swoope

iTrader: (5)

you repaced ultra hi preformance tires with m+s tires and are suprised?????

you live in texas..... look into ultra hi , max pre , tires.... the p zero m+s is a great tire, but not in tx....

kumho spt great dry, amazing wet.

beers

Umbra

That pretty much says it all. It's a great tire up here in the north when you have to drive in snow 1/3 of the year.

HeelnToe

Just bumping this thread to encourage any new or changed opinions on these tires (P-Zero Nero M+S), as I'm about to order a set unless someone convinces me otherwise

I DO have a set of Pirelli snow tires which I dearly love and will continue using in winter. But once they wear out, I'm hoping to use the P-Zero Nero M+S's exclusively. I live in PA and never drive through deep snow, though often drive on freshly-plowed roads.

I absolutely hated the noise and harshness of the OEM potenzas, so it sounds like the P-Zero Nero M+S's are a good fit for my style. I'm willing to give up some lateral G's for a more comfortable ride and a chance to actually hear the engine. I also value handling predictability over ultimate performance, so maybe this "softer" tire is the way to go for me.

jmaluso

I heard Toyo Proxes 4 are good Ultra High performance all season M+S tires...might want to check those out as well...

mdw1000

I'm strongly considering these tires for winter and possible year round work based on the recommendation of a local RX-8 owner who also posts here (alnielsen).

I did some looking through this thread, and it seems that most people have come from the stock bridgestones. Anyone here switch from the stock Dunlops to the Pirellis? If so, what are your impressions, etc?

Thanks!

DemonRX-8

FYI: a W speed rating just a clarification of how much higher than 149 a Z rated tire is capable of (168 mph vs 149). From TireRack website:

This may have been covered elsewhere already, but thought I'd just drop it in here as well.

fredw1

Well HeelnToe, while these are pretty good all season tires, if I was going to be driving through deep snow on unplowed roads, I would be picking something else. I may have high expectations since I am used to driving FWD cars with all seasons, but these tires on my 8 did not give me nearly the same level of confidence. Since we do not get all that much snow in Cincinnati, and I have a 4WD truck for when we do, I would never buy snow tires. I have found these to be great in dry weather as well as in rain, so overall, I like them.

Omicron

I've got 12,000 miles on mine now and still like em as much as the day I got em. They're on my car year round. No, they are NOT a snow tire, but they DO let me get home. And they are quiet and predictable and sticky - and for me, do just fine in the wet. I've even had the car on the race track repeatedly now and they do just fine there too. All in all an excellent compromise tire.

Elara

Bumping- I've got almost 20k on mine, and they are still holding up very well.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

bump again because i want to ask you, how did they do in slushy winter roads that we usually get here in the mid-Atlantic area?

considering to get a set for winter while i store the RT-615's until next year's track season

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I run the same Falken/Pirelli combination on my car. I don't have any issues with the slush. They don't grip as well as the RT-615 but I guess you could figure that one out. I got the 245/40's. When I do it over again, I will go to a narrower tire.

sonicblue6

It's only been like 12 hours but I figure I'll start a thread. My situation: just bought a 2004 VR GT 6MT, 18K miles. Owner never rotated, thus my rears were shot but the fronts were in great shape. With the upcoming northeast winter, I had to get the OEM's off and opted for the PZeros. I couldn't justify a full set of snows when I may drive with snow on the road <3 times/year. I figure the PZeros are a good compromise. Yes, I'll have to take it very easy but they should withstand the colder temps enough to get me through.

My old tires were, of course, loud in the rear due to their wear, so it's hard to compare. I do feel safe in saying that the PZeros are pretty quiet. Even on some rough road, they keep the noise down. Tramlining is quite tame, as I have already ridden some patched/repaved roads where I'm sure the tires caught some of the patterns and I didn't notice much tugging.

My first real test came right away, this morning with lots of hard rain from the night causing standing water at many places along my commute. My drive to work has some 25mph backroads, some 40mph curves and some 55mph cruising, all of which had some significant water to run through this morning. The PZeros tore through them all with hardly a wobble, and they're not even broken in yet! I had extreme confidence the whole ride.

The appearance of the wider section is very subtle but noticeable if you're looking. There's no "hang" over the rim, just a little bit of heftiness to the sidewall is all you really pick up on, but it gives a little more aggression to the view from the rear. The OEM's have that weird little lip on them that I think makes the difference even less obvious.

Will post in here more when the colder PA weather shows up. Right now, it's going to be 65-70 degrees for chrissakes!

