When it comes to tires with dependable winter traction, you shouldn’t have to compromise on road manners, ride quality, noise level, and handling. With the Pirelli Cinturato Winter, you don’t have to give in on any of those things. The Cinturato Winter is loaded with features and innovations that help provide touring-tire comfort, low noise, braking, and cornering performance, along with the kind of traction that will turn your daily driver into a beast that can get through deep snow, slush, wet roads, and even ice.

When most drivers think of Pirelli, they think of performance and sure-footed handling and cornering ability. The Cinturato Winter isn’t a race-ready performance tire, but Pirelli kept those same targets in mind when designing it. The result is a tire that brings you the peace of mind that comes from a solid connection with the road, the sort of traction that can get you through the roughest winter conditions without a hiccup.

So what is it about the Cinturato Winter that makes it such a solid performer? What’s in its design that helps deliver that kind of traction? Let’s dive in and take a closer look with this Pirelli Cinturato Winter review.

Features and Benefits

Here’s a few of the features that you can expect with the Pirelli Cinturato Winter:

• Directional tread pattern with wide, sweeping grooves to move water and slush away from the tire’s contact patch
• Specialized winter rubber compound is designed to stay flexible for traction in sub-freezing weather
• Tire footprint is square and wide, putting more rubber in contact with the road for better traction, control, and braking performance
• Network of 4D sipes that interlock for stability and grip while rolling, but open up and bite into ice while braking or accelerating
• Tread pitch is computer-tuned and randomized for low road noise
• Designed for long wear and stability at highway speeds
• Certified for use in severe winter conditions with the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake stamp from the tire industry
• Reduced risk of hydroplaning on wet pavement

Pros and Cons

Here are the things we love about the Pirelli Cinturato Winter, along with a couple of things we don’t:

PROS:

• Quiet, forgiving ride
• Tenacious traction for cornering, braking, accelerating in deep snow
• Predictable handling with minimal understeer or oversteer

CONS:

• Not usable in warmer weather
• Not pre-drilled for installation of studs for severe winter weather

SimpleTire’s view on Pirelli Cinturato Winter tires

At SimpleTire, we see a lot of winter tires and not all of them are created equal. While winter tires have come a long way from the heavy, clunky, “snow grips” of a generation ago, some are still noisy and clumsy and don’t deliver a great driving experience along with their winter traction. Not so with the Pirelli Cinturato Winter.

The Pirelli Cinturato Winter is truly a next-generation design for winter driving. Its suite of features such as the directional tread, sweeping grooves for evacuation of water and slush, innovative sipe pattern, advanced rubber formulation, and footprint are all designed to keep you in control and keep you safe when the weather takes a turn.

As for the two Cons listed above, they’re pretty minor quibbles. No winter tire can be used as an all-season tire; their softer, more pliable rubber compound stays flexible for traction when it’s cold, but will also wear quickly on warmer days. Tire manufacturers advise against using winter tires when temperatures are consistently above 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit for just that reason. As for the studs, studded tires are really only necessary when there’s ice everywhere. Studs are notoriously hard on pavement, which is why they’re illegal in many states and restricted to certain months of the year in others (check your state laws). The Pirelli Cinturato Winter is more than capable of getting you safely through terrible winter weather without studs.

Vehicles the Pirelli Cinturato Winter is a good replacement tire for

The Cinturato Winter from Pirelli is designed for sedans, coupes, minivans and crossovers. It could be a great fit for vehicles like the Buick Envision, Chevrolet Traverse, Dodge Grand Caravan, Ford Explorer, Honda Accord, Hyundai Elantra, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Kia Forte, Mazda CX-5, Nissan Murano, Subaru Forester, Toyota Highlander, or Volkswagen Passat.