Tire recommendations?

[wheelhouse]

I've looked around and all the tire threads around here seem kind of old and the recommended tires on them no long exist, so it must be time for a new one!

A little background, i am currently running the stock 17s (215/60R17) and the car I got is a 2007 and was a lease before I got it. You can tell the guy just needed any new tires to turn it in with because it has some crappy Toyo something or other that are kinda loud and terrible in the snow. I live in Seattle, so good in the wet is kinda key, also I will not be getting snow tires, so they should work fairly well in the snow as well. I'm 40 and dont plan on rallying this thing anytime soon, so comfort and low noise are much more important to me than holding corners at 90mph.

I love this car, and think it can get just a bit better with some new shoes.

Whatcha got?

[JRL]

Conti DWS in 235/55/17!!!
Really get some meat on there.

http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww329/JRL1194/2007XC70whiteNEWfullleft-1.jpg

[Astro14]

The Continental DWS have been a great All Season performance tire on my T5 in a 235/45R17 size.

I have Nokian WR G2 on the XC...they're better in the snow than the Contis...and are very smooth, quiet tires...but I can't fairly compare noise or ride between the 2 because the size difference is significant.

You would be happy with either of these...if you go skiing, or up in the mountains, i would spend the extra $$ and get the Nokians.

[wheelhouse]

No skiing, no mountains. Mainly got the wagon to take the dog to the park. Then i figured we get snow and rain here, may as well get AWD.

Will the 235's mount right up with no rubbing issues? No spacers or adapters or anything needed?

[Forkster]

Correct. I have 235's on my my04 with 0 issues.

[Jorge-789995]

I just put some Michelin Primacy MXV4's in 235/55/17 on my 02 and the size is fine. The tires are incredibly quiet compared to the Nokians that I took off. I was not looking for a tire for snow use either, but I read that the MXV4's will work in snow too. Check out the Michelins. They aren't cheap, but good tires never are.

[madbill683]

I stuck with the OEM size and put Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires on my '07. Love them so far, great in the rain, have yet to try them in snow. I have the Michelin Primacy on my S70, would have bought that for the XC70 if it came in the OEM size.

[damajor]

The original Pirelli Scorpions wore out quickly, as many have reported. I replaced them with Goodyears which lasted fine but were noisy and did not corner well. Also, they did not have the same speed rating as the OEM. I did not think this important, as I do not drive at over 100 MPH (any more!:-) I got the new Continental Cross Contact tires, which are now provided as OEM on the latest XC70 models. I like them a lot, both for quiet and handling. They are still pretty new, so I cannot comment on wear. They are not cheap, but why would you want to jeopardize handling characteristics with cheap tires? I expect that the Volvo engineers did their homework when they specified the Contis for the current generation XC70.

[saynoto29ers]

Bridgestone turanza serenity plus 235/55/r17
Like

[BIGGUYNE]

I've had the Conti's and the Pirelli's. The Conti's didn't give me as good of wear as I expected and the Pirelli's are loud. I've been using Goodyear TripleTreds on the last couple of changes.

[Astro14]

With over 30K on the Nokian WR G2s, they are getting near replacement tread depth (this car eats tires...Yokohamas lasted about the same, as did the Michelins before them).

I think I am going to get the Nokians again, they've been great tires...and meet the speed (H) and load (XL) range of OE...

[Franxc06]

Hi wheelhouse I got a 2006 XC70 with only 37,000kms on it don't drive much that's why low mileage any way I changed the Pirelli Scorpions after 36kms I found them very good in all situations.
Any way last week I a set of XC60 17" (17 x 7.5 x 55-offset ) rims with 235 x 60 and there is ample room in the wheel arches , I put the 60s instead of 55s because I want it to see the difference in height and fuel consumption.
When I get a chance I'll post some pictures with the new rims , before the new rims where put on I done a fuel consumption calculation as follows:

travelled kms = 283.9
fuel used to top-up = 31.5L
283.9 / 31.5 = 9.02 kms per L
11.1L per 100kms ( 25.47 mpg imperial gallons)

This was mainly suburban driving not to bad for a vehicle this size.

I have topped up the fuel tank and will be doing same consumption test with the new 17"

Cheers

[Philvolv]

I just replaced the second set of Pirelli's on my 01XC with my first set of Nokian WR G2's So far they are great.Much quieter than the Pirelli's.Handle well.And compared to the old worn Pirelli's gas mileage has increased by about 3mpg. These are the OEM size

[Lbhagar]

After two sets of Nokians in snowy Upstate NY I decided to try the new Yokohama Ascends to see if I could get a better ride. So far so good. We haven't had any snow yet but Yokohama rates them high for snow so we'll see.

[Christov_Tenn]

We've got the Yokohama Ascends on our '04 which replaced the Kumhos that were on it when we bought the car. I've put a set on my '97 850, as well. So far, they compare favorably to Michelin Harmonys and the Kumhos.

[mapper]

I love Nokian WRG2s. With AWD they are great in the snow. Even with 2wd they are excellent in the snow. The big improvements over an all-season tires show in the cornering and braking performance. That's how you avoid crashes so I definitely like that aspect of the tire. Also it was very stable at speed in slush. I tried Dunlop Wintersports once but they were complete garbage in the snow compared to WR/WRG2. Problem is the WRG2 wear pretty quick in summer. Even though you can drive them year round, and I did when living in Western Oregon, I prefer to keep them as winter only. Problem was exacerbated severely when I moved to Utah. The WRG2s really can not stand up to hot summer roads around here. I got 2 years (35k) out of my last set but there were basically bald by the end of the 2nd summer.

I don't know why people dislike the scorpions so much. I thought the Scorpions drove fine in the summer, no winter experience on them. I thought they were loud but now that I put my snow tires on I know the XC just transmits a lot of road noise. I used the same snow tires I had on my Chevy Astro last year (the exact same tires, not just same model). These tires are MUCH, MUCH louder on the XC than they were on the Chevy...which is mind-boggling to me. I expected better noise insulation than a Chevy.

Personally I'm thinking of installing General Grabber AT2 or Michelin LTX m/s2 next summer and rolling them through the winter, both are rather quiet tires for being and AT (Grabber is burly and also severe service rated). If you don't need off-highway durability or excellent snow traction I would definitely stick to touring tires, provided proper speed/load rating.

If you don't have hot summers I'd try the WRG2. For this car I'd probably get the SUV specific version as they might be a bit more durable. Again be sure the load index and speed ratings work. The SUV may only have a T speed rating whereas the car version will definitely be at least an H. I've been through all of this but forget the details on which is best for the XC

Nokian also just released two new tire one is the WRD3 and WRA3 (similar to WRG2). I haven't checked the details but I know every time Nokian does a model iteration the tires MUST be improved by 10% in every way, so it may be worth looking into.
This is the place I've found the best prices on Nokian Tires and I have usually found local shops will match that price as it is very close to distributor pricing. I used to know a nokian distributor.
http://www.tiresbyweb.com/m-108-nokian-tires.aspx?pagenum=2