Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 vs Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3: If you are living in an area which has a cold and long winter, you have probably heard of winter tires. These are the tires which are designed specifically for good snow usage with maximum wet braking capabilities. In terms of winter performances the typical ranking goes like this, All Season –> Winter –> Nordic–>Studded. We have covered this segment quite a bit with the undisputed best winter vs studless comparison, comparing Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 vs Michelin X-Ice Snow
For this time around we would like to bring on 2 winter ultra high performance segment challengers in the form of Michelin’s Pilot Alpin PA4 which was launched in 2011 and also Pirelli’s Winter Sottozero 3 which made its debut in 2014. You might wonder why we are comparing 2 relatively old tires, however these 2 products are still serving a huge chunk of the 18-21″ winter market hence the reason to evaluate them head to head. Let’s put these 2 tires 1 against 1 and see who comes up on top !
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the Tire Rack’s “Testing Performance Winter / Snow Tires: Which Have the Right Balance of Performance?” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around in Tire Rack’s own proving ground. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 vs Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 based on the relevant performance category. The Pilot Alpin PA4 Ultra was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for subjective evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%.
As we are evaluating the winter segment, Tire Rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were also evaluated. However for summer performances, only wet/dry braking & noise were tested as the main focus was on winter tests. The tire size of interest is 245/40R18 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Jaguar Xe. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a rear wheel drive 2012 BMW F30 328i Sedan with a 18×8.0 rim.
Snow
When it comes to winter tires, snow performance is everything as that is the target requirement for this segment. This is where we saw the snow results were mainly dominated by Pilot Alpin PA4. It managed to stop 2.4 feet (0.73m) earlier than Winter Sottozero 3 from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. It was a big difference when it came to snow acceleration as Pilot Alpin PA4 took 4.6 feet (1.4m) less distance to accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h).
While Pilot Alpin PA4 continued to outpace Winter Sottozero 3 in snow handling with a quicker lap time (1.7 seconds) and was also subjectively better with a 6.25/10 rating against 5.96/10 of Winter Sottozero 3. Overall, it is clear to us that Pilot Alpin PA4 is the dominant snow tire.
Winter Sottozero 3:
- -3.3% in snow braking
- -10.8% in snow acceleration
- -1.5% in snow handling (subj)
- -1.9% in snow handling (lap time)
Ice
Similar to snow, ice was also dominated by Pilot Alpin PA4. In ice braking, Pilot Alpin PA4 managed to out-brake Winter Sottozero 3 by 2 feet (0.6m) from a braking speed of 12 mph (20 km/h) to 0. Things were similar for ice traction as Pilot Alpin PA4 took 0.12 seconds less to travel 60 feet. Overall, it is clear to us that Pilot Alpin PA4 is the dominant ice tire.
Winter Sottozero 3:
- -2.4% in ice braking
- -5.8% in ice acceleration
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. Winter Sottozero 3 was second best as it trailed Pilot Alpin PA4 1.5 feet (0.46m) in distance at a braking speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
Winter Sottozero 3:
- -1.4% in wet braking
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. While things overwhelmingly favored Pilot Alpin PA4 in the wet, it was the opposite in dry as Winter Sottozero 3 managed to brake 3.2 feet (0.98m) earlier compared to Pilot Alpin PA4 from a speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
Winter Sottozero 3:
- +3.7% in dry braking
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Ride comfort, noise & comfort was tested and Winter Sottozero 3 came out slightly ahead at 7.13/10 rating compared to the 6.98/10 rating of Pilot Alpin PA4 with ride quality being the main differences.
Winter Sottozero 3:
- +0.8% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. This was in alignment as Pilot Alpin PA4 was 17 dollars more expensive than Winter Sottozero 3.
Tire size: 225/40R18
Pilot Alpin PA4: $254
Winter Sottozero 3: $237
Difference: -7% more cheaper for Winter Sottozero 3.
Summary
Overall, Pilot Alpin PA4 showed clear strengths in snow, ice & wet performances while Winter Sottozero 3 showed good dry & noise performances. Even with its drawback in price, Pilot Alpin PA4 is the clear winner in this duel with extremely good winter performances. Enjoy !