New Tires

[tgwillard]

Was down to 4/32 and wanted new tires for the winter driving season. Had Michelin Primacy MXV4's installed today in the 235/60X16 size. So far very nice riding and quiet tire. As I did with the Pirelli's, inflated these to 37 psi. Got good ratings in Consumer Reports so we will see how they work out. Had 32K on the original Pirelli Scorpians.

[someferge]

You put 235/60X16 on an XC70? How is that working? i thought that the OEM tire was 215/65/16. In any case per advice from other forum members i am installing Blizzak's for ice/snow next week. Otherwise i am keeping the Michelin HydroEdge for the test of the year - highway performance has been great over 70mph!

[Forkster]

Yep, 235/60R16 is a lot more common size and therefore a lot cheaper than the rare 215/65R16. Other benefits include:
- improved lateral grip
- better overall traction
- increased rim protection to curb rash

If you're looking for winter tires, as the saying goes, "the worlds best and most expensive All Season tire performes worse in snow than the worlds cheapest snow tire."

The XC70 has a great traction system for the winter - however, braking and lateral traction sucks in All Season tires compared to winter tires. Every person I've ever met who were All Season die-hards and then purchased a set of winter tires, ALWAYS had this comment "I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH BETTER IT HANDLES IN THE SNOW. ALL THESE YEARS WITH CRAPPY ALL SEASONS." Every person. My dad was a All-Season fanatic and said "they're a waste of money. All Seasons are just as good" until he purchased a set of winter tires then he was "I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH...."

Your Michelin HydroEdge tires are actually summer tires but they get around lax regulations and call them "All Season M+S." Blizzaks and the Michelin X-Ice are good choices for studless winter.

[awise1961]

I just bought some Pacemark (Kelly Springfield) Snowtrakker 225/60/16's for our 2005 XC70 from Sam's Club. As Forkster said, these will certainly be better in our NH. Winter than the Yokohama TRZ's that are on the car now.
I did consider going to 235's, but I wanted to keep the footprint as thin as possible.
For what it's worth, here are the overall diameters for the given sizes:

215/65/16 = 27.00 inches in diameter.

225/60/16 = 26.63 inches in diameter.

235/60/16 = 27.10 inches in diameter.

The difference between the 215's and the 225's will mean that my speedometer will read 66 mph when the car is going 65 mph.
I can live with that.

Al. Wise

[wiz]

I also had Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires at 235/60-16 installed a couple weeks ago and just like the OP I'm enjoying the excellent road handling and the quiet. Two days after the installation we had torrential rain and the car seemed to be on rails - fantastic wet weather performance. Snow is plowed pretty quickly here in Boston so we don't really need winter tires but it will be interesting to see how these Primacy tires work in the snow, they are the top rated AS tire on Consumer Reports but snow traction is their lowest score in the CR ratings and test results.

[bbbuzzy]

For those who live in the Northeast and haven't yet chosen a tire when it's time to swap, take a look at the Nokian WRG2. I just replaced my original Scorpians (43K) with the Nokian (235/60/16). No snow yet, but I'm looking forward to the tires first true test. It's a hybrid tire with winter tread design and all-season wear.

[tgwillard]

I realize the Primacy MXV4's will not be as good as a dedicated snow tire, but when things get really bad, I stay home. The ratings were good and even for performance in snow, the ratings were fairly good. I never disliked the Scorpians as some have mentioned, but am looking forward to driving on these new Michelins.

[wiz]

I should clarify my remark in post #5 above about the Primacy snow traction rating. Yes it was the tire's lowest rating but the score was labeled Good and was the middle point on a 5-point scale. The Nokian WR G2 received an identical score for snow traction. CR rated the Michelin Primacy MXV4 and Nokian WR G2 respectively as their #1 and #2 recommendations in their new performance all season tire ratings. You can't go wrong with either tire.