Been A Long Time, Tire Wear Questions, Replacement Recommendations?

**xJO98** · 11-29-2006, 06:08 PM

Hi all, been a long time since I visited this board. I wasn't much of a contributor to begin with but I need some advice with my wife's '05 XC90 2.5T. We got this car new in 2/05 and it's been a great car so far, my wife loves it. I don't drive it very often but when I do, I'm very impressed with it. The other night, I drove it for the first time in like 3 weeks and something just didn't feel right with the steering/handling. The car felt very loose in the front end when steering and also when driving straight and hitting imperfections in the road, the car didn't feel glued to the road is the best way I can describe it. I thought maybe it was me and I was too used to how my truck handled. But the other night my wife says she's feeling the same thing. We just recently had the steering tie rod recall done and I noticed now that the steering wheel was not straight when going straight down the road. The car didn't pull or anything but the wheel was cocked to the right a few degrees. Never was like this before. Long story short on this one, dealer did a realignment, wheel straightened, wife says the car is handling well now. Haven't tried it for myself yet but anyways, on to the tires.

I noticed when looking at the tires, it looked as though the treads were rather worn down, more than what I would expect from a vehicle with 28K miles, mostly highway. I questioned my service department about this and they told me the Pirelli Scorpions on both the XC70 and XC90 only last about 30K miles. I was floored. Then I did some Yahoo searches and sure enough, I'm seeing alot of complaints about that. Also interesting was people complaining after 7-10K miles, they started to notice their XC90 sounded louder and had a rougher ride than the day it came off the lot. We've been noticing the same thing and have two or three documented checks with the dealer on this problem and were told normal noise or they couldn't find what we were talking about. I guess we're experiencing what is being called "tread cupping" whatever that is and that as the tires wear out, the louder they get? Maybe I'm a naieve person but for a $45K car, I would expect the darn tires to last longer. They aren't performance tires or anything, we've rotated them, etc. I was quoted $800 from my dealer for a tire replacement when the time comes, which if I listen to them is right around the corner.

So, I refuse to pay that kind of money for a tire that's only going to last 30K miles. What other brand tires should I look into? My wife is always of the mindset that the factory tires are what need to go back on. If I choose something else that makes the car ride any different (for the worse obviously) or are louder, etc, I'll never hear the end of it. I gotta believe though that there is something else better.

**tgwillard** · 11-30-2006, 07:25 PM

You might go to the XC70 forum and do a search on tires. Many share your opinion of the Scorpions and have found what they consider to be better replacements. Having just got my 2006 CX70, I have a ways to go before reaching that point and will see how noisy they get as the miles accumulate.

**JRL** · 11-30-2006, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by xJO98

So, I refuse to pay that kind of money for a tire that's only going to last 30K miles. What other brand tires should I look into? My wife is always of the mindset that the factory tires are what need to go back on. If I choose something else that makes the car ride any different (for the worse obviously) or are louder, etc, I'll never hear the end of it. I gotta believe though that there is something else better.

Refuse if you want to. I have an R, the tires last about 12-15K miles
(and the R costs a lot more than your XC).
An AWD Volvo will never yield very high tire mileage, nature of the drivetrain, but you should be able to get 37-40K miles out of a decent tire

**Nordstar** · 12-01-2006, 02:35 PM

Hi, I am new to the board...and also looking for an All Season tire to replace the Pirelli after 28000 miles. I have looked into the NOKIAN TIRES but I was quoted $800 which I think is a little high. Does anyone had good luck with Michelins on the XC70?
Thanks and I wish you all "Safe Winterdriving"

Nordstar

**xJO98** · 12-02-2006, 07:59 PM

40K is what I figured. I can understand the R getting less miles, don't they put some serious sport tires on those cars? I plan on going with Michelin Cross Terrains, a local Euro auto shop recommends those, should get 40-50K out of them.

**JRL** · 12-03-2006, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by Nordstar

Hi, I am new to the board...and also looking for an All Season tire to replace the Pirelli after 28000 miles. I have looked into the NOKIAN TIRES but I was quoted $800 which I think is a little high. Does anyone had good luck with Michelins on the XC70?
Thanks and I wish you all "Safe Winterdriving"

Nordstar

Nokians are a bit pricey but everyone who has them seems to love them.
Most any Michelin will also work very well

**xJO98** · 12-05-2006, 05:08 PM

Put on a set of Michelin Cross Terrains today. They seem to handle well, aren't much noisier than the stock Pirelli's and the tread looks like it will give better traction in the snow.

**Big** · 12-08-2006, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by xJO98

Put on a set of Michelin Cross Terrains today. They seem to handle well, aren't much noisier than the stock Pirelli's and the tread looks like it will give better traction in the snow.

Tires have many tradeoffs. The Pirelli Scorpion Zero is one tire Volvo has used and it has an "A A 300" rating which means pretty good traction and temperature but poor wear. The other tire they have provided for the 2.5T is the Michelin 4x4 Synchrone which has an "AA A 380" rating--excellent traction and a little better wear but also more expensive to replace; I got in the low 30k miles with them and was happy enough with their performance to replace them with the same type.

The Michelin Cross Terrain you got is rated "A B 420" which means it should last longer than the Synchrone or Scorpion but does not have as high a temperature rating and does not have as good traction as the Synchrone. Besides their low temperature rating, they are slightly smaller than stock and do not meet the XC90's load and maximum pressure specs. If you just drive around town you should be OK but I would be concerned about them at speed or when loaded.

Other replacement tires that some XC90 owners seem to like include the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza and the Goodyear Fortera.

**xJO98** · 12-09-2006, 08:15 PM

I guess now you've got me concerned. If I'm not mistaken, the stock Scorpion was a 235/65 and the Cross Terrains the shop put on are 235/65 so I don't understand what you mean that the CT are smaller than the stock tires. And now I've done some looking and see that the CT is T rated, where the Scorpion was H rated. We don't tow with this vehicle and my wife rarely drives over 80MPH but it is a dry/rain/slush/snow driven car. So your statement of "I would be concerned about them at speed or when loaded", what "speed" are talking and what do you mean by "loaded"? The reason I bought this XC90 was for the safety and I don't want to make this car unsafe by the tires I just put on it. My other choices at this shop were Michelin MXV4 (which I had on my Passat 4Motion and I wasn't impressed) or Yokohama Geolander H/T which appear to be at least H rated.