Sidewall failure appears in 27% of these reports; about 1.8× as often as across all tire complaints. Percentages are shares of the 604 reports filed against Pirelli tires across every line and vehicle that include a written account; a single report can describe more than one problem, so they do not total 100%.

Reported problem	This subject	All tire complaints	Relative
Sidewall failure	27%	15%	1.8×
Blowout or sudden deflation	25%	20%	1.3×
Bubble or bulge in the tire	19%	6%	3.2×
Cracking or dry rot	14%	9%	1.5×
Loss of control, rollover or collision	8%	8%	0.9×
Tread or belt separation	4%	13%	0.3×

Mileage at failure

397 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 15,000 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 3,000 and 37,000 miles.

In owners' own words

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Pirelli. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.

THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 FORD F-150 EQUIPPED WITH PIRELLI SCORPION TIRES, SIZE P275/55 R20, DOT NUMBER: N94BY5204610. THE CONTACT STATED THAT UPON INSPECTION, IT WAS FOUND THAT ALL FOUR TIRES WERE DRY ROTTEN. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A PRIVATE MECHANIC WHERE THE FAILURE WAS CONFIRMED. THE TIRES WERE NOT REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS CONTACTED. THE FAILURE MILEAGES WERE 15,000 FOR BOTH THE VEHICLE AND THE TIRE. UPDATED 10/17/13

NHTSA complaint 1010888

I BOUGHT 4 PIRELLI P4 P185/60R-15 TIRES. LESS THAN 6K MILES A TIRE BLEW OUT THE SIDEWALL. NOW AT 17K MILES ANOTHER TIRE HAS A BIG BUBBLE ON THE SIDEWALL. I AM TAKING THAT BACK TO DISCOUNT TIRE FOR A REPLACEMENT. I DID NOT HIT ANY POTHOLES AND I DRIVE SLOW. THIS IS SCARY.

NHTSA complaint 1068830 · 1998 vehicle

THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 FORD F-150. THE VEHICLE WAS EQUIPPED WITH PIRELLI TIRE SCORPION STR TIRES, TIRE SIZE 275/55/20. (NA) THE DOT NUMBER WAS XL4BJ9248610. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 15 MPH, A CLICKING AND POPPING NOISED EMITTED OUTSIDE OF THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS MERGED TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WHERE THE CONTACT NOTICED THAT THE FRONT PASSENGER'S SIDE TIRE EXPLODED. THE TIRE WAS REPLACED WITH A SPARE TIRE. ALSO, THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT THE OTHER THREE TIRES ON THE VEHICLE EXHIBITED SEVERE TREAD SEPARATION. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER. HOWEVER, THE DEFECTIVE TIRES WERE NOT REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE PROBLEM. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 35,434 OF THE VEHICLE AND TIRES.

NHTSA complaint 1084863

HELLO, I PURCHASED THE PIRELLI 215/55 R17 94 V P4FS+ ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2016. ON AUGUST 27, 2017, THE TIRE POPS WHILE DRIVING. THE WERE NO OBJECTS IN THE TIRE TO HAVE CAUSED THE TIRE TO POP. I PURCHASED THESE TWO TIRES LAST YEAR BECAUSE THE TIRES THAT I HAD PURCHASED A YEAR EARLIER WORE OUT.

NHTSA complaint 1403717

Complaints are voluntarily submitted to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and are not verified by NHTSA; they represent owner-reported problems, not proven defects. Counts can be useful as a relative quality signal across comparable tires or vehicles.

Specs

Brand	Pirelli
Model	Winter Sottozero Serie II W240
Season	N/A
Type	N/A
UTQG treadwear	N/A
UTQG traction	N/A
UTQG temperature	N/A
Mileage warranty	N/A
Noise (dB)	N/A
Introduced	N/A

Live prices

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Available sizes (0)

Size data being verified.

Pirelli winter sottozero serie II W240: what the numbers tell you

Manufacturer treadwear data for the Winter Sottozero Serie II W240 is not publicly listed. This is common for OEM-only or track-day tires that don't carry a US treadwear warranty. No mileage warranty is published for this tire, which is typical for performance summer and track-day rubber where the manufacturer doesn't make wear-life claims.

Cabin noise data for this tire is not published by the manufacturer. As a general tire built for the passenger segment, the Winter Sottozero Serie II W240 is positioned against direct rivals within the same category. Comparing it to a tire in a different category (e.g. summer vs all-season) makes the spec sheet misleading because the design targets are not the same.

The Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II W240 has been part of Pirelli's catalog since its introduction, and remains a current-production model.

For an apples-to-apples comparison against direct rivals, see the comparison pages linked from this tire's brand index.

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