The Scorpion Winter is Pirelli’s Light Truck/SUV Performance Winter / Snow tire developed for the drivers of today’s powerful luxury crossover and sport utility vehicles. Pirelli’s Ecoimpact icons branded on the sidewalls highlight the tire’s contribution to the environment with regards to energy efficiency, clean air and low noise. Scorpion Winter tires are designed to deliver low temperature wintertime driving performance by combining predictable handling on dry and wet roads with traction in snow and on ice.
Pirelli Scorpion WinterFeaturing a tread rubber compound that introduces a new polymer blend and a higher content of silica components, the Scorpion Winter enhances grip and handling in typical winter driving conditions. The tread compound is molded into a directional design that features a rounded tread profile, modular center block geometry and stable shoulders to enhance dry road handling. Circumferential grooves help maintain good traction on wet and slush-covered roads while snow boosters ridges molded in the bottom of the grooves and multi-directional sipes help bite into snow and on ice.
Note: Scorpion Winter tires in sizes up to and including 255 Section Widths feature a 3-rib tread design, while tires in sizes of 265 and wider Section Widths feature a 5-rib tread design.
Scorpion Winter Performance Winter / Snow radials meet the industry’s severe snow service requirements and are branded with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol.
Install Scorpion Winter tires in sets of four only.
Vehicles should always be equipped with equivalent tires at all wheel positions. These winter / snow 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.
Limited sizes of the Scorpion Winter are available with Pirelli Noise Cancelling System, which involves the manufacturer adhering a layer of sound-absorbing foam to the inner liner of the tire to reduce cabin noise in the vehicle. These sizes are identified on the Specs page and in the search results.
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 put these winter tires on my vehicle immediately after taking delivery as the vehicle came stock with summer only tires and there was already snow and ice on the roads. As such they’ve mostly seen just cold snowy winter days of driving. So far I am pleased with them. I did a “minus 2″ and dropped from the 21″ summer tire / wheel combo to a 10” winter tire / wheel combo and the ride is as would be expected, less harsh than what the low profile summer set up would be. Noise factor is a bit of a presence as to be expected in any winter show tire due to tread pattern, etc., but otherwise they ride nice and comfy and provide decent traction on the snow and icy roads. Not perfect traction as I have had them break loose, but still decent assuming I am managing the throttle input to match the road conditions. When there have been dry days these tires are no slouch to spirited driving when I put the SQ5 into Dynamic and Sport mode and press down hard on the throttle. While they don’t perform like a low profile summer tire, I don’t expect them to either, yet still, they are quite fun to tool around on when the temp outside is 20 deg or lower. The rubber remains flexible and grippy and even with some aggressive cornering I am not seeing any abnormal wear on the shoulders of the tires. Looking forward to how they wear over the next couple of years of winters and if they’ll continue to provide the good traction they are providing now.
My 3rd year and 2nd vehicle and same tire still has 65 percent thread left according to Audi. I drive 65/75 mph mostly and they are as quiet as my all seasons. I use these 5 months a year.
Bought these for my wife’s 350ML Benz. One year and 5K miles later bubble developed on sidewall of driver rear tire. Pothole? Maybe. Ordered replacement tire from TireRack and should know once we pull off the old tire and inspect the inside for impact damage. As for the driving, these are way quieter than the old Michelins we had on the car. Those things howled like a tornado. These do well on wet roads, light snow (never took it in deep snow so can’t comment on that) and are decent on ice – my main issue is stopping on ice and these seem to dig in pretty well. Overall I would buy them again BUT will withhold endorsement until we determine if bubble is impact related or defect.
2 winters and thread is down&done! Unacceptable in any way. Last buy of this tire.
This is the second season on these tires and they perform very well. Cornering on icy roads (understeer) is the only minor issue I have.
Only use for winter driving. 4400 miles and worn and will not pass inspection.
I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of these tires as my confidence in Pirelli tires was not high. I got these only because Michelin winter tires were not available in the 225/55R19 tire size of my wife’s new Mazda CX-5. I’ve had previous experience with Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 and Michelin X-Ice XI3 & Latitude X-Ice XI2 winter tires. Between the Blizzaks and the Michelin winter tires, I much prefer the Michelin tires in our Seattle-area winter conditions. We typically have a lot of rainy days with some light snow mixed in several times a year and weekend ski trips with potentially deeper snow conditions. Black ice is probably our biggest concern as our morning temperatures are often around the freezing point. The soft rubber compound of the Blizzak tires provide great traction on snow covered roads, but feels mushy and vague in wet or dry road conditions that we typically have in the winter. The Michelin winter tires, in contrast, maintain good steering response and feel in all conditions. The Pirelli Scorpion Winter tires perform well in a wide range of road conditions like the Michelin X-Ice tires. If anything, they have a more sporty feel than the Michelin X-Ice tires given the relatively short sidewalls of the tires on my wife’s car. Also, I’ve been impressed by how quiet these tires have been even on dry roads.
