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Last updated 4/04/2024 - Originally published 4/04/2024
Written by SimpleTire
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So what are the Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 and the Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra all about? Well, they’re both premium all-season tires that are designed for light trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, they’re both designed for year-round performance, they both deliver a ride that’s compliant and refined, and they both offer excellent treadwear coverage from the factory.
That said, despite all the similarities and common ground, the Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 and Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra have distinct contrasts and their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. Their premium performance and features also come with a premium price, so if you’re prepared to lay out that kind of money for a set of tires, you should be informed about both of them before deciding on either of them. That’s what this head-to-head comparison is for, so without further delay let’s go in for a closer look at the Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 and Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra:
The Scorpion family of tires at Pirelli has been around for quite some time, and the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 iteration is designed to deliver Grand Touring levels of ride comfort, handling, and noise suppression in a light truck tire. That is, of course, along with dependable year-round traction in wet, dry, or light wintry conditions, and also along with the kind of wear properties and durability you expect in a light truck tire.
Pirelli designed the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 specifically for North American drivers. It’s a fully updated tire that goes hand in hand with the handling, braking performance, weight, size, power, and torque of modern light trucks, SUVs, and crossovers. Pirelli started with an advanced tread formulation that makes use of functionalized polymers for improved traction in wet or wintry weather and great wear properties. Its all-season tread is loaded with innovations like Pirelli’s 3D sipes that open up and keep delivering traction as the tread depth gets shallower. The sipes are molded into a combination of vertical and horizontal sipes at the shoulder and a zigzag pattern across inner tread blocks.
The Scorpion All Season Plus 3 has a carefully engineered, asymmetric all-season tread with a void ratio for better wear properties and contact with the pavement. A network of circumferential and angled grooves slice through standing water on wet pavement and direct it through and behind the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning.
The shoulders of the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 are reinforced to resist the inertia and momentum of hard maneuvers, keeping tread deformation to a minimum as the tire is pushed hard into corners. Handling also gets a boost from the tough internal structure of the tire; along with the linked tread elements, it helps keep the tire rigid across the tread face for improved cornering, control, and braking.
Internal details of the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 include a 2-ply polyester casing reinforced with two steel belts and two spiral-wound polyester cap plies. That internal construction also means a ride that’s quiet and compliant even on rough pavement or changing pavement surfaces. Pirelli covers the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 with a 70,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life. Cook it all down and the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 gets a very solid SimpleScore average of 9.6.
Now we come to the other tire in this faceoff, the Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra. The Alenza A/S Ultra is designed to let you unlock the full potential of your vehicle’s handling and braking performance while still delivering year-round traction and ride quality that’s plush and refined. The Alenza A/S Ultra uses a next-generation silica-rich tread formulation for long, even wear and improved all-season performance, with a symmetric all-season tread design that includes a system of circumferential and angled grooves for excellent resistance to hydroplaning as the circumferential grooves channel water behind the tire’s contact patch.
For winter traction, the Alenza A/S Ultra has a dense network of sipes that multiply the tire’s surface area and enhance traction with hundreds of tiny hair-thin slits that help it slice through snow and slush. It also is designed with Bridgestone’s innovative Snow Vices, grooves that pick up and retain snow to build snow-to-snow friction in wintry weather. The internal construction of the A/S Ultra balances durability and stability with ride comfort and handling, with a two-ply polyester casing, a twin steel belt package, and a single nylon reinforcement ply that helps cushion the ride. The Alenza A/S Ultra is quiet, too – Bridgestone’s QuietTrack design suite reduces road noise and harshness by canceling certain frequencies and harmonics. The Alenza A/S ultra is protected by an 80,000 mile warranty. When it comes to SimpleScore ratings, the Alenza A/S Ultra is pretty hard to beat with an overall average of 9.7.
This one is honestly a pretty tough call since both tires have very strong SimpleScores of 9.7 when it comes to traction. The Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 incorporates 3D sipes, a design that opens up and expands the sipes a bit as the tread depth wears down so that they can continue to deliver great performance in rain, snow, or slush. Reviews indicate that dry-weather and wet-weather traction is confident with the Pirelli, especially when it comes to braking performance and cornering.
