Both the Michelin Latitude Tour HP and the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season are esteemed options in the world of SUV touring all-season tires, providing durability, comfort, and all-weather reliability. But which one is for you? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
Main Findings
As a specialist in tire engineering, my tests show that the Latitude Tour HP is better in following.
- Enhanced lateral grip, ensuring better traction during turns.
- Advanced steering dynamics, providing a more responsive handling experience.
- Superior performance in wet conditions, including better hydroplaning resistance and wet grip.
- More effective snow performance, particularly in soft snowy terrains.
Review this tire: https://tiredriver.com/michelin-latitude-tour-hp-review/
In contrast, the Scorpion Verde All Season has an advantage in:
- Superior longitudinal grip, contributing to more effective braking capabilities.
- Quieter ride, especially in sizes equipped with Pirelli’s Noise Cancelling System.
- Extended tread life, owing to its lighter structure and less stress on tire lugs.
- Lower rolling resistance, which can lead to improved fuel efficiency.
Review this tire: https://tiredriver.com/pirelli-scorpion-verde-all-season-review/
Facts on Sizes
| Specifications | Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season | Michelin Latitude Tour HP |
|---|---|---|
| Rim Sizes (inches) | 16 to 20 | 16 to 22 |
| Speed Ratings | H, V | H, V, W, Y |
| Load Ratings | SL, XL | SL, XL |
| Weight Range (lbs) | 26 to 40 | 27 to 43 |
| Tread Depth (32″) | 9 to 12 | 9 to 10 |
| UTQG Rating | 600 A A | 440 A B |
| Treadwear Warranty | 65k miles | 55k miles for H and V, 45k for W and Y |
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Snow and Ice Performance
When looking at how well a tire performs in winter, it’s important to think about things like grip, handling, and how it deals with different types of snowy surfaces, like ice and packed snow.
And in this respect, the Latitude Tour HP is standing out with its detailed siping and the thick multi-directional siping slits, significantly improving traction particularly in soft snowy terrains.
Basically these biters and made to grab and squish the snow together, which is great because snow sticks to snow and creates more friction (it’s like a snowball effect).
Additionally, the Michelin benefits from its greater weight and a relatively narrower section width (across multiple compared sizes).
These features further add to that contact, as they apply more pressure on the snow, enabling the tire to embed snow particles in its tread more efficiently than the Verde All Season tire.
Noise Comfort
The noise we’re discussing primarily originates from air particles colliding with the tire’s surface.
Here’s what happens: air particles slip into the tread through the lateral gaps/voids around its edges. And when these particles strike around, they generate sound vibrations, which then linger and reverberate within the tread grooves.
This creates in-groove resonance and leads to cavity noise too.
Now among both tires here, the Scorpion Verde All Season excels in reducing this noise, especially in the sizes equipped with Pirelli’s Noise Cancelling System. In simpler terms, this system involves applying a layer of sound-absorbing foam inside the tire.
On the other hand, the Latitude Tour HP lacks because of its more aggressive tread design which although provides superior traction, also emits louder noise due to its more severe rubber to road interaction.
Dry Handling
The overall dry performance of tires is influenced by 3 things. Lateral and linear grip and overall steering dynamics. Let’s take a look at them all.
Lateral Grip
When comparing the grip capabilities of these two tires, it’s evident that both are pretty great (when it comes to SUV touring tires, I mean).
However, the Michelin tire edges out with a slight advantage, primarily due to its superior lateral g-force performance (as measured in tests).
And the reason the Latitude Tour HP grips so well is all down to its clever design, where it features strategically designed in-groove notches and deep cuts.
These grooves are super flexible, adjusting to how the tire moves side to side resulting in superior traction.
In contrast, the Scorpion Verde All Season tire also includes effective grip elements, but the problem is they are predominantly oriented laterally.
So although they provide good enough overall cornering grip, its still can’t reach up to the level of Michelin’s HP (high performance) tire.
That’s why when it comes to overall handling, Pirelli comes out with slower handling times, as seen by lap tests, lagging 0.5 seconds behind on average.
Though the major contributor to that performance difference is still the tire’s lagging steering responsiveness.
Steering Dynamics
Now before diving in to the steering characteristics of both tires, it’s essential to understand the three critical phases of cornering:
- Entry: This initial phase is where braking is key, as it marks the start of the turn.
- Mid-Corner: Here, the car is in the midst of the turn, making steering response the most significant.
- Exit: This final stage focuses on the tire’s ability to realign (straight) without slipping, once it gets out of the corner.
Now, in all these stages, the Latitude Tour HP is taking the lead. The tire provides superior braking (which I’d discuss in the upcoming section).
And with a superior on-center feel it also re-stabilizes after the corner, quicker comparatively.
Additionally, it provides a more robust steering feedback during the mid-cornering as well, effectively avoiding both the oversteering and understeering.
On the other hand, while the Scorpion Verde All Season falls slightly short in providing quick enough steering response compared to the Michelin, and the reason lies in its structure.