These tires carried me through two of the worst So Cal mountain storms over the past holidays. Trying to get around closed roads I found myself on unplowed dirt roads with up to 12-15 inches of snow, slush, and mud on them. The SQ5 kept moving when others were stalling out and getting stuck. At one point I had to back out a dirt road about a quarter mile when the Audi sedan in front of me got stuck, then drive up a steep muddy and snowy road I had come down in order to get out. I also went around our neighbor whose Shelby Raptor was planted into a snow bank and unable to move. These tires make my Audi as capable as anything else in the snow. The only limitation is ground clearance. In the summer in Las Vegas where I live it’s hot and I definitely feel the difference in handling compared to the high performance summer tires that the vehicle came with. They simply don’t stick as well, but they do well enough and can easily keep the car composed in the event of an emergency handling maneuver. But they make the car a bit less of a canyon carver than it was when summer tires were installed. It’s a compromise I am glad to make, as the whole reason for having an AWD SUV is to be able to get home to the mountains when the whether is bad. I have a separate “fun” car with high performance summer rubber for when the Angeles Crest calls on a warm sunny day. In summary, I highly recommend these tires to anyone who wants an all-year tire that will get them out of the muck when the snow falls, and keep them happy in warmer months.
Mounted the tires in late December 2019 before trips into the Rockies. Handled Houston winter well as well as the lower temperatures in the mountains. Finally swapping back to max performance summer tires at March 15, 2020 because winter is no longer a risk. Recent temperatures in Texas have been from 30F to 85F… tires have handled and driven well from -10F to 85F over 90 days without abnormal or accelerated wear. Good tread remaining after 8,500 miles even at the recent temperatures. Should get another winter season (i.e. 8,500 miles at least) next winter.
I also have the all weather version of the pirelli scorpion tires that came with the vehicle. I hate them. When I wear them out I might keep the winter tires on all year. The winter tires are great and get great traction in wet conditions and snowy conditions. The difference is amazing.
If you have an Audi Q7 these are the tires you will probably want, winter or not. You don’t need to spend any more time on the Internet agonizing over which tires to get and reading endless, conflicting tire reviews. If you drive like a normal person then you’ll most likely really enjoy this tire. I had a smile on my face less than a block away from the tire shop and that’s never happened to me before. Usually, it takes me a few days to figure out if a tire is going to work or not for me. I also have never written a tire review before. I just trying to save some of you the hassle I went through looking for new tires. I was originally going to go with the Michelin Premier LTX tires but they aren’t made in a 21″ wheel size. I went looking for All-Season tires and ended up buying Winter tires and being very happy with them. This is an odd winter tire that can be used year round. I like this winter tire so much that I’m going to keep it on my vehicle even when it’s 90 degrees. It’s just so soft and quiet that there’s no way I want to go back to the Continentals.
These are excellent snow tires, with a flair for performance. I think the Blizaks are better in serious snow and ice, but in cold dry or wet conditions these are far and away better. These honestly feel more like stiff summer tires than they do snowies. I live in Brooklyn, so hour snow clearing is pretty quick. Typically I’ll have a couple days of real snow after a big storm, then the roads are just awful slush, which these excel in These also required very very little weight to balance, which I hope speaks to good manufacturing, but I could be deluding myself
These are nice tires but!, I had a set of Blizzaks before an I really like them much better then these,the reason i had to buy these is because Bridgestone stopped make them in my size for the Flex, I wasn’t to happy about buying something else, when I had great Success with the Blizzaks on many of are vehicles, I’ve notice with my Ford Flex the Traction Control seams to do its job, to much in deep snow with these Scorpions, an lost half of my brake pad do to this, an noticed that wear on that tire, I had bought a second set of these for my wife SHO an notice better results with them compared to my Flex, the SHO has the same size tires as the Flex,they make Blizzacks for the SHO but not for the Flex for some reason, my wife said that she likes the Blizzaks better then the Scorpions,dropped a lot of cash on these an over all I’m not that hyped about them, but if these are new to someone that never had a set of Snow tires these days there pretty good, as I always say once you go to a set of Blizzacks you’ll never go back an its the cheapest insurance one can buy for winter driving plus its the only thing between you an the ground in your vehicle
If you want to keep your BMW handling like it does on summer tires, these are the the winter tires you want. Great steering feel and response despite the tall tread. Road noise was very quiet when new (I threw them on and drove half way across the country) and have only gotten slightly louder over 5,000 miles. Living in Colorado, I have seen all sorts of weather in the winter. From 70F days in Denver to -17F in some parts of the Rockies, these tires have performed exceptionally in all conditions. They feel great when carving through mountain passes. Even with hard packed snow or slush on an unplowed lane, you’ll have the confidence and traction to pass slower drivers in plowed lanes! These tires are so good that I actually become frustrated with everyone around me when it snows, knowing how capable the car is with these tires on. I have no problem going the speed limit when it’s snowing — the only limiting factor being visibility.A quick story: I drove up to Steamboat Springs during a snowstorm this past weekend. The roads were super slick, and the ambient air temperature was -17F. These tires gave fantastic feedback, and you could instantly tell when and where the road was icy. I had to make an emergency braking maneuver when an oncoming car lost control around a corner and came in completely sideways. It was obvious they were going too fast and were on the wrong tires for the conditions. My car came to a complete stop from 40mph with minimal ABS intervention. Luckily, the other vehicle managed to regain control after a big tank slapper, but had it not been for the superior traction of these tires, I could have easily locked up and slid as well.The only time I’ve had issues was due to my own stupidity — I drove into a 12″ deep unplowed turnoff to prove to my girlfriend how capable the tires/car is. Well, because I came to a complete stop, we got stuck. But I was able to rock the car out after flattening the snow around the tires. Didn’t have to dig it out!
