XC90 T8 - Tyre Recommendations

[801]

Hello

New to the forum and to Volvo.

Have just bought a late 2017 XC90 T8 R-Design.

As with all forums I often find it difficult to find threads related to specific topics but wondered if there have been any summarising the various tyre options for the XC90, and if any clear winners emerge?

Do you swap 'summer/winter' or do you keep 'all-season' on all year, or do you actually swap 'all-season/winter'?

We are used to CrossClimates which were fitted to our previous car, a Land Rover Discovery 4, and they were fine, but we never really tested them in icy or snowy conditions, and we needed something with a bit of grip to traverse grass and mud during the English summer...Not really 'off-road' but we go places normal 'summer' tyres are never any good.

On previous Audis (S6s including the V10) we always swapped winter and summer, but with the Audi it was an easier decision because the Audi was never taken off-road and the summers were rubbish, obviously, in winter.

We drive to the Alps once a year, and also often into Europe during the summer, so the tyres have quite a lot of extremes to deal with.

The conundrum now is whether all-season and if they would cope in the extremes of summer and winter (not sure they will work so well in -10 degrees in snow/ice up an Alp v a dedicated winter, ditto 40 degrees in the middle of summer in south of France).

I would be interested to see what the general consensus is on the forum for a dedicated summer tyre with light off-road duties, a dedicated winter, which I assume would go on a separate set of rims, versus an all-season tyre.

I have enjoyed driving Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 on the Audi but I suspect it's a different animal on the XC90.

Summer and All-Season would be 20 inch. Winter could be 20 or 19.

Thanks in advance.

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by 801

Hello

New to the forum and to Volvo.

Have just bought a late 2017 XC90 T8 R-Design.

As with all forums I often find it difficult to find threads related to specific topics but wondered if there have been any summarising the various tyre options for the XC90, and if any clear winners emerge?

Do you swap 'summer/winter' or do you keep 'all-season' on all year, or do you actually swap 'all-season/winter'?

We are used to CrossClimates which were fitted to our previous car, a Land Rover Discovery 4, and they were fine, but we never really tested them in icy or snowy conditions, and we needed something with a bit of grip to traverse grass and mud during the English summer...Not really 'off-road' but we go places normal 'summer' tyres are never any good.

On previous Audis (S6s including the V10) we always swapped winter and summer, but with the Audi it was an easier decision because the Audi was never taken off-road and the summers were rubbish, obviously, in winter.

We drive to the Alps once a year, and also often into Europe during the summer, so the tyres have quite a lot of extremes to deal with.

The conundrum now is whether all-season and if they would cope in the extremes of summer and winter (not sure they will work so well in -10 degrees in snow/ice up an Alp v a dedicated winter, ditto 40 degrees in the middle of summer in south of France).

I would be interested to see what the general consensus is on the forum for a dedicated summer tyre with light off-road duties, a dedicated winter, which I assume would go on a separate set of rims, versus an all-season tyre.

I have enjoyed driving Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 on the Audi but I suspect it's a different animal on the XC90.

Summer and All-Season would be 20 inch. Winter could be 20 or 19.

Thanks in advance.

I have run all types of tyres (Road, AT and MT) and settled on Cross Climates for my Volvo. The cross climates are good in summer but also very good in snow, ice and slush.

I have used my cross climates for off road and would rate them ‘adequate’. They are no better than summer tyres really. And generally that would be my only concern.

I don’t require the off road tyres hence cross climates were fine with me.

I have previously run summer and winter (2 sets) but I really don’t think that is required.

Your issue will not be all year round tyres, but on road/off road.

If it were me I would run a more aggressive AT such as General Grabber AT3. I ran the AT2s previously which were well wearing, fantastic off road (I rated them above my General MTs! And good in the snow.

The dry summer performance degredation was very mild and I would accept it.

Maybe start with AT3 and if you find you need a higher performance summer tyres run 2 sets. AT3 for snow and off road and summer tyres.

Personally I would be happy with cross climates if you are doing road work, or AT3 if you need the off road capability.

[801]

I note that Volvo recommends Continental Sport Contact 5 on it's website for 20" and these tyres as 'SUV' variants got good reviews at the time (autobild, etc). I assume Volvo are suggesting the SUV variant and not the normal HP tyre...?

