Snow self-supporting run-flat tire developed for the drivers of performance-oriented luxury crossover and sport utility vehicles looking for enhanced wintertime traction. The Scorpion Ice & Snow Run Flat is designed to combine the convenience of temporary extended mobility in the event of complete air pressure loss with enhanced low-temperature wintertime driving capabilities on dry and wet roads, as well as in snow and on ice.
Pirelli Run Flat tires enhance safety and convenience by incorporating special sidewall reinforcements that can temporarily support the weight of the vehicle while providing extended mobility even after sustaining air pressure losses that would render conventional tires immobile. Pirelli Run Flat technology will allow tires to run flat for up to 50 miles at 50 mph (80 km at 80 km/h) unless otherwise specified by the vehicle manufacturer for Original Equipment tires. While internal tire damage after being run flat will make tire replacement necessary, Pirelli Run Flat tires provide drivers the extended mobility necessary to continue through pouring rain, stormy weather and away from dangerous situations. Pirelli Run Flat tires are only recommended for vehicles originally equipped with self-supporting run-flat tires and a tire pressure monitoring system.
Scorpion Ice & Snow Run Flat tires feature a tread rubber compound that remains flexible at lower ambient temperatures to enhance grip and handling in typical winter conditions. The tread compound is molded into a subtly asymmetric tread design that features a stable shoulder area to enhance dry road handling, circumferential grooves to provide hydroplaning resistance and help maintain good traction on wet and slush-covered roads while angled independent tread blocks with circumferential and lateral sipes help the tire bite into snow. Sidewalls feature additional reinforcements to provide self-supporting run-flat capabilities.
The Scorpion Ice & Snow Run Flat winter radials meet the industry’s severe snow service requirements and are branded with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol.
Install Scorpion Ice & Snow Run Flat tires in sets of four only.
Vehicles should always be equipped with equivalent tires at all wheel positions. The Scorpion Ice & Snow Run Flat winter tires, due to their exceptional snow and ice traction provided by their unique tread compounds, must be used in sets of four to help ensure proper vehicle control.
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.
I live in the foothills of Colorado and travel 100 miles/day, all highway. We use winter-specific tires and then have all season/summer tires for the rest of the year. Our tires typically last longer than most folks’ because we drive all highway and pretty slow. These tires performed well while on the car. However, after 1 season and 12,900 miles the tires were well into their wear bars and the tire shop would not-remount them. These tires are very expensive and yet have very low mileage before wearing out. When I called both TireRack and Pirelli to ask about my awful experience, they (both) said there is no mileage warranty with this tire, so buyer beware. I would recommend STRONGLY against buying these tires. For what it’s worth, our best performance for all of our cars so far have been Blizzaks; great grip, performance and mileage.
Pirelli, Please do not change one thing about this tire! When I first put these tires on my BMW X6 50i there was no snow. I couldn¿t believe the ride and lack of noise! Unbelievable!! They ride better than my Bridgestone all season run flats! Now comes the best part. I live in Upstste NY with plenty of snow to put these tires to the test. First minimal snow fall and tire was fantastic! Slush fantastic! Just recently we had one of our 12+ inch snow storms. Snow was hitting the bottom of the frame of the car as I was out and about before the plows had a chance to really clear the roads properly. WOW!! Tires performed unbelievably!! I¿m sold. Don¿t make any changes. When it¿s time to replace I want another set!!
I would be a very aggressive driver people would tell me. These tires are fantastic at high speed and cornering in cold weather dry conditions. You always have to slow down and respect unfavorable conditions. In deep snow in the Adirondack Mountains these tires perform excellent, on an icy lake they do have traction and stopping power as goog (I would guess) as can be for the higher performance speed ratings. In 30 below zero weather they are pliable and amazingly still sticky. Certainly a more aggressive BLIZZAK MIGHT be better but at tremendous sacrifice for normal driving the 98% of drivable weather. These have no noise, excellent handling and perfrom flawlessly in alert and sensible aggressive driving. Re Blizzaks if its that bad you should stay off the road? One concern is replacements have nailed ONE and cannot find a replacement ANYWHERE in the country- that’s not too good if you want matching tires.
Outstanding winter tire in every aspect. Very comfortable, quiet and responsive with excellent wear. Definite must buy if these ever wear out.
We have very limited miles on these tires so far; however, there is no ride difference between these tires and the summer tires that were on the vehicle when purchased. This is an excellent tire and I highly recommend them to anyone with offset tires (we have 275/40R-20 on front and 315/35R on the rear). I will also pass along that I had an outstanding experience with the Tire Rack staff, both when I purchased on-line (and I called with questions beforehand), and when I picked the tires up at the warehouse. These are BIG tires–the staff at the warehouse could not have been nicer. They loaded the tires in the back of the vehicle–without blinking an eye. Topnotch staff. A very pleasant experience from beginning to end. I highly recommend Tire Rack to everyone.
Wow. Very impressed with these winter tires. A late spring 12″ snowfall left many people stranded throughout the city but I was able to travel anywhere regardless of depth of snow or ice with ease. I highly recommend these winter tires for their incredible traction, especially in deep snow.
I live in Northwest Montana and work at a ski resort full time. We received 51″ of snow over the last 5 days. When other people have been sitting along the side of the road in their Subaru’s and other AWDs I’ve been able to pass by with no slippage at all. I’ve had other brands, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Contential but these tires have out preformed them. I drive 80 miles round trip per pay on a two lane road that the speed limit is 70MPH. I pass on snow covered roads as others are driving 45MPH or less. You can have confidence in these tires to get you where you want to go.
Bought specifically for snow/ice traction and I am dissapointed. It is especially bad when changing lanes at speed with snow covered highways. It could be that my truck is too light for these tires especially with the stiff side walls.
