Michelin Latitude Tour HP vs Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season

Michelin Latitude Tour HP vs Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season: Both the contenders are all-season touring tires, providing great performance throughout the year. Latitude has symmetrical while Scorpion has an asymmetrical tread pattern.

Latitude with polyester cord reinforced into sidewalls enhances the ride quality. It is designed to provide all-season traction and its symmetrical pattern helps to balance on dry roads. It is very durable due to its high mileage warranty and offers a noise-free ride. It is phenomenal in providing dry grip and handling performance. Its circumferential and lateral grooves help to provide decent performance on snow.

Scorpion is designed with SEAL INSIDE technology which allows driving without losing air pressure even after the tire is punctured. Due to its silica tread compound, it provides phenomenal performance on snow due to wider circumferential grooves. It also is more comfortable and offers better hydroplaning resistivity. It is a more fuel-efficient and eco-friendly tire.

Side By Side Comparison

Specifications	Latitude Tour HP	Scorpion Verde
Tire Type	Touring Tire	Touring Tire
Tire Season	All Season	All Season
Tread Type	Symmetrical	Asymmetrical
Available Sizes	17 – 21	15 – 22
Application	Crossover/SUVs	Crossover/SUVs
Workmanship & Materials Warranty	6 Years	Unlimited
UTQG	440 A A	740 A A
Price (225/65R17)	$189.5	$166

Tread Design

Latitude has a symmetrical tread consisting of stable shoulder blocks with a continuous and broader center rib. It has five circumferential grooves with many lateral grooves on its four tread block columns. Its central twin tread block columns are divided by a comparatively narrower circumferential groove.  It also has long and 2D Active sips on its ribs and shoulder blocks. The tire’s internal structure consists of twin steel belts which are reinforced with polyester and aramid/nylon cords under the tread area.

Unlike Latitude, Scorpion has an asymmetrical pattern with four circumferential grooves, but these are deeper and wider compared to its competitor and that is the reason why it has a higher void ratio. It has high-density longitudinal and lateral siping on the ribs and shoulder blocks. It has three tread block columns with tread blocks of varied sizes. The central tread block column is the widest among the three and has many horizontal grooves on it. It has broader but relatively smaller shoulder blocks than its competitor.

Road Grip

Latitude has a higher contact patch as compared to its competitor. Due to this, it will be better in terms of dry grip. As the Latitude has comparatively low density siping on its tread, its grip will be considered less reliable on wet and icy roads. Latitude having narrower grooves will have a low void ratio as compared to its competitor. So, it will be less resistive against hydroplaning and will have an inferior snow grip than its opponent.

Both the contenders have the same number of circumferential grooves but Scorpion grooves are wider. Due to this, it will have a high void ratio which will ensure a lower contact patch, so Scorpion becomes inferior to its competitor in terms of dry grip. Having comparatively high density siping than its competitor makes Scorpion superior in terms of wet and ice grip. It would have more snow holding capacity due to wider grooves. So it has a higher void ratio comparatively making its grip superior on snow than its competitor.

Contenders	Latitude Tour HP	Scorpion Verde
Dry Grip	High	Moderate
Wet Grip	Moderate	High
Ice Grip	Moderate	High
Snow Grip	Moderate	High

Road handling

When making a handling comparison between the two contenders, shoulders play a crucial role in deciding which is better. As Latitude has larger shoulder blocks, they will provide better handling on dry roads. Since this tire has comparatively lower density siping on its shoulder blocks, it will be inferior to its competitor in terms of wet and ice handling. Due to wider lateral grooves, Latitude will be more reliable than its competitor when considering snow handling.

Having smaller shoulder blocks makes Scorpion less reliable in dry handling as there will be less support against the road while the vehicle is in maneuvering operation. In comparison to its competitor, Scorpion has high-density siping on its shoulder blocks. Hence, it will be better than its competitor in terms of wet and ice handling facilities. It has deeper and wider lateral grooves which make its handling performance superior on snowy roads.

Contenders	Latitude Tour HP	Scorpion Verde
Dry Handling	High	Moderate
Wet Handling	Moderate	High
Ice Handling	Moderate	High
Snow Handling	High	Moderate

Hydroplaning Resistivity

The higher the void ratio, the better will be the hydroplaning resistivity of the tire. As Latitude has a lower void ratio than its competitor, it will be less efficient in hydroplaning resistivity. It has a lower void ratio due to narrower comparatively circumferential and lateral grooves than its competitor.

Having a higher void ratio makes Scorpion superior in hydroplaning resistivity as its wider circumferential grooves would allow more water to encapsulate.

Durability & Treadwear

Durability is always decided after analyzing both tires’ tread depth and mileage warranty. More the tread depth, the more time the tire will take to wear out. But in this scenario, having a higher tread depth does not make Scorpion more durable than its competitor. This is because Latitude has a mileage warranty of 55k miles whereas Scorpion has no mileage warranty. The reason lies within its durable construction as it is armored with FAZ Technology (Filament @ Zero degrees). This technology winds aramid/nylon cords and polyester spirally to strengthen the sidewalls of the tire.

Contenders	Tread Depth	Mileage warranty (Miles)
Latitude Tour HP (225/65R17)	9.5/32’’	55,000 Miles
Scorpion Verde (225/65R17)	11/32’’	Nil

Comfort & Noise

More tread depth will ensure more shock absorbance as there will be more cushion between the tire and the road. Comfort has always been directly proportional to tread depth which means that the more the tread depth of a tire more comfortable the ride will be. In this case, Scorpion has a higher tread depth of 11/32 than its competitor. This makes it more comfortable as compared to its rival on all sorts of roads.

Noise is directly linked with the void ratio of a tire which means that the higher the void ratio, the noisier the ride will be. Scorpion has a high void ratio which makes it noisier than its competitor. This happens because a higher void ratio will provide more space for the air particles, and these particles will collide with the tread walls which produces noise.

Hence, Latitude will be the quietest one among the contenders while Scorpion will be more comfortable.

Rolling Resistance & Fuel Efficiency

Latitude has a higher contact patch, due to which it will have higher rolling resistance than its rival. There will be more energy loss, due to which it will be less fuel-efficient as compared to its competitor. So, Scorpion with better rolling resistance and high fuel efficiency wins against its competitor in this category.

Load & Speed

Both the contenders have the same speed rating and load index as mentioned in the table below. This means that both of them would be able to provide maximum speed while bearing the same amount of load.

Contenders	Speed rating	Speed Value	Load index	Value
Latitude Tour HP (225/65R17)	H	130mph	102	1874 lbs
Scorpion Verde (225/65R17)	H	130mph	102	1874 lbs

Summary

Latitude Tour HP;

• has a symmetrical tread design.
• has a better dry grip & handling performance.
• is more durable.
• is less noisy.
• offers a mileage warranty of 55k.

Scorpion Verde;

• has an asymmetrical tread design.
• has better snow, ice, and wet grip.
• has better hydroplaning resistivity.
• has good ice & wet handling.
• is more comfortable.
• has a higher fuel efficiency.