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I have the same tires on my car and have gone through a winter with them. They work fine in light snow. When the snows get heaver, 3 to 4 inches, the going gets a little tougher but they will get you there.

sonicblue6, the OEM tires have stiff sidewalls and these tires do not. This will cause problems with handling. Also, the OEM tires are summer performance tires. You will not get any grip when the temperatures dip to freezing and below. I would suggest that you sell the OEM's as soon as possible and get another set of the Pirelli's on the front of your car.

sonicblue6

I was unclear above, I guess - I have a full set (4) of the PZeros on the car. I saved the two OEM fronts but they're in storage, not on the car.

When you say "this will cause problems with handling," I understand that, by definition, their sidewalls are not as stiff as strict summer performance tires, but how much handling do you think they give up?

nSanity

I think he meant more along the lines of, if you keep the 2 bridgestones and 2 pirellis then they will cause problems due to a difference in sidewalls and whatnot.

I reckon the pirellis are better than the standard re040's, maybe the re050's are better than the pirellis but its debateable.

sonicblue6

^^ makes sense. Agreed, two different size tires front and back would be weird.

Umbra

I've had them for 2 years on my SPEC-V and they are completely shot. They were very good for the first winter, after that not so good. This winter I expect them to be nothing short of scary. After this winter they get replaced with something more durable.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

When I read your original post, I thought you had purchased just 2 of the Pirelli's for your car and were still using the Bridgestones on the front. That is the reason for my reply. I am glad to hear you got 4 new tires.
As far as handling, They are fine. I can drive them pretty hard and they have lasted longer than the 040's. When they were new, I found that the 040's were not that bad. I had to throw them out after 8K mi., because they were worn out and hydroplaning in the rain. I have Falken 's that use in the warmer weather.

sonicblue6

^ yeah, I figured I had been unclear. No harm, no foul!

I haven't pushed them at all yet due to the extreme wetness we've had, and the fact that they're not broken in. With winter coming up, I probably won't even give them a real test until spring, which is fine with me. I just want to be safe for the next 3-4 months, then I'll worry about fun!

mdw1000

I've only had my Pirelli's for a week, and I have to say I really like them. Have great traction on dry and wet pavement. Haven't tried snow yet, and hopefully it will be awhile before we get any accumulation here

I feel that the car rides better and tracks better in a straight line. It is a little bit mushier in tight turns, but it still turns better than anything else I have ever driven.

AirlockRX

I have a set as well. Cool tires.
Love the cold weather grip and quiet ride, but I'm sure that I'm going to take them off when spring comes around and use them as my winter tires (won't see much snow).

Just wondering what some you have found as the "ideal" pressures to run...
I'm presently running 40 psi with no harsh ride. In fact they still squish @ 42 psi.

fredw1

I really like these tires. Great on dry roads, and great with rain. Absolutely terrible when it snows, although I probably can't expect much better from any all-season tire on a RWD car, so I shouldn't pick on the Pzero neros in particular. It's just that these are what I have, and they are part of my experience.

I had the misfortune of having to drive 35 miles on mostly unplowed roads with 1-2" snow. It was 6:30 am on Sunday so it wasn't as bad as it could have been driving diagonally and sideways down the interstate. I feel fortunate to be able to be writing this now, since I saw my life flash in front of me several times. By the time it got bad, I was 10 miles from home and had a flight to catch to the West Coast for an important client meeting, so turning back was not an option. My speed was cautious, ranging from 10-30 mph (slower than half the traffic at the time, and the higher speed only if I found another's path to stay in). I grew up in Massachusetts, so I am used to driving in snow. But nothing prepared me for this.

We don't generally get enough snow to warrant snow tires. I think the average is 11 inches over an average of three snowfalls a year, with average daytime highs in the low 40's even now, so it isn't usually on the ground for long.

I learned two things: 1) never try this at home (again), and 2) if I ever do get stuck in snow with this car again (unlikely, since it will never be driven when there is even a chance of snow), turning off the DSC is a good second choice, since the DSC on was worse than it being off.

salituro64

If you think that was bad, picture me trying to make it home when a snow squal kicked in and I was on the Stock Potenzas. Only about 1/2 inch of slushy snow, but I was very tense the whole way home. It took me three hours to get 60 miles. The bitch of it all was that I never drive my car in the winter. I only drove it that day becasue I brought it to Mazda to have the MS exhaust installed.

Elara

Bump. I just ordered my second set of these- they've been great for 30k miles.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I too am on my second set.