This has turned out to be a nice sporting winter tire, which is quite different from more “serious” winter tires like the blizzaks. Steering response is quick and controlled. They are responsive enough that if someone were to swap my goodyear all seasons for these on a cold day, I would generally not be able to tell anything had changed. They “feel” just like a sporting all season tire, which is great. Outright grip on dry roads could be better, but as the roads here are constantly covered in salt from November through March, I’m really unable to tell if the grip is bad or if the roads are just dirty (I suspect grip is a little low). Still, these are by far the sportiest winter tires I’ve ever been on. In the snow and ice, they offer about 90% of the grip of my previous blizzaks. They are certainly better than any all season you’ll ever use, but they lack the tenacious grip of a true one-purpose winter tire. Overall, I view it as an acceptable trade off. In the past, I used to dread the winter months, as my blizzaks represented the death of any sort of handling feel for 4 months through the winter. The flexible sidewalls delayed steering response by a huge margin, and it felt like my I had traded my Charger in for a 2001 Chrysler town and country. With the Pirelli’s, the sporting feel ls no longer sacrificed. The only real negative I have is treadwear. It is awful. I have so far used these tires for a little over 11,000 miles, and they are all down between 5 and 6/32nd tread. Just about done. I realize I’m running these on a near 500 hp car, but I have certainly NOT been doing burnouts or hooning around…it’s winter after all. I’d say 15000 miles is about the most you can expect out of these. Still, it’s a darn fine 15000 miles. Good snow traction, good noise levels, excellent sporting feel, and limits high enough to keep things entertaining.
Amazing tires. Under full excelleration on ice and snow covered roads the grip is great. You take off from a light as if you are on dry roads. On dry roads I only noticed a slight reduction in cornering compared to my all season Pirelli’s. Very quiet. I have driven these all over the Midwest in Ice, snow and mixed conditions. Great tire and worth the money. Tire Rack shipped the tires directly to a local installer for me, the whole process worked great. As far as the Pirelli $70.00 rebate, What a joke!!!! Pirelli is no help getting you the rebate. I have called and emailed with no luck. They tell me they have a third party admin the rebates for them and aren’t willing to assist in finding out why its taking so long. As of this posting I have been waiting over 4 months, the web portal tells me it is still processing. Pirelli should be embarrassed.
I was a michelin guy. I’ve had michelins on all my cars for years now. My wife bought a new mercedes with the scorpions on it, and then I bought an audi and wanted better tires. I bought the scorpion winters. I live in the very rainy and sometimes snowy northwest. I have this to say about these tires. WOW. best da*ned tires I’ve ever owned on a vehicle. I can be doing 70 on the highway, hit a puddle big enough to throw water over the center median, and not even notice it in the steering or handling. I drove in foot-deep unplowed fresh snow over ice, up a rather steep hill that was stopping all others including some chained trucks, and barely noticed it. I never once slipped or skidded, or felt any loss of control. Normal day to day driving, whether it’s a light rain or a sunny day, they drive the same, sporty, good feel on the road, still comfortable with very low road noise compared to most light-truck tires, and even compared to my old michelins. If you are looking at these, stop now, these are the ones you want to buy. I’m betting you’ve never had a better tire on your car.
At 60,000 km these tires are still at 6/32″. This is the second set of these tires I have had. I bought the same tires in 2010 and put 50000 km on them before selling them with the car in 2012.The only complaint I have is in regard to stopping on ice however, I don’t know what would be better other than studded tires.
This a great tire for mild winter conditions driving on city streets and highways. It is quiet and responsive. On the roads of Vermont it was not adequate for heavy snow, slippery slush, muddy snowy dirt roads.
2 days after I put these tires on my Audi Q5 we got 6 inches of snow and a lot of standing water. The handling of the conditions compared to the all season tires I replaced was very noticeable. They seem to be as quiet as my last tires, ride well on the Hwy and now I know I can go through about anything mother nature throws at me. Nice feeling.
I am a Continental guy when it comes to all season tires, Michelin, when it comes to winter tires. The story:I had a winter set needing replacement for my X5, they were Michelin tires, and because i have a pleasant experience with a set of Pirellies recently bought for my 528xi, i gave it a try, but not only, the price was better than Michelin, but i changed my mind as soon as i drove the car. They are exceptional winter tires and they perform better than majority of all season tires i had and drove on over the years. They are better then Michelin, Blizak on the category. Bravo Pirelli !!! I’m impressed, will buy another set anytime
I have had varied Pirelli Scorpion Tires and several vehicles now and they are all a FABULOUS value. The snows are great all rounders. If you lived in cool/cold climates, you could run these all year round. They are quiet, VERY smooth, yet handle (skip Barber trained racer) as well as anything that has been on the respective vehicles. Very comparable to Michelin Latitude snows at a MUCH better price. I currently have these snows on my RRS, a Lincoln MKC (they came off an Evoque) and that Evoque had the summer Scorpions which were a highlight of a vehicle with an atrocious transmission. Would I put these on my Evora–> NO! A luxury sedan where the emphasis was on winter surefootedness, –> absolutely!
I have used these tires for the last 4 Winters and just took them off today (in May!). The weather changes of the past years meant I am on Winter tires longer than a 3-month season. This past “Winter season” lasted almost 6 months! The total mileage from the 4 Winters usage was almost 23,000. I am very happy with that amount of mileage over the 4 years. I will be replacing these very shortly for the next coming Winter and 100% I will buy another set.
We only drive about 7,000 miles a year, mostly around town, but regularly including trips on our dirt roads and trails in Vermont (including winter and mud season). I put five of these tires on when we first bought the car in 2014, and have replaced two (one for wear and one for puncture damage), but have at least a year or two left on the others. The tread life is pretty incredible for winter tires that we continue to ride through the summer.These tires handle surprisingly well, transforming our cute-ute into something that rides much more like our Acura. The tires are actually quieter than the all-seasons that they originally replaced, too. The tread pattern is pretty good at shedding water (tested regularly through water pooling on the parkway), which is much more important to us than top end cornering on dry pavement. We would definitely buy (and already have bought) these tires again!
Bought these for my Q7, which is good in the snow with all seasons. With these tires, it is a high confidence ride in all winter conditions. Not an ice tire compound, maybe it’s only weakness compared to blizzacks. Ride is very quiet for a winter tire. Steering not mushy at all. My second set of Pirelli tires and both have been better than I expected (to me, the brand is known for great summer tires that don’t last).
I’ve been daily driving a Charger in winter in North Dakota with these winter tires for more than a few weeks now, with quite a few miles already, and I’m liking them a lot. I was worried about traction and getting around with this car in snowy conditions, but it handles great with these tires, and I get good grip and don’t slide around unless I push it or if it’s icy. If I have to drive through any snow or snow pack, these tires feel in tune with the ground and never leave me stuck in place.I drove these tires on dry conditions too, before the snow fell, and they felt good at highway/freeway speeds. They have a little softer feel than the summer tires, which is to be expected, but overall these tires feel more stiff on dry roads with above freezing temps than other snow tires I’ve used.
I have lived in Reno/Tahoe for 22 years and have spent a great deal of time at Lake Tahoe and in the Mountains around Tahoe and in Oregon and Utah too. Throughout these years, I have driven a lot on wet, snow covered, and/or icy roads. I have found the Pirelli Scorpion Winter to be a terrific tire for all conditions. Though it shines best when the weather is the most difficult, it is relatively quiet on dry pavement too. I am purchasing my second set for my Audi Q5 as I write this. Highly recommended.
The Pirelli Scorpion Winter tires are great winter tires, overall I have been very impressed with the performance. We have frequent snow storms and these tires (I have the 315’s on the rear) have always provided very good performance along with great handling on dry pavement.
This is my second set of these tires. They are slightly cheaper than the Porsche Spec tires, but they ride and perform great. I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and we get it all, ice, snow, sleet sub zero temperatures. These tires are solid and stable, when others are sliding into the ditches.