XC70; Looking for tire advice in WI weather

[Pete S]

Hello,

I thought there would be some good sound advice here on finding tires for my wife's '05 XC70.

She's not bad on the get-goin',.............it's the stopping that I believe has worn her Scorpions. We've got about 38K on the tires and are REAL close to the wear bars being "flush".

Here's the deal;
1.) Not in a financial position for having a "winter set" of tires, but someday........!

2.) Need to find a very durable "All-Season" tire, as that's what we have here in the great state of WI! (got our first snow last night....finally) On our truck(s) we've ran BF Goodrich AT KO's and found 60K+ for milage, and am not too impressed with the "stock" Scorpions, although when "new" they bit the white stuff purty good!

3.) We do have Wal Mart, and Tires Plus, as well reputible private dealers close by. I have bought tires from Wal Mart and did use the repair service numerous times, which was nice, as there seems to be plenty of them around.

I would greatly appreciate some sound advice about a purchase.

Thanks!
Pete

[jmeljr]

I live in Michigan and the conditions are similar to what you probably get in Wisconsin. I just replaced the factory Scorpions at 45,000 miles last month. I was into the wear bars for months, just wanted to get as close to winter as I could without replacing them. I just got some Nokian WR's 215/65R/16's. Every tire store I called said great things about them, handle great in Ice and snow so I am looking forward to some nasty weather. I paid $538 Installed out the door.
Check some posts here, lots of debate about going with the SUV tire like I did VS a passenger car version that may be more forgiving. I definitely found the tires to have more resistance and a little less MPG than the Scorpions. I am expecting much better performance in rain, ice and snow. I am sure the Scorpions are better on dry pavement but living in Michigan I want 4 season tires.

[Forkster]

If you want one set of tires, I would follow jmeljr's suggestion on Nokian WR's - especially if you're not up north like I am. It's -7C outside right now. Lots of icy roads. :)

[spaceboyusa]

I just picked up my '04 XC70 two weeks ago and went through the exact same dilemma on what to put on some upgraded 17" XC90 rims I picked up. I spent at least 12 hours of dedicated computer time trolling through this forum's tire/rim posts, tire discussions at other forums and analyzing Tire Rack ratings, not to mention another couple of hours stopping by local tire retailers to see a few in person.

Net net is I ended up going with 235/55/17 Goodyear Assurance TripleTreads based upon the following:

1. Performance: Great all-around/season tire with a very good
snow rating (live in Denver and will use XC to get up to the mountains for skiing); #1 rated highway all-season tire on Tire Rack
2. Price: Mounted, balanced and full warranty for $675
3. Look: Cool tread pattern and stay-black technology

Based upon the very positive reviews here and elsewhere, the Nokian WR was the other finalist but the cheapest I could get locally was around $925, with Internet ordering not saving me more than $50-70. Tires are very important to me but at almost $300 more, I just couldn't justify the Nokians over the Goodyears.

When I sealed the deal at the local Goodyear store, the Store Manager said "You made a good choice" to which I replied "Why, do you own an XC?". He said "No...take a look in our bay"...and sure enough, up on the rack was an '03 XC70 getting its second set of TripleTreads. I talked to the owner of the car and he's a sales rep and burns through tires pretty quick and said he loves the TripleTreads on the XC. Made me feel all that much better...[cool2]

I should note that my Dad is a 37 year Firestone/Bridgestone guy and telling him I bought my first set of Goodyears was a bit interesting...;)

Good luck on your decision!

[santon]

THE 2003 xc70 i recently purchased came with a set of Gislaved NordFrost 3's. 215/65/16. it snowed here yesterday in Toronto abotu 5 cm then the snow melted for coupel of hours and freezing temperatures turned alot of the side streets into ice. I live in a a ravine and for me to leave my house i can either go up a really steep hill or go the other way to a gentle slope. so for fun, i went upteh steep one, the car went right up like i was driving in dry pavement. then i wetn back around, stopped on steepest part of that same hill, and went up from a standstill, traction light came up, but slowly but surely the car made it. driving through the day in the snow, i coulndt break the tires loose if i tried, it was just another normal day as if there were no snow. i woudl recommend teh gislaveds.

[budrichard]

I live in SouthEastern wisconsin. I am on my second set of Perelli ST's on my 03XC. Note ST's have been discontinued and the current offering is STR's. Which do you have?
In any event the ST's are more aggressive and since I go off road, perform very well in all season's.
Gislaved's are simply not readily available. At least I could not find current tires last years.
Last year I replaced the Gislaved's on my 1999 XC with Nokian WR's. Work fine on the road, got rid of second set of wheels.
When my current set of ST's go on the 03XC, don't know what I will replace them with but will look for suitable 4 season replacement but with aggressive tread for off road.-Dick

[hortll]

Hello,

I thought there would be some good sound advice here on finding tires for my wife's '05 XC70.

She's not bad on the get-goin',.............it's the stopping that I believe has worn her Scorpions. We've got about 38K on the tires and are REAL close to the wear bars being "flush".

Here's the deal;
1.) Not in a financial position for having a "winter set" of tires, but someday........!

2.) Need to find a very durable "All-Season" tire, as that's what we have here in the great state of WI! (got our first snow last night....finally) On our truck(s) we've ran BF Goodrich AT KO's and found 60K+ for milage, and am not too impressed with the "stock" Scorpions, although when "new" they bit the white stuff purty good!

3.) We do have Wal Mart, and Tires Plus, as well reputible private dealers close by. I have bought tires from Wal Mart and did use the repair service numerous times, which was nice, as there seems to be plenty of them around.

I would greatly appreciate some sound advice about a purchase.

Thanks!
Pete
I moved from IL to AZ a couple yrs ago. I just replaced the Scorpions on my 04 XC at 53k miles. The dealer out here suggested Michelins MX4. I went to Discount Tire and they put Yokohama YK520s on her because of the speed rating (S for the Michelins; H on the Yoks). Seems to be a good all season tire, but out here will see very little snow/ice/rain/water.

[Pennhaven]

I moved from IL to AZ a couple yrs ago. I just replaced the Scorpions on my 04 XC at 53k miles... I went to Discount Tire and they put Yokohama YK520s on her because of the speed rating (S for the Michelins; H on the Yoks). Seems to be a good all season tire, but out here will see very little snow/ice/rain/water.
I also recently got the Yokohama YK520s from Discount Tire. No snow to test them with here yet this season. I have found they are much better than the Pirelli STRs on both dry and wet roads.