This winter has been tough on all vehicles. These tires did an awesome job in the snow and on icy patched roads. I put on th erear of my Camaro and it went places front wheel drives had a problem. Very pleased and would endorse getting them.
Great winter tire for BMW owners w/ 20″ 214 style wheels. Had absolutely no problems with this tire. Snowy and icy road traction, up to 6″, was excellent. Dry road ride comfort is great as well. Felt completely comfortable and confident on bad roads with this tire.
The Good: Very nice tires so far. Confidence inspiring in the snow; no real experience on ice yet. Good turn in, maybe better than my OEM tires and more comfortable but, to be expected, noisier. They develop flat spots when cold and after sitting overnight but smooth back out after a couple of miles. The Bad: After two attempts they can’t seem to be completely balanced out and vibrate noticeably at around 80 MPH (German Autobahn). There’s more than expected vibration at other speeds, too. Don’t know if it’s just the tires, which were almost two years old when I received them, or something to do with the Moda EB1 rims I bought at the same time and that some BMW owners have reported as a very tight fit around the center ring, but something’s not completely right with this setup. I’ve had good experience with Pirelli tires in the past and am otherwise very happy with these.
This is the finest performing ice/snow/wet tire I have ever experienced. I wish they made it in more sizes for my other cars. Even in dry conditions the tire performs reasonably close to the high performance OE summer tires. I have had mixed results with Pirelli in the past and this was a pleasant surprise.
Brilliant tire for 20″ performance wheels. Purchased the stock staggered size front/rear setup that the car came equipped with. After much debate about whether to downsize to 18’s or 19’s, and to continue the staggered 285f/325r setup, I was very please to keep the cars looks and performance with these tires. Best snow tires I have driven of any size and I would not hesitate recommending these to anyone with a high-end performance SUV. The only drawback is the price, but for a $60-$80k car, no one should really be found complaining. And the Run-Flat tire also proved to be just fine. There’s certainly a bit of road noise on dry pavement, but with a tight cabin it’s really not very noticeable. The only problem I encountered was driving in deep spring slush in storms. These storms occur frequently in March and April and simply required me to keep the speed to 50mph or less in the canyon to avoid hydro plaining. And with tires this wide, that’s too be expected, and 50 mph confidence in a storm is really nothing at all to complain about. The tires are staying on until May 1 and are not mushy like other winter tires I’ve driven with the temps reach 50-60. Highly recommended!
Soon after I changed to these tires preping for winter, it started raining then changed to light snow. Since I was planning a Ski Trip, I took my BMW X5M to Skiing area. It was a casual 2.5hr drive mostly on highway. The car tended to feel slippery compared to my summer tires but, traction and grip was decent enough for me to be satisfied. On the highway, I could not feel the difference and soon forgot I had a new winter tires equipped. I had to remind myself that these tires are not my sport tires and I have to more cautious. On the better side, I was surprised how much difference it makes to ride comfort compared to my summer tires. It was much smoother and more relaxed, although those characteristics do not fit for X5M and it is inaccurate to compare to Summer tires.After arrival at skiing area, I encountered light to deep snow conditions. The tires performed with confidence in driving, accelerating and braking. I only had these for few weeks and too early for me to judge on treadlife so no comment on that. These are my first Pirellis since mid 90s and I hated those tires. These seem like a big improvement over my previous experience.
I drove on these tires for one fall/winter/spring in Germany, and several other countries in Europe. I took them up to 150 mph on the autobahn and they were solid! They are a bit hard and you can notice the difference going from summer tires to these, but I think that’s to be expected. I had zero problems going up hill on ice and 4-5 inches of snow. These tires performed very well in the wet and icy conditions of central Europe. My only issue is that the rear tires wore down very quickly in center. So much, in fact, that I was only able to get one season out of them. The front tires wore down on the edges, but the center was ok. I acknowledge that these tires are not designed for super high speeds on the autobahn, but I would expect better than 15,000 miles out any tire. Other than that, they’re great tires.
These tires —-! I had 7,000 miles on these tires from last winter and even as brand new, they were not good in the lightest snow storm. I live in Denver, CO. I knew I would be fine when I went to have the summer tires taken off and the Scorpions put back on. I tracked the miles I had on these tires because I hate the “upsale” at the tire dealer. But sure enough I had to replace them for the coming winter months, the rear tread was very worn. Unfortunately for a BMW X5 with run flats, there is pretty much nothing else on the market. At over $500 a piece it is such a waste of money, but had to do it again. Just pissed!
My 2017 BMW X5 xDrive35i with M Performance package requires 275/40/R20 on the front, and 315/35/R20 on the rear. Unfortunately, the Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow tire is the only run flat winter tire available for this vehicle. The tires only last 15,000 miles and are so noisy near the end of their short life you can hardly stand it. I kept my tires balanced and properly inflated, and are in perfect alignment. At nearly $2,000 for a set of 4 tires, this is unacceptable, but I have no other choice. The moment another tire company makes available a better tire for this vehicle, or even an all season run flat tire, I will change and be rid of Pirelli.
Had these on my 2014BMW X5 Msport with 20″ wheels. While they get good snow/ice traction they wear out quickly, especially the center of the rear’s (315/35/R20) even when inflated correctly. Also, one you are at half tread they are very noisy, sounds like you have wheel bearing issues but you don’t. Interestingly enough the noise is loudest at 20-45mph, once you get up to highway speeds the noise is not bad. At 30mph sounds like your driving a dump truck. …whap whap whap whap! Also run flats are great when you have a flat but otherwise ride is very stiff. Replaced these with a set of Vredestein Quatrac Pro’s which are an “all season” tire but have 3 snow flakes rating for winter driving…so far they fantastic and far better in every way.