Checking out it's replacement, the sport contact 7, it has got an amazing review on tyrereview, but this is not the SUV variant and neither is it available in 20".

Would be interested to find reviews from anyone who has the Continientals, or Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV or Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV in 20".

Volvo are offering a wide range of winters with their complete winter tyre sets.

Anyone any experience with Quatrac pro or Wintrac on the XC90?

[Ian0803]

Originally Posted by 801

I note that Volvo recommends Continental Sport Contact 5 on it's website for 20" and these tyres as 'SUV' variants got good reviews at the time (autobild, etc). I assume Volvo are suggesting the SUV variant and not the normal HP tyre...?

Checking out it's replacement, the sport contact 7, it has got an amazing review on tyrereview, but this is not the SUV variant and neither is it available in 20".

Would be interested to find reviews from anyone who has the Continientals, or Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV or Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV in 20".

Volvo are offering a wide range of winters with their complete winter tyre sets.

Anyone any experience with Quatrac pro or Wintrac on the XC90?

My XC90 came with the 20 inch optional rims and were fitted with Pilot Sport 4 SUV tyres.
I can't fault them, a very comfortable and quiet ride, solid grip in the dry and wet. I would recommend them and buy again

[Volvocano]

I've used all-season or (sometimes) road biased AT tyres on all my cars for the last 30 years - the performance is good enough in all conditions as long as you don''t intend to go lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife. All Seasons are not as good as winter tyres on snow - sure, but they are far, far, far better than summer tyres on snow. The last time had heavy snow we had General Grabber AT3s on our cars (Range Rover and Lexus RX400h) both cars were practically unstoppable in the snow (in a good sense!) - hard to imagine how winter tyres could be better even though (obviously) they are. I went off driving into the local forest park areas trying my best to get stuck in both cars - neither broke a sweat and the RX is no offroader - perhaps even less so than XC90.

Currently have Continental (crossLX?) all-seasons on my XC90 T8. Superb in the wet, not particularly quiet and wear rates aren't great. The grabber AT3s on the aforementioned cars used to last 60,000 miles, going by my current wear rates, these will be done in 20,000. Cross climate are good but over-priced IMHO. Gonna try Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws or the new mild AT Yokohama Geolander next. Still love the grabbers but looking for one notch towards road bias as tyre noise suppression is so poor compared to the Lexus and (particularly) the Range Rover.

[801]

Need to change my tyres asap... 3 Avon ZX7 at 3-4mm and one EcoContact.

I experienced what can only be described as the 'M25 Howl' last week. Never in any car have I heard anything like it.

We were on that awful section of concrete near Leatherhead, having joined the M25 going East from Chessington.

Other cars we have owned have resonated quite badly on that surface; one due to needing new bearings, but the noise on these tyres, on that road, in an XC90... Wow! It was deafening.

I understand this is a problem wth this car, and was thinking it might be due to the tyre, but it seems not.

Fortunately, it is not a trip I do every day.

Has anyone managed to find a tyre that does not resonate on that surface, or have you simply put up with it, or managed to avoid it?

[Ian0803]

Originally Posted by 801

Need to change my tyres asap... 3 Avon ZX7 at 3-4mm and one EcoContact.

I experienced what can only be described as the 'M25 Howl' last week. Never in any car have I heard anything like it.

We were on that awful section of concrete near Leatherhead, having joined the M25 going East from Chessington.

Other cars we have owned have resonated quite badly on that surface; one due to needing new bearings, but the noise on these tyres, on that road, in an XC90... Wow! It was deafening.

I understand this is a problem wth this car, and was thinking it might be due to the tyre, but it seems not.

Fortunately, it is not a trip I do every day.

Has anyone managed to find a tyre that does not resonate on that surface, or have you simply put up with it, or managed to avoid it?

I have yet to drive a car or tyre that copes well with that particular section of the M25.
Ok an S-type Merc as a passenger was acceptable, but several BMW's with different tyres were also too loud.

Changing lanes or adjusting my speed tends to have the biggest influence in reducing the noise. Next best option is to turn up the sound system

[Lozzingers]

I loved my cross climate suv's on our xc90, but that concrete section of the m25 was pretty bad vibration wise between 65-75 mph, so you had to go slower