Pirelli Cinturato Winter 3 review

Seven podium places including two outright wins helped lift the Pirelli clear of the tyres fighting over third place and secure a strong second overall, breathing down the neck of the winning Continental. Its wet and dry performance was outstanding, and it was strong on the snow, too. Seventh in snow braking was only 0.55m off the stopping distance of the best, while fifth in snow traction wasn’t far off the pace either.

The Pirelli pulled it all together with equal second around the snow lap; it didn’t feel like it had the outright grip of the best, but was usefully mobile. Two table-topping results in the wet tests – in handling and straight aquaplaning – plus a couple of seconds and a third would often be enough to dominate the category, but not quite here. 

The Pirelli was third in the key wet-braking test, exactly one metre behind the top tyre, second around the wet circle and equal first on the handling circuit, where strong grip and useful agility underpinned a superb performance. It had it all: positive turn-in, solid traction, good on the brakes and responsive but stable at the limit. First and second in the aquaplaning tests rounded out a strong result.

A second place in dry braking, 0.7m behind the best, was backed up by an eighth ranking around the dry-handling course, where the whole field was covered by less than one second. All this and a good result in rolling resistance make for one very capable winter tyre.

Blackcircles.com says…

“We cannot currently provide insight into this tyre. However, its predecessor was positively rated 4.4/5 ‘would buy again’.”

Buy the Pirelli Cinturato Winter 3 from Blackcircles.com…