$600 Winter Tires vs $2000 WRC Rally Tires

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The Pirelli Ice Zero 2 is one of the best studded road tires money can buy on snow and ice, but how does it compare to a competition based WRC rally tire at over three times the price?

To find out I'm testing the Pirelli Ice Zero 2 against the Pirelli SottoZero WRC rally tire from the 2021 Swedish rally event. The IceZero is 225/40 R18 and the WRC tire 205/65 R15.

Both tyres have a similar goal, and both tyres are heavily governed by different rule sets.

The Pirelli IceZero 2 has been developed around the stud, a 10mm long tungsten carbide pinned monster with a 1mm protrusion. The studs are positioned to to optimise noise and grip, and the area around the stud is designed to keep snow away from the pin, which is very important for maximum traction.

The biggest challenge for the road tyre is the road wear test, which every studded road tyre must pass to ensure the tyres don't do too much damage to the roads.

The WRC tyre has no regard for the road, it just needs maximum grip in some of the toughest conditions possible. Rules limit the tyre to 12 studs per 10cm of travel and a 7mm stud protrusion.

It must fit on a 15x7" wheel, which is no big sacrifice as the narrower tyre improves pressure helping it dig through to the surface below, and it uses a sharp flat profile to saturate the width of the footprint.

Which of these two tyres will be best on snow and ice? Let's find out.

There's some big differences with the tires:

Pirelli IceZero 2
The tire was developed around the stud
It has non asymmetric studs
The stud is an aluminum stud with tungsten pin - 0.9g - 10mm long with 1mm protrusion
Geometry around the studs very critical to keep snow away from pin which is very important for grip
Stud layout very important for noise - different pattern for studs and tread pattern - random but also even pattern needed.
Directional tire pattern
As the Ice Zero 2 has more than 50 studs per meter, it needs to pass a road wear test

Pirelli Sottozero
Main constraint 12 studs per 10cm of length
Optimise position of studs, similar problems just different application
Studs are cured in the tyre
Narrower tire to improve pressure - sharp flat profile to saturate the width of the footprint - tarmac tyre more rounded on the shoulder
7mm stud protrusion
Directional asymmetric tread pattern - different tyres left and right
WRC specifies an 18x8 wheel for tarmac and 15x7 for gravel and ice. The ice tire is narrower than the gravel tire.

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:20 About the Tires
1:15 Snow Testing
4:17 Ice Testing

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Music by https://www.epidemicsound.com/