Tyres again.....XC60 fwd...
 

So it’s snowing.....probably about time I put the winter wheels on..... was thinking I would do this come December....:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anyway the winters are on their last season 5mm at best so will need replacing and the summers (original conti) are probably around 3mm and in current wether noticeably less grippy...:confused_smile:

So looks like I could be in for buying 8 tyres in 2020 :shocked:

I bought the winters as the contis were crap in snow.....but only 3 months old so didn’t want to waste them.....

So as I’ll need at least 4 tyres come spring.... should I just get 4 cross climates?

Never been a fan of symmetric patterns as found previously tram lined badly (I spend a lot time on mway)

Also there is noticeable 3-4mpg average difference in fuel consumption between the summer (Conti sport contact 3?) and winter tyres ( Nokian SUV3 ) typically it’s 8-9/4-3 month split summer to winter....

Car is XC60 D4 VEA FWD I don’t live on high ground and it’s rare to get snow where I live but I travel for work M4/M5/M6 mostly and don’t want to get stranded....

So what tyres??? Do I keep the winter/summer pairing or get all season a lot of people seem to be fitting cross climates

Modern winter tyres are so much better than those from the 1980s.So much so, that I had them on my Mondeo ST220 estate all year round ( 18"/ Yokohama ones), No difference to the Conti/ Dunlop/ Michelin Summer tyres I used before, except I could move on snow and ice.

Direcional tyres dont cause tramlining, thats down to the carcass.
Crossclimate are ideal for your usage.
Save yourself some money and hassle and fit them.
👍

I would go with cross climate ones given this combo.
Got other all season tyres on other cars we’ve had: if you’re not in the thick of hard winters, I feel they are a great option!

Challenge for me would be this: our summer wheels are the diamond cut ones....5 years in and showing only a few signs of weathering. I suspect if I used them all year, they might look significantly worse!
My winter wheels are more basic ones picked up s smaller so the tyres a tiny bit cheaper!

It is getting the time of year to think about changing them....I reckon maybe a few more weeks (here in the Midlands).

2007 V50 passes XC60
 

Hi all,

Lots of snow recently. Neighbour has a XC60. I have budget tyres on my V50. He was stuck on a hill, I had to stop behind him whilst he pushed up the hill. My V50 was able to move forward again, on the hill, and passed to struggling XC60.

Unless I've missed it you don't say how long you plan to keep the car.

If you're only going to keep the car for another year say, it would seem expensive to spend the money on 2 sets of tyres, even if the performance was better on each, as you won't get the use out of them.

If you plan to keep the car for multiple years yet, it brings the two sets of tyres back in the running, but peoples advice on the cross climates may swing it back to the one set anyway.

Do you have any explanation for your budget tyres performance, or lack thereof of the XC60. You don't mention what type of tyres they had or how many wheels were driven. Are you suggesting tyre choice is irrelevant ?

Is it down to driver skill, lighter car, newer tyres, something that hasn't occured to me ?

Could be the 60 is on factory Eco Contacts which are hopeless in snow, has 5 people in, boot full?

I don't think I've ever seen anyone slagging off the Cross Climates.

Vredestein Quatrac 5 also worth a look - another all season tyre which now carries a 3PMSL winter tyre rating. My dad has then on his XC60 and no issues so far.

I have always run summer and winter tyres (2 sets).

I now run a single set with cross climates.

To be frank the cross climates are not as good as dedicated snow tyres however they are very good and you need to be able to justify the snow tyres.

For me, where I live (fairly rural) all the roads will get blocked up long long before my cross climates are out of there depth (don’t get me wrong the CC are still good In snow).

The only time I would have separate Winters now would be if I were in highlands etc where BOTH bad snow were expected AND there would be few enough cars to enable me to drive around.

Snows and summer are really redundant now.