Pirelli Sotozero 3 Winter Tire Malfunctions

jspiroNJ · 01-22-2024, 08:23 AM

I bought Pirelli Soto Zero 3 winter tires last winyrt for my 2018 F80 M3, as I live in New Jersey, and thought a dedicated winter tire would be necessary on a rear wheel drive car. Tires were fine last winter, no issues, got through a pretty mild winter for the North East. This year I swapped out my summer tire/wheel setup in Mid November with the sotoZero's towards the end of November. As of January 21st, I am down to only of those tires not malfunctioning. I've had to replace the two in the front with Michelin All Seasons and I am about to do the same in the back. Woke up this past Saturday to find my back rear tire flat in my garage.

Curious if anyone else has had the same issues with these tires? I paid a decent amount of money for what I thought would be high quality rubber and would last good amount of winters moving forward. Pirellis also stopped making the SotoZero 3 tire size needed to fit a F80 M3's.

Jon

M3SQRD · 01-22-2024, 10:44 AM

We’re running Sottozero’s on our G20 330ix and F22 240ix for the past three winters without any issues. So far so good this year - they have performed well in the snow, ice and cold weather conditions we’ve had this year.

tgb1974 · 01-22-2024, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspiroNJ

I bought Pirelli Soto Zero 3 winter tires last winyrt for my 2018 F80 M3, as I live in New Jersey, and thought a dedicated winter tire would be necessary on a rear wheel drive car. Tires were fine last winter, no issues, got through a pretty mild winter for the North East. This year I swapped out my summer tire/wheel setup in Mid November with the sotoZero's towards the end of November. As of January 21st, I am down to only of those tires not malfunctioning. I've had to replace the two in the front with Michelin All Seasons and I am about to do the same in the back. Woke up this past Saturday to find my back rear tire flat in my garage.

Curious if anyone else has had the same issues with these tires? I paid a decent amount of money for what I thought would be high quality rubber and would last good amount of winters moving forward. Pirellis also stopped making the SotoZero 3 tire size needed to fit a F80 M3's.

Jon

If you’re looking for an alternative, I highly recommend Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4. I’ve run them on my 2013 E93 M3 and my 2016 F83 M4 during several awful Chicago winters and they have been fantastic.

jspiroNJ · 01-23-2024, 02:16 PM

TGB thank you for the response! Thats actually what I am going with on all 4 wheels now. Glad to hear they have been working out for you in Chicago on your M cars. I was nervous they would not cut in New Jersey but I know Chicago winters well, I should be fine. Thanks again!

knightarmor · 01-24-2024, 09:03 PM

I had great experiences with the sottozero 3s on my 2017 for five winter seasons (the non-star spec). They were 18" square. I loved them.
I replace them last season with what I thought was the same tire but I got the star specs (were shipped directly to my tire guys place) and when they were getting installed I noticed they didn't fit the same as the previous sottozeros. I don't like the star specs. They have too soft a sidewall and I feel they don't have as many sipes as the non star specs. Thus sounds more like rambling now but...

How did your first two tires "malfunction"?

jspiroNJ · 01-26-2024, 05:20 PM

Interesting, I am not 100% sure which ones I had in terms of star spec. I did get them last year, before they stopped making them for my car. I did the same, and bricked them all around with my OEM rims. The first tire, I got a bubble on the sidewall, the second tire ended up having a malfunction in the beed. I was able to get reimbursed tirerack, only problem, I could not find another winter tire, had to get Michellin All Seasons. Then about two months later, I had another beed issue. Never in my life have had these kinds of issues with tires before.

jspiroNJ · 01-26-2024, 05:29 PM

I have a 2018 BMW M3. I recently had to replace a front headlamp. After the install BMW had to remap the unit to the CPU, which meant they had to reboot the system after installation. I was running Easy Bimmer code for my carplay, when the system re-mapped, I lost some functionality in the head unit, Navigation, and the bluetooth controls on the steering wheel will no longer cycle through songs. The technician at BMW is telling me its because I was using a 3rd party run carplay.

