SottoZero 3 - Temperature range discrepancies
 

Tire: SottoZero 3 - Winter Performance, H rated tire in 215/45/17

Call Pirelli USA: Operating temperature maximum is 45 degrees Fahrenheit

Talk to TireRack: Operating temperature maximum is 50 degrees Fahrenheit

Conclusion: Tirerack is wrong. Interpretation is "Just sell the damn thing" - TireRack

Not a big difference? Someone will always not care about details and comment this. However, that really is not true. It is a technical question, and asking "what does the manufacturer say about the max range?". Also, if it is 56 degrees maximum daily temperature for 3 weeks, I would not mind driving a $180x4 set of tires a little bit above temperature for a while. But, 11 degrees above temperature would make me hesitate. I do not live in the mountains, I live on an Island. It does not swing more than 10 degrees F from night to day normally, often less.

So, if you got nothing else, at least you know the operating temperature range of the tire. Tirerack said no minimum temperature range, unlimited. Pirelli did not want to comment on the low range of the tire. I asked two people at the company, no listed official numbers they have here for lowest range of cold temps it is good for.

this might be splitting hairs at 45-50 F, but it is a hard numbers question that was not answered with hard numbers that Pirelli can readily provide. I dislike that.

If the manufacturer has given you an answer, what's the question??

there is no question. The answer was that tirerack might just not be knowledgeable when they claim they know details about the tires they sell. And, they claim it is manufacturer information, which it is not.

the other answer is that people can now know what this model tire is meant for, it is meant for below 45 degrees. People do not have to spend 9000 forum threads discussing such matters of when to put these tires on and make random general guesses.

So if Tire Rack got correct info from their vendor rep, and the vendor marketing department has wrong info vs what they provided Tire Rack, then who is at fault? You seem to be quick to point the finger at Tire Rack.

No. Tirerack got their information from pulling it out of their ass. it was a salesperson. They are not designed to "serve this forum", they are designed to make profit and commissions and take forum people's money.

The 50 degrees is just a guess based upon what people say all the time. "Buy my crap and whatever". I sincerely doubt, being a long time sales person for home products that the "rep" told them it was 50. The reps are the least moral people than any salesperson could ever be. The reps are designed to push products from one line of a distributor and train the guy on the telephone or storeroom to move product fast and close deals.

When someone asks the question: "What is the official, stated best or maximum temperature range for this tire?" They are not asking for general armchair forum or I-sell-900-brands-who-knows level of response from a saleperson doing a quick sale.

People really have a love for tirerack that is cultish at times.

Lets sue tire rack for false advertisement..

You got the correct information, What are you digging for with this thread?

My god, you are taking this way too far.

As someone who has worked on a manufacturer, vendor, distributor, reseller, AND end user side of a single product, I can tell you it's very easy someone was given wrong info. In the case of technical specifications, it's very hard to say who has the wrong info.

To lay blanket blame on Tire Rack to start (without even considering that perhaps Pirelli was giving wrong technical info to their marketing department, which happens a lot) is pretty much the wrong way to go about buying your product. It's like people blaming dealerships for giving out wrong info (to sell a car) when sometimes they were given wrong info by the regional team on the corporate side, and the regional teams internally at corporate aren't synced up on the same information.

But you know what? You seem to know more about the tire than Tire Rack, Pirelli, or anyone else. Go with what you know.

-alex

I even said to the salesperson: I know that there is a general knowledge, but I need it read from spec sheet from the company. When someone asks for a life or death product such as a tire, the safety range of operating it, optimal, etc, to go and read about that "if it is available at all" (i always give that out as sometimes the information is not known), then the person should find the exact piece of information. I sold tv's and appliances at a private store. When someone had a numerical question, specific operating question for a device, it might take a week and a few calls to get the fax of a manufacturer's data sheet, but they do exist. There is always an exact answer by a manufacturer or spec/engineering team. It exists and always exists for all products that have a real manufacturer (not some asian random website). In sales, if one is mentally alive, they know when someone is asking a very specific technical question and you answer them: I do not know exactly, I know generally, but you seem to be the customer that really desires to know the real numbers. Then, you either get them or say we can't get them we just are a lamo website seller operating via connected telephones on commission.