However, the SimpleScore ratings might not tell the whole story. The Alenza A/S Ultra isn’t a dedicated winter tire, but Bridgestone did design this tire for an advantage in snow and slush. Bridgestone’s Snow Vices do make a difference in the grip you can expect in deeper snow, and its tread formulation is designed to stay flexible at subfreezing temperatures, unlike many all-season tires. Also, the Alenza A/S Ultra’s tread compound is hydrophilic – it absorbs a small amount of water with a slightly porous surface, which helps to remove the water’s barrier between the rubber and the road. The Alenza A/S Ultra isn’t a dedicated winter tire and doesn’t have the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rating for severe winter service, but we do think this is a tire that has an edge in winter traction. If you have to contend with a few inches of snow in the winter, that’s better than having to change your tires for winter tires (and then change them back again when temperatures warm up).
ADVANTAGE: Tie, though Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra if snow traction is a concern for you
When it comes to handling, this is almost a tossup. Vehicles like SUVs, crossovers, and light trucks aren’t generally thought of as being especially nimble and responsive, but the designs of the Pirelli and the Bridgestone both are intended to enhance the handling properties of that class of vehicles. Both tires provide good control and confidence for cornering and sharp maneuvers, with a steering feel that’s light and responsive without ever being overly touchy or sensitive.
Both tires deliver good mechanical grip at turn-in and up to the limit, with little understeer or oversteer – in other words, control that’s flat, neutral, and predictable. In an instance like this, we’re just going to defer back to the SimpleScore rankings, which are 9.4 for the Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 and 9.6 for the Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra.
ADVANTAGE: Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra
Again, this is a tough one. Both tires are built to last, with very durable internal construction and tread formulations that provide long, even wear as well as great traction and performance. Neither tire is designed for really rough off-road conditions, but they both have excellent longevity and durability for normal highway miles. Both tires have SimpleScores of 9.7 in this category, even though the Bridgestone has an 80,000 mile warranty while the Pirelli is covered for 70,000 miles.
ADVANTAGE: Tie.
The Pirelli Scorpion AS and Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra are both excellent choices in premium all-season tires for light trucks, SUVs, and crossovers. They both deliver an exceptionally quiet and comfortable ride, something that takes on extra importance when you remember that a high-end crossover like a Buick or Infiniti is engineered for low noise (with extra sound insulation, acoustic glass, etc) and any intrusive tire noise is going to be noticed right away.
The Pirelli and Bridgestone tires both deliver handling that’s capable and precise, with road manners that are secure and stable and great driver feedback. Both tires are composed and confident even on rougher pavement or gravel roads, and both tires are designed for safe, dependable traction in wet or light wintry conditions. If you’ve got a premium SUV or crossover you really can’t go wrong with either the Bridgestone or the Pirelli.
Considering the strengths and weaknesses of each tire, we’re going to ask this question – where you live, do you regularly see tough winter weather, the kind of weather that might dump several inches of snow on the ground, followed by subfreezing temperatures that keep it around for some time? If that’s the case, we’d advise the Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra. Bridgestone did engineer this tire specifically for an edge in winter traction and reviews back that up. Also, the Bridgestone is available in a wider range of sizes for various fitments.
If winter traction isn’t quite as big a concern for you, the Pirelli could be a great choice. It delivers handling that’s top-notch, its ride quality is supple and forgiving and it (like the Bridgestone) has an excellent, stable feel at highway speed with little in the way of vibrations or road irregularities being passed on to the passengers. Truth is, though, you really can’t go wrong with either the Bridgestone or the Pirelli for your SUV or crossover.
Finally, price needs to be considered when deciding between the two tires. Starting at $183/tire, a set of four Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 tires could cost drivers at least $732. On the other hand, the Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultra starts at $197/tire, meaning that a set of four tires could cost drivers at least $788.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.
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