Has anyone had this issue before?

I have been running the code for over a year with no issues at all.

01-22-2024, 08:23 AM	#1
jspiroNJ New Member 0 Rep 10 Posts Drives: BMW 2018 M3 Join Date: Nov 2022 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (0)	Pirelli Sotozero 3 Winter Tire Malfunctions I bought Pirelli Soto Zero 3 winter tires last winyrt for my 2018 F80 M3, as I live in New Jersey, and thought a dedicated winter tire would be necessary on a rear wheel drive car. Tires were fine last winter, no issues, got through a pretty mild winter for the North East. This year I swapped out my summer tire/wheel setup in Mid November with the sotoZero's towards the end of November. As of January 21st, I am down to only of those tires not malfunctioning. I've had to replace the two in the front with Michelin All Seasons and I am about to do the same in the back. Woke up this past Saturday to find my back rear tire flat in my garage. Curious if anyone else has had the same issues with these tires? I paid a decent amount of money for what I thought would be high quality rubber and would last good amount of winters moving forward. Pirellis also stopped making the SotoZero 3 tire size needed to fit a F80 M3's. Jon
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01-22-2024, 10:44 AM	#2
M3SQRD Major General 2254 Rep 5,693 Posts Drives: E92 M3,G20 330ix,F22 240iX,F82 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mid-Atlantic iTrader: (11)	We’re running Sottozero’s on our G20 330ix and F22 240ix for the past three winters without any issues. So far so good this year - they have performed well in the snow, ice and cold weather conditions we’ve had this year.
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01-23-2024, 02:16 PM	#4
jspiroNJ New Member 0 Rep 10 Posts Drives: BMW 2018 M3 Join Date: Nov 2022 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (0)	TGB thank you for the response! Thats actually what I am going with on all 4 wheels now. Glad to hear they have been working out for you in Chicago on your M cars. I was nervous they would not cut in New Jersey but I know Chicago winters well, I should be fine. Thanks again!
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01-24-2024, 09:03 PM	#5
knightarmor Lieutenant Colonel 857 Rep 1,558 Posts Drives: 2017 M3 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Washington iTrader: (2)	I had great experiences with the sottozero 3s on my 2017 for five winter seasons (the non-star spec). They were 18" square. I loved them. I replace them last season with what I thought was the same tire but I got the star specs (were shipped directly to my tire guys place) and when they were getting installed I noticed they didn't fit the same as the previous sottozeros. I don't like the star specs. They have too soft a sidewall and I feel they don't have as many sipes as the non star specs. Thus sounds more like rambling now but... How did your first two tires "malfunction"?
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01-26-2024, 05:20 PM	#6
jspiroNJ New Member 0 Rep 10 Posts Drives: BMW 2018 M3 Join Date: Nov 2022 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (0)	Interesting, I am not 100% sure which ones I had in terms of star spec. I did get them last year, before they stopped making them for my car. I did the same, and bricked them all around with my OEM rims. The first tire, I got a bubble on the sidewall, the second tire ended up having a malfunction in the beed. I was able to get reimbursed tirerack, only problem, I could not find another winter tire, had to get Michellin All Seasons. Then about two months later, I had another beed issue. Never in my life have had these kinds of issues with tires before.
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01-26-2024, 05:29 PM	#7
jspiroNJ New Member 0 Rep 10 Posts Drives: BMW 2018 M3 Join Date: Nov 2022 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (0)	Easy Bimmer - Car Play Map I have a 2018 BMW M3. I recently had to replace a front headlamp. After the install BMW had to remap the unit to the CPU, which meant they had to reboot the system after installation. I was running Easy Bimmer code for my carplay, when the system re-mapped, I lost some functionality in the head unit, Navigation, and the bluetooth controls on the steering wheel will no longer cycle through songs. The technician at BMW is telling me its because I was using a 3rd party run carplay. Has anyone had this issue before? I have been running the code for over a year with no issues at all.
	Appreciate 0 Quote