Not the sottozeros but actually these are runflats at a real decent price at Tire Rack. Not expected to be as good as Blizzak or Hakka but they are 50-100% less $$:

Pirelli Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3 Run Flats:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....rie+3+Run+Flat

 

if cost is a high priority concern, how about these?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

i have dunlop grandtrek sj6 205/70-16 winters and they work great

scott

 

Graspics are definitely a consideration - but the Pirelli's are run-flats and my history with road hazard issues with tires makes me lean towards that option. On the other hand, if the Graspics are significantly better in terms of handling deeper snow, then I may just go with those anyways.

 

I haven't run those, but I have run 2 different sets of Pirelli performance snows - wintersports on an Audi S4 and scorpions on a X5 and found both to be excellent performance snow tires that worked quite well in the dry.

I am currently running Blizzaks on the SUV and those are much better in the snow, but they are pretty bad in the dry compared to performance snows. So depends what you are looking for - there is no free lunch - either you optimize for snow / ice or compromise a bit on that in trade for better dry performance. But in general I would say Pirelli makes some decent performance snow tires.

 

The limited size has prevented us from testing it. I wish I could offer some insight.

 

When I looked closer at these Pirelli's, the $100 rebate had a lot of strings, making a much less attractive deal. Apparently, it is "up to" $50 rebate, and you get "up to" another $50 if you also buy another set of Pirelli's. Graspics are looking better and better but I don't want to carry a spare and they are not run-flats. Since the snow may be considerable, I am willing to sacrifice dry ride issues to ensure I can handle the worst nature can throw at me. But the non-runflat issue is a concern. If I'm going to get them, they need to be installed by early February because that is when the trip is.