Tires Pirelli or DUNLOP
I'll admit that the conjecture about the P Zero Neros had me a little bit worried, too. The only thing different is that I also had mine siped by the installer. We had our first real snow last week (4-6" of heavy, slushy stuff) and the Pirelli's were great! Lots of traction. Very controllable. I'm sure that dedicated snow tires would be better, but I'm very pleased so far.
Glad to hear it!!!! My wife forced me to stop being cheap. She insisted that I get the set of P Zero Nero M+S early last month as a precaution since the F1s are supposed to turn to stone in cold temperatures. I'm glad I listed to her. We recently had a bit of a cold snap that would have taxed the F1s. Now that I know you've had good performance in the snow, I'm even happier and I know now that I should be good for the winter (Maryland - Mid-Atlantic Winter that is).
I too was pleasantly surprised with their performance. We've received 3"-4" in the last couple day here in Utah, and I've gone out searching for bad roads and have no problems at all with anything that I've come up against. Whether the ESP is on or off you just point it and go. I find them completely acceptable for an all-season tire, and will gladly buy them again when I need new tires.
Finally I can provide some feedback for anyone wondering how these tires perform in the winter snow and ice. Honestly, after reading a number of posts where people were critical of tires of this type I expected handling just a bit better than an ice-skate... (IMHO) these tires did a whole lot better than I expected. I had a number of unplowed side streets with 4-6" of snow depth to navigate in the early morning as well as a combination of slush and iced over roads and I had no problems to speak of.
based on my own prior experience.. skinnier tires are better in snow/slush.... so I bought a set of 205 50 17s myself... Dunlop Winter M2s for me!
I am on my second set of SP5000's also on my Passat. They are a great UHP all-season tire. The big knock on them is quick wear, even with a 340 treadwear rating.
The SP5000s were the tires I had on my MkII when I sold it. They were +2 and the best tire that I ran on that car in 13 years.
They're similar to the Pilot Sport Cups in terms of wear but I've been told that their grip levels are a bit below that of the PSCs.
The Factory 18" tire is the Pirelli P6, not rated so well either but not anything as bad as those Goodyears.
I just put my winter tires on. Dunlop wintersport M3. I have used these for 2 winters already, they have a decent amount of tread left. Maybe 20,000 miles total use on the tires already. 90% highway. I notice that the car now rides much more harsh than it does on the summer tires. It also makes a lot of noise. Almost like a wheel bearing or something. Way more noise than I remember from last winter!
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