Basically Pirelli’s internal construction includes a cushioning layer above the nylon cap plies, resulting in a softer tire structure. And while this design offers superior comfort, it renders the tire lugs more flexible.
And flexing lugs take time to get back to their shapes, and that time becomes the delay between tires’ responding and you giving input to the steering wheel.
Longitudinal Grip
The concept of longitudinal grip, crucial for maintaining control and traction in a straight line. And since its a directional performance metric it makes sense why it gets measured by tire’s braking abilities.
Moreover, this type of grip, it’s mainly dependent on the tread’s central footprint. And having said that, it can be seen why the Scorpion Verde All Season is the one doing better here, interestingly.
This is all thanks to its beefy central ribs which are thicker and have these cleverly angled bits that provide the needed bite.
More specifically, the tire’s design features a broader and more uniform central rib. And this design ensures consistent and robust contact with the road surface, resulting in superior braking capabilities.
And sure Pirelli lacks those multi-directional biters found in the Michelin Latitude Tour HP. But the thing is, these biters don’t really stiffen up during braking or accelerating, unlike when you’re turning a corner.
So, in the end, the Verde tire manages to stop a bit quicker on average. This was seen in my tests of various sizes, in my 60 to 0 mph braking tests.
Wear Rate
Achieving exceptional tread life in a tire involves a delicate balance between durable construction and thoughtful design. This usually means incorporating tougher rubber materials that resist wear while maintaining consistent grip across various driving conditions.
Now among the tire here, the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season provides better overall performance, comparatively providing an impressive 10 to 15k more miles on average (throughout its life).
This longevity can be attributed to its relatively lighter structure, despite featuring multiple layers in its construction. And this lighter weight means less stress on the tire’s lugs during contact with the road, which in turn contributes to an extended tread life.
In contrast, the Latitude Tour HP, designed as a high-performance SUV tire (providing greater grip) comes with increased rolling resistance.
This not only shortens the tire’s lifespan but also impacts fuel efficiency. Basically it’s a trade-off between performance and durability.
But there’s good news for Michelin lovers. I mean if longevity (or fuel economy is your concern), you should check out the standard Latitude Tour, the one with the “HP”. That version provides 65k miles warranty (instead of 45 to 50k seen on HP). Though of course it doesn’t offer as much grip.
Wet Performance
To determine overall wet performance, I tested both tires for their efficacy in wet grip, handling, and hydroplaning resistance. I’ll discuss each of these aspects in turn.
Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning happens when a tire starts to float. And it happens when water isn’t able to get cleared off in time from the tread. And this is where grooves come in, providing pathways for water to leave out asap.
Now out of both tires, the Latitude Tour HP is doing better here. And this advantage comes from its grooves being better interconnected.
On the other hand, the Scorpion Verde All Season falls a bit short with its continuous-running ribs. If you look closely at its tread design, you’ll notice that its ribs are unbroken, meaning its four circumferential grooves don’t join up with each other.
So even though Pirelli provides greater tread depth, it still isn’t able to take out as much water as the Michelin tire, lagging behind in overall hydroplaning resistance.
Wet Grip and Handling
Since water cannot be compressed, it must be efficiently displaced by the tire’s tread to prevent slippage or worse, hydroplaning.
And as already discussed, grooves come in handy here. But they can only take out so much water. I mean some of it always lingers behind and comes right underneath the lugs, causing loss of traction. And that’s where sipes come in.
These sipes are tiny slits/cuts on the tread and act as water containers. As the tire rolls over wet surfaces, these slits open up against the pressure of the weight, sucking up water particles in, and later spraying them out as the tire rolls over.
So one can imagine a good all season tire for wet traction needs to have ample sipes with enough flexibility.
Now comparing both boys here, it can be seen why the Latitude Tour HP is doing much better here.
Despite occasional slippage (when pushed to its limits), Michelin consistently surpasses Pirelli with its advanced full-depth siping with multiple angles and a rubber compound that offers better adherence to wet road.
But I guess its not really a shock, given its a high-performance SUV tire.
On the flip side, with less flexible and effective siping, the Scorpion Verde All Season shows more slippage. Plus its sipes have more burden to begin with.
I mean since the tire doesn’t throw as much water out through its grooves, it has more sipes to deal with. And that further impacts its wet traction.
Verdict?
With each tire excelling in different ways, declaring a winner isn’t straightforward.
The Latitude Tour HP showcases superior lateral grip, steering dynamics, and wet performance, particularly excelling in handling and hydroplaning resistance due to its advanced groove design and full-depth siping.
In contrast the Scorpion Verde All Season, with its unique construction and cushioning layer, offers a quieter ride and superior longitudinal grip, particularly noted in its effective braking capabilities.
However, it slightly lags in steering responsiveness and wet traction.
In winter conditions, the Michelin tire’s detailed siping and design characteristics give it an edge in handling snowy terrains.
And regarding tread life and wear rate, the Pirelli is doing better, thanks to its less aggressive tread design and lighter structure (both elements together keep its rolling resistance lower in comparison).
