gilow
Hi all,
A moment I have been dreading has arrived. Our XC70 needs new tyres.
Now normally I would just go out and buy a set of five Micehelin MX or equivalent and be happy as a pig in poo. I confess, I am a Micehelin junky, my grandfather used to sell them... It's in the blood. Every car I have ever owned has ended up on Michelin tyres.
But forking out $200 a tyre for a car that may very well go phht tomorrow does not feel like a good move. Yeah, it might give me another 100,000 km, but I'm not banking on it.
So driving past my favourite tyre shop this morning I saw they are running a special on Yokahamas, 4 for the price of 3. So I dropped in, and it turns out the selection is a bit limited, they could not offer me a pure road tyre, but they can do the Geolander for $179 a tyre, so with the 4 for 3 deal that works out at $135 per tyre which feels like a pretty good deal. But, before I did anything silly (like spend more money on a 2001 XC) I thought I would check to see if anyone has tried the Geolanders on a Volvo and if there were any issues. For instance, the current set of Kumho Road Ventures on the car are horribly noisey. And I mean seriously horribly noisey. I suspect because they are a quasi off road tyre. I wonder if the Yokahamas will be as bad?
Matt
Agouti
Www.Tirerack.com is a brilliant place for accurate and detailed tyre comparisons. Www.Tyrereview.co.uk is also useful.
From a quick bit of reading the geolanders are fairly well reviewed, noise isn't as bad as many off road tyres but does get worse as it wears down.
Another thought, Jax has 25% off (equivalent to 4 for Price of 3) michy pilot Sport 3 ST this month, 235x45xR17 was $155 a corner, $700 for the set including a much needed wheel alignment. They are great all rounders, low noise, plenty of grip and they last a reasonable length of time.
Ex850R
Cheap unbranded Chinese ones.
Most tyres are made there now anyway or in Asia .
It's awd so you have traction no matter.
gilow
Agouti;83297 wroteWww.Tirerack.com is a brilliant place for accurate and detailed tyre comparisons. Www.Tyrereview.co.uk is also useful.
From a quick bit of reading the geolanders are fairly well reviewed, noise isn't as bad as many off road tyres but does get worse as it wears down.
Another thought, Jax has 25% off (equivalent to 4 for Price of 3) michy pilot Sport 3 ST this month, 235x45xR17 was $155 a corner, $700 for the set including a much needed wheel alignment. They are great all rounders, low noise, plenty of grip and they last a reasonable length of time.
That's a great site, thank you. Seem to be some mixed views on the Geolander though.
As for Jax, the nearest branch appears to be Ballarat. 1000km return journey to fit tyres might add to the cost a bit. :^)
BTW, looks like Michelin don't actually to the Pilot Sport 3 in a 215/65 R16. Odd.
Matt
jaykenneally
I have the same car as you, with those Geolander tyres, so can give you a very accurate response. Let me put it this way, because my XC70 is a manual and I throw money at it like no tomorrow, when it comes to tyre change (very soon) I won't be putting those on there. These ones came with the car, very rich previous owner put them on before crashing it so bonus for me :D They were basically brand new, but a shot wheel alignment meant that they're a bit worn on the edges.
Anyway, they're not the best. I like the all terrain ness. They do surprisingly well off road. They're pretty quiet too, and smooth. Car gets good fuel economy. But the grip is a bit of an issue. Its always chirped off the line if I take off a bit too hard, worse now its a manual, the auto used to sap a bit of that chirp but now its just me trying to control it, doesn't always work.
They're not great for any kind of spirited driving. The XC70 is already boaty enough but handles surprisingly well. These tyres don't do it any favours, it will grip for a while then let go and understeer badly, and the tyres struggle to get grip again. They're not great in the wet on corners, however on a straight line on freeways etc Ive been very confident driving the speed limit on these tyres.
I think Id best describe them as "normal". They definitely do the job, they're safe, they grip reasonably well if you don't thrash it, and they're quiet and comfortable, but I want something that will cope with the corners a bit better (whilst still being an all terrain).
For comparisons sake my mum also has an XC70 with just normal road tyres, some cheap brand we've never heard of and its horrible. Really shit car to drive, just cannot corner with it at all. She cant wait to get rid of them haha.
Agouti
Good review! Yeah I don't buy cheap tyres. Last set I bought prior to the PS3 for the slowvo were Potenza RE11s for the Supra and they were good until they started to wear down and the road noise got really bad. Grip was nice and they let go in just the right way :grin:
Edit ^ that shite needs fixing haha
gilow
Thanks Jay. Hmmm... sounds like the Geolanders are merely acceptable, but at the price that may be enough.
I drive the car very, very gently, but when I first bought it I did do what I usually do with any new-to-me-car, which was take the car out to a quite back road in the country and find out how it handled in terms of when it would let go, how it would behave in a skid etc. I was very impressed, and I actually had so much trouble getting it to skid that I nearly gave up. Perhaps the Kumhos are better tyres than I have had thought?
gilow
Agouti;83375 wroteGood review! Yeah I don't buy cheap tyres. Last set I bought prior to the PS3 for the slowvo were Potenza RE11s for the Supra and they were good until they started to wear down and the road noise got really bad. Grip was nice and they let go in just the right way :grin:
Edit ^ that shite needs fixing haha
Thanks Agouti. Not sure what you mean by PS3 in this context? Was that another tyre or another car?
Ex850R
Didn't they come with Pirelli Scorpions? A good tyre iirc.
gilow
Ex850R;83387 wroteDidn't they come with Pirelli Scorpions? A good tyre iirc.
Might have done actually. The spare appears to be an unused Scorpion, too old to be safe now. And the price on the Pirelli is pretty decent too... I'll check them out some more.
Philia_Bear
Something something 18s and real tyres if you want quieter and better handling
Agouti
[
gilow;83381 wroteAgouti;83375 wroteGood review! Yeah I don't buy cheap tyres. Last set I bought prior to the PS3 for the slowvo were Potenza RE11s for the Supra and they were good until they started to wear down and the road noise got really bad. Grip was nice and they let go in just the right way :grin:
Edit ^ that shite needs fixing haha
Thanks Agouti. Not sure what you mean by PS3 in this context? Was that another tyre or another car?
PS3 = Pilot Sport 3, probably the most popular Michelin tyre. They are what I just got fitted to my S60, pretty happy so far, but they were replacing 5 year old continentals. Pilot Sport 3s are factory fitted on most German coupes I believe.
egads (she/her)
Philia_Bear;83403 wroteSomething something 18s and real tyres if you want quieter and better handling
Something something not made of cheese and optimism
Jensen
I upgraded to xc90 17 inch rims and put 225/55/17 Bridgestone RE003. Great tyre for the price.
Philia_Bear
Xc90 18 can be had for cheap and 17s are near free second hand
Jensen
I reckon 17s are the go. 18s on a p2 XC70 look a bit too big. Here is ours, straight fit other than some aluminium spigot rings.
gilow
Nah, I can tell that photo has been doctored. No brake dust on the rims.
Either that or non genuine brake pads. :^)
Actually, it does look very nice.
Jensen
My photoshop skills aren't that great. It's just after a wash! Doesn't stay that way for long
gilow
I thought I should update this thread, for those who are searching on XC70 tyres.
The Kumho Road Ventures that came with the car had 10,000 km on them when I bought the car. They were noisy as hell and on corners there was a LOT of understeer. A real slug around roundabouts, quite hard work getting the car in and out of the roundabout on a clean line. (I'm a VERY gentle driver too.) I've driven them through to a total of 40,000 km and they had started to leak and have become even louder and louder. There was still some room to go to the wear indicators. Someone, (might have been Snoopy) described driving an XC70 as "like a barge. Separated from the road", or words to that effect. That was a good description of driving the car on the Kumhos.
Anyway, a recent leak on the front left forced me to make a decision, and in the end I bought the Pirelli Scorpions Snoopy mentioned. (They are now badged as the Scorpion Verde.) I looked at the different wheel size approach suggested above, but the cost of the change over rims killed off any potential savings that I might have found from different rim sizes. I think I would have broken even around the second set of tyres, but the chance of the car lasting that long is not all that good.
But the main thing is the car is sensationally better. The steering is superb, absolutely where I want it to be in terms of response, no understeer but no twitchiness either. Just really balanced. And the road noise has simply GONE. Not diminished, GONE.
I don't know how the tyres will age, if they will give at least 40,000km like the last set, if they will stay quiet, but right now I am a very happy camper. I paid $179 per corner, which was more than I wanted to pay, but I have no regrets now. (Incidentally, the previous owner paid the same price for the Kumhos back in late 2013.)
Matt
bigal
Got Geo ATS's on the xc90. Handles like a boat but probably would with other tyres of the same big fat profile. They're wearing well, nice chunky tread to climb up stuff. Brilliant in the snow. Quiet.
I will try bigger wheels and fuel saving tyres next.
