S80 Tyre Recommendation

2001 Volvo S80 now looking to be re-booted with a new set of front tyres.

The car was delivered from Volvo with Michelin Pilot HX tyres but I'm
wondering now what would be a good recommendation to replace them with. I
believe that the Michelin tyres are a fairly soft compound (this set have
lasted 22,000miles) and I'm thinking that a longer lasting tyre may be more
financially suitable. What though would be the effect on handling/ride
quality of a move away from Michelin?

I live in Northern Scotland where the roads can be less then perfect and
quite twisty and I rarely get to experience high speed driving on motorways.
With that in mind I would appreciate any advice or comments from other
owners as to what would be a good tyre to choose.

The only other tyre I'm familiar with is the Pirelli P6000 which were used
on V70's I owned a few years ago.

Many thanks in advance to all who reply and drive safe.

 

Just looked at the tyres again and they are Michelin Pilot HX MXM 215/55
ZR16. I'm unfamiliar with the ZR rating, can I use V or W rated instead?

 

No you must use what is on the car size-wise, and you should not use V or W
rating for your car. It is to do with the maximum speed of which your car is
capable, not the speed at which you drive. 22.000 m miles from the front tyres
of a Front wheel Drive car is not much short of miraculous. If you can get the
same tyre ratings by Viking then I would say use them. They make the Gislaved
brand used throughout Sweden and other countries for icy conditions.

Cheers, Peter.

: Just looked at the tyres again and they are Michelin Pilot HX MXM 215/55
: ZR16. I'm unfamiliar with the ZR rating, can I use V or W rated instead?
:
: : > 2001 Volvo S80 now looking to be re-booted with a new set of front tyres.
: >
: > The car was delivered from Volvo with Michelin Pilot HX tyres but I'm
: > wondering now what would be a good recommendation to replace them with. I
: > believe that the Michelin tyres are a fairly soft compound (this set have
: > lasted 22,000miles) and I'm thinking that a longer lasting tyre may be
: more
: > financially suitable. What though would be the effect on handling/ride
: > quality of a move away from Michelin?
: >
: > I live in Northern Scotland where the roads can be less then perfect and
: > quite twisty and I rarely get to experience high speed driving on
: motorways.
: > With that in mind I would appreciate any advice or comments from other
: > owners as to what would be a good tyre to choose.
: >
: > The only other tyre I'm familiar with is the Pirelli P6000 which were used
: > on V70's I owned a few years ago.
: >
: > Many thanks in advance to all who reply and drive safe.
: >
: >
:
:

 

I just put a set of Michelin Pilot XGT H4s on my S80 T6 and couldn't be
happier with them. They replaced a set of Continentals (Conti Contacts)
that had about 40,000 miles on them. The Contis were EXCELLENT tires, I
have no fault with them and would recommend them to anyone.

 

I would rate the P6000 for good wear and good grip. Yes the Mich's are a
softer compound and wont last quite so long, but possibly give you slightly
less noise on the poorer roads. 22k on a set of fronts on the S80 is
superb!!!

V, W, ZR rating for speed in asending order. You must use a tyre that has a
speed rating higher than the top speed of the car. Insurance companys can
get stroppy if you were to have an accident and the speed rating was found
to be lower .

Tim..

 

" Tim (Remove NOSPAM. Registry corupted, reformated HD and lost alot of

One caveat for P6000, there are 2 types, one is all season and has more
sipes (thin cuts in the tread blocks). My dad has these (all season
version) on his 2001 V70 T5 and they are noisey, noisey, noisey. Even
his Gislaved snow tires are quieter! Apparently the non all season
version does not suffer from this problem.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

I had conti on my s80 2,9, and agree, great tires. Now i have goodyear eagle
F1 in the summer. Great performance, but I think wear wont be as good as
conti. Gas mileage is worse with F1.

 

Actually, it does. The summer P6000s are quiet at first, but become really loud by the time you hit 10K+ miles. Had them in size 225/45/17 on my A4. Overall, they aren't too great. Their dry grip is OK, but their wet grip only so so... you can do much better. In addition, they're famous for bulging out on the sidewalls after hitting even small potholes.

Cheers,

Pete

 

I highly recommend the Bridgestone Turanza LS-V (225/55/16) which I have
used for about 10,000 miles and am very favorably impressed. They
out-perform the stock Michelins in just about every category. I find them
more secure as well as being quieter and more comfortable in real-world
driving. Their one disadvantage, they are pretty expensive.

Don't waste your money on the Z rated tires but do get the V-rated tires
(rated up to 149mph/240kph).

It seems other users are quite pleased with the performance of these tires
also:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/gtas.jsp

 

So my tires ar rated pretty good, and I agree.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/max.jsp
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+F1+GS-D3

But over here we have to use 2 sets, one for summer and studded M+S for the
winter season. So my F1´s are in the basement waiting for the varm dry
spring roads.....

Johan
-99 S80 2,9
Sweden

 

I had heard otherwise on the summer only, but have no personal
experience, so I bow to your first hand experience. Their one saving
grace it that they wear like iron, but if the all season ones from my
dad's car were on my car I'd toss them, they're that noisy.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Freddy

Stay away for the Pirelli I only get around 9000-10000 out of them on my
S80. The Michelins get me 20,000 plus.- same ones as you.

Also do stick to the ZR rating. If the car came with it and you put anything
else on then your insurance company will probably invalidate the policy.

Tom

 

Don't be ridiculous, Pirelli has an entire range of tires, with an entire
range of compounds. Not all of their tires are short lived. If you are
referring to the P6000's specifically mentioned by Freddy, he already stated
he was familiar with them.

That's silly. In all my years I've never heard of an insurance company
checking the speed rating of a tire and then denying coverage. Besides,
winter tires are not even available in Z ratings. Do you think the insurance
company is going to deny coverage because the owner was smart enough to put
winter tires on for the winter?

The V rated tires are tested up to 149 mph which is way more than adequate
for use in Northern Scotland. The roads up there aren't engineered for those
types of speeds. Freddy didn't say which model S80 he had but he couldn't
exceed 149 mph in an S80 unless it was a T-6 anyway which was not one of the
most popular options in that region. Why buy a speed rating if the car is
not even capable of attaining that speed? In a cool weather climate like
Northern Scotland a V rated tire may perform slightly better as it may build
a warmth slightly easier.

No need to waste your money on low production volume Z rated tires when V
rated tires exceed your needs in every respect.

Here is the list of speed ratings provided by Tire Rack:

N 87 mph 140 km/h Temporary Spare Tires
P 93 mph 150 km/h
Q 99 mph 160 km/h Studless & Studdable Winter Tires
R 106 mph 170 km/h H.D. Light Truck Tires
S 112 mph 180 km/h Family Sedans & Vans
T 118 mph 190 km/h Family Sedans & Vans
U 124 mph 200 km/h
H 130 mph 210 km/h Sport Sedans & Coupes
V 149 mph 240 km/h Sport Sedans, Coupes & Sports Cars

When Z-speed rated tires were first introduced, they were thought to reflect
the highest tire speed rating that would ever be required, in excess of 240
km/h or 149 mph. While Z-speed rated tires are capable of speeds in excess
of 149 mph, how far above 149 mph was not identified. That ultimately caused
the automotive industry to add W- and Y-speed ratings to identify the tires
that meet the needs of new vehicles that have extremely high top-speed
capabilities.

W 168 mph 270 km/h Exotic Sports Cars
Y 186 mph 300 km/h Exotic Sports Cars