Pirelli Ice Friction Tire First Drive: Preaching To The Choir

Even for Quebec, this is a lot of snow.

Pirelli has brought a gaggle of auto journos and content creators to ICAR Mirabel to test out its latest winter tire, the Pirelli Ice Friction. Typically, explains Ian Coke, technical director for Pirelli North America, the company will “break in” new tires on local roads, putting a little mileage on tarmac. Except there is no clear tarmac anywhere in the vicinity: everything, everywhere is blanketed in the white stuff. So we’re diving into the experience on the freshest of fresh rubber. What has Pirelli cooked up this time?

This is Pirelli’s next-generation winter tire choice for passenger vehicles. The look is traditional, with a symmetrical, directional  V-pattern tread design. Generous grooves provide good evacuation of water or slush, while plenty of smaller sipes work to trap snow. This might sound counter-productive, but Coke uses a snowball as an example. Pack the snow tight, and you can’t shear the snowball in half, right? The same snow-on-snow grip gives the Ice Friction its bite.

That’s all well and good when the tires are as fresh as the ones on the vehicles at the event, but what about during regular wear? Three-dimensional construction opens up the sipes over the tire’s life, providing better winter-weather grip for longer. According to Pirelli, this tread design retains 83-percent of its performance even at the replacement indicator.

Pirelli is launching the Ice Friction in 46 sizes, covering many of the most common sizes on the modern market. Nearly half (22) of those are designed for use on battery electric vehicles (BEVs), signified by ELECT branding. These aren’t merely the same tires deemed acceptable for the extra heft of BEVs; the outer layer is shared, while lower layer is a unique compound to improve rolling resistance and thus improve range compared to a traditional winter tire. Pirelli also includes a sound-deadening foam within the tire to keep road noise to a minimum: after all, EVs don’t have an engine to mask those noises.

The first set of tests for the day are relatively straightforward: thread a variety of vehicles through short slaloms, with a tight 180-degree corner connecting them, and an emergency brake test at the end of a short straight. It’s all carried out on a flat field of snow, though there’s plenty of ice lurking just below the surface, enough to make even walking between the cars a careful endeavor.

It’s important to note that every vehicle in this first test is equipped with the Ice Friction tires; there is no alternative or direct competitor here, so it’s impossible to glean outright performance of the setup. Instead, I focus on how the Ice Friction enhanced each vehicle’s handling on the slippery surface or, in some cases, introduced new aspects of their personality.

A Mustang Mach-E is the starting point: a pleasantly familiar one since I’d driven it to Detroit and back earlier this year, through the snow. With its long wheelbase and narrow tires, the Mach-E is incredibly predictable during direction changes and oddly elegant when sliding. That EV weight makes itself known most during the emergency stop, where the Mustang only just hauls up before the back cone.

The rest of the lineup is mostly SUVs: the Nissan Rogue is recalcitrant through the slalom, needing time for its mechanical all-wheel drive system to send power rearward, but finds better purchase at the turnaround. The Audi Q5 is heavier, more deliberate, and with more available power to be sent rearward more adjustable too.

The biggest shock is easily the humble Hyundai Elantra. With modest 205-section, 16-inch rubber, the front-drive Elantra provides the clearest picture of why winter rubber is so important for low-grip surfaces. Carrying significantly less weight around, but a higher percentage right over its driven axle, the Elantra carves lines in the snow so confidently you’d swear it’s secretly an Elantra N. Sure, SUVs have the clearance advantage for big snow drifts, but none of them feel as quick-witted as the little economy car here.

The rest of the day is spent rotating through other activities featuring a variety of Pirelli rubber. An off-roading course sees a Ford F-150 and Land Rover Defender navigating steep climbs, log-strewn trails, and heavy banking. Shod in Scorpion A/Ts, both vehicles are generally sure-footed, though it’s the steep climbs that serve as a reminder: a steady throttle is paramount lest one wants to slide their way back down and try again.

After that it’s back to the field of ice (and a bit of snow) for another quintet of vehicles to thread through the cones: Polestar 2, Alfa Romeo Stelvio, BMW X3, BMW M240i xDrive, and a nearly-identical Audi Q5. Scorpions, Sottozeroes, P Zero Winters—it’s a pick-n-mix situation.

The Q5 is unique here: the only vehicle to be available on two different tires—in this case Winter Scorpions—in theory it should provide the best chance at comparison. The second activity isn’t on the exact same course, but nonetheless this Q5 feels different; better lateral grip, but worse braking distances, at least based on this writer’s butt-ometer.

The Polestar and BMW are the other standouts. The former isn’t all positive, as it lacks the eagerness of the Ford from the earlier session, and braking distances stretch out—likely on account of the surface getting slicker with each run. The rear-biased BMW is a laugh, as easy to swing out as it is to rein back in. Apparently the car disagrees; one slide has it rolling up the windows even though we’re already straightened out. Whoops.

We don’t miss the opportunity to lap the circuit in race-prepped Subaru WRX STI hatches replete with studded tires. We’re encouraged to work on our Scandi flicks here, pointing the car towards the outside of the turn only to then flick it in, letting the weight transfer initiate the slide. Studs are a cheat code: the Scooby is so darned adjustable and predictable on the snow that it’s easy to hold big, lurid slides through every turn. It’s a laugh.

We end the day in the classroom. Coke and Pirelli Canada president Ernest Bedia get properly nerdy about the Ice Friction’s construction. There’s some real sci-fi stuff here: the rubber being composed of vegetable oils and functionalized polymers is nothing new these days, but nano magnets sure are. As Coke explains, these nano magnets give the Ice Friction a broader range of operating temperatures. Instead of turning to mush in the warmer early spring temps before owners will swap them off, the tires are capable of stiffening up. Is it the polar vortex moving through? They’ll soften. He reiterates it does not mean these are year-rounders—of course—but rather it improves performance across our increasingly unpredictable seasons.

Based on this limited first experience, the Pirelli Ice Friction should make a great choice for those looking for a top-tier replacement winter tire. Some vehicles respond to these new tires better than others; if you’re running a front-drive car through the snow, these shouldn’t be overlooked.

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