Winter tires for the GTC4 Lusso are Sottozeros not good?

I recently bought a 2017 GTC4 Lusso (love the car). The dealer had a Set of one season old Pirelli Sottozero winter tires he gave me. The tread looks good with very little wear but in small amounts of snow or ice the tires are spinning and I am sliding a lot. I have never experienced this with winter tires on my Panamera TurboS or other vehicles I put snow tires on. Is it the tire or just the way the Lusso is? I was thinking of changing to Michelin Alpin PA5 but don’t just want have the same result.

 

Sounds off. I have run pirellis on my ff since 2012. The ff with winter tires is as good or even better than my full size rover and lr4 with winter tires. Countless people have used the pirellis even on rear wheel ferraris (550 etc) with no issues

 

Congratulations on the new Lusso! Something doesn't sound right. SottoZero are excellent winter performance tires. Of course, if you are truly on ice that could be the issue. What mode are you using? You should definitely be in snow mode.

 

I do have the car in snow mode when in snow and can feel the difference in the modes when I switch them. Maybe I will bring the car by the tire place and see what they say. Can I get my tires changed at a franchise tire place (Belle, Discount ) or because of the temperature monitoring along with the TPMS should I take it to a Ferrari dealership ( closest one 3 hours away)?

 

i really dont know but with all the massive SUV rims that exist today i wld imagine they can do the ferrari - just tell them to be careful...

 

Curious to what you find.

My car on Pilot Alpins will slide around a bit when the roads are really covered with snow/ debris, but its not unmamagable. I wonder if its possible if these tires' compound somehow lost its ability to heat up properly. I remember reading somewhere a while ago that winter performance tires should not be used more than 3 seasons typical driving, and sometimes its even less than that, despite how the tread looks. I think the point of the article was the compound can only go through so many heat cycles? I usually replace my winter tires every 2-3 seasons.

 

Congrats on Lusso, I am using my old FF wheels with Sottozero's that are 4 years old but low mile they do need using to get them working well. not had snow in the Uk only ice and really damp slippy roads.
are the pressures all correct for winters?

 

I have the pressure set as the manual states.

 

I know on the Bridgestone Blizzaks the tread compound that really grips on ice is only so many millimeters thick, and once worn off, the tire acts as a regular snow tire. I realize the Blizzaks don't come in the size for the FF, but that seems to mesh with what you have read.

 

I have Sottozeros RF on my S63, no problems on snow or ice.
Wife's Lusso had Blizzaks RF, excellent traction in all conditions, she got stuck only once because the snow was too deep.

 

I did 2 winter seasons on the Scootoszeros ( New England/Boston Driving) , I had Pilot Alpins put on after Thanksgiving, 3 snow storms so far Alpins are better in snow & icey driving hands down, BUT the soottos I think handled better on dry roads .

 

What size tires are on your wife's car? I had been looking on Tirerack and searched by vehicle. Only Michelin and Pirelli came up. When I tried size I did see a front tire by Blizzak, but it was for light truck/SUV.

I've put Blizzaks on my wife's cars for years and love their performance.

 

Don't remember the exact size but they fit on standard rims the car came with, they were slightly narrower on rear and same on the fronts as original.
The performance tires the car came with, I put on Black forged (optional) rims. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That's what I thought, that you went to a slightly narrower size. I'm going to take a look over the weekend when I can get back on my laptop.

 

Here is a set for sale if anyone is interested?
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/gtc4lusso-wheels-with-tpms-and-winter-sottozero-tires.612589/

 

I think the SZ are 245 front (same as summer) / 285 rear (down from 295 summer)/ PA are 235 front/ 285 rear. I've eyeballed my PA vs @ttforcefed 's SZ front and they really don't look much different. I'm very happy with the PA- I just wish Ferrari would have gone with a spec that featured more sidewall on these tires.

 

More sidewall...Exactly! Most car makers have rear aspect ratio usually down by 5 at the rear when having a staggered set-up. Ferrari should have done a 40/35 with this car. It will also improve the appearance, not to mention the extra pothole protection.

 

I just checked the manual and the SZ spec for the front tyres is also 235/35

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And yet, my friends car has 245 SZ lol- it could be that there are Ferrari spec SZ and regular spec. For example, there are no Ferrari spec Pilot Alpin, but that is the only tire I could source due to availability, so I am running Porsche spec tires (!!) (They work very well! )

 

Glad to hear that they work well. I just bought a set of OEM wheels and I am mounting Michelin Pilot Alpin tires in 235 front and 285 rear. I have always downsized to the narrowest possible tires when I bought snow tires for my wife's cars.

I noticed they were a Porsche spec, OK so I'm slumming!

 

do i have the wrong tires? lol. i bought mine off an fchat guy.

 

I have been daily winter driving Michelin Alpin on P 991.1 C2S, 991TT, FF, Lusso
and Pirelli Sottozero on 812.

Michelin never failed to make me very confident in the grip, in cold, rain, snow.
The Pirellis, already failed me a couple times, just in the cold + humid.

It might be that the car is more powerful and RWD, but I'm pretty positive they are the inferior solution.
For the 812, there was not an option to mount any Michelin per my dealer.

 

Haha,
My comment also comes from how the Sotto0 handle at low speeds, even starting off smoothly at red light in real low temperatures... not as good as the Michelin.
I was at first impressed, in the wet at 50-55F. But below that, not been happy.

 

In my experience the Alpine is better on ice/snow, whereas the Sottozero in cold, but dry conditions.