mooretorque

Replaced my Bridgestone S03s with the Pirellis about 1k miles ago. While not unhappy at all with the S03s (and God knows they are light years ahead of the OEM RE030s that Lexus supplied, in all respects), I decided to delve into the realm of very high performance all season tires. We do get plenty of relatively cold weather (cold enough that summer-only rubber underperforms for several months of the year) and there will be the occasional bit of slush to deal, with which the S03s were distinctly unhappy.

So, read up on the likely suspects via our good friends, the Tire Rack. The Pirellis actually were buyer rated higher than the Michelin PilotSport A/S and were cheaper to boot ($127 vs $192/tire, altho I really wouldn't mind the extra cost), so I had 4 drop shipped to my dealer. The two mounted on the front road forced out at 25 and 40 on their Hunter GSP9700 (anything more than 20 will usually produce unacceptable amounts of vibration) so I called TR. They immediately shipped two more Pirellis (and did not charge my credit card!!!), which subsequently rf'd out at 7 and 15. Props once again to TR!!

Result: the ride is definitely more supple, no doubt a result of rounded shoulders vs square plus softer sidewalls. They are VERY quiet. Turn in is, as would be expected, slightly less sharp than with the S03s but much better than one might expect, given the difference in ride quality. Dry grip is very good and break away when they let go is smooth and progressive. Wet grip is little short of amazing, both in damp conditions and in rain/standing water heavy enough to make hydroplanning possible. We've had temps down in the 30s here, too, and the Pirellis seem to give nothing up whereas the S03s definitely wanted temperatures above 40. Finally, while I don't mind replacing tires every 15-17k, the Pirellis are treadwear rated 400 vs the Bridgestones' 220 so I'd imagine they'll last me a bit longer. In short, highly recommended. I might add that I'm running the stock Lexus 17" wheels and have stayed with the 235s.

Seize

Great write-up...I'll definitely give them top consideration when I get my next set of tires

daleer

I just got the pzero nero m&s tires in 245/40/18. I'll post again once I've had them installed.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

awesome review, and it's exactly what i think too. the nero is so much better than the so3 i had before, so much quieter and nicer. the handling is definitley not as good as the so3, but i am very happy with this purchase

mooretorque

Addenda to my first post on the Pirellis. As everyone knows, the midsection of the country got a massive dump of a snowstorm beginning this past Wednesday. Central Arkansas got about 4-6" on top of ~1" of sleet over the space of 12 hours starting about noon. Predictably, no one tried to leave work until the sleet started and conditions deteriorated very rapidly. This led to all sorts of traffic problems since we are not geographically flat by any means.

In order to get home, I had to travel 7 miles of mostly hilly terrain, with the first couple of miles and the last 2 being the most difficult (and the last two obviously worse since that much more sleet had fallen).

The Pirellis were absolutely fantastic! TRAC/VSC rarely intervened as far as forward progress and cornering; the antilocks didn't come into play at all when slowing. I did drive in SNOW mode for it's less aggressive throttle mapping; regardless, the Bridgestone S-03s would have been useless!! (It's doubtful that I would have even gotten out of my parking lot. This isn't bashing the S-03s; they weren't designed AT ALL for those conditions.) The last two miles involve climbing a hill that's close to a half mile followed by some relatively steep descents with two stop signs on the downhill portion. No problems on either section while numerous RWD vehicles (with obviously open diffs) were making NO progress.

In short, adding this experience to my dry and wet weather experience has completely sold me on these Pirellis!!!

daleer

I'm also loving my pzero's now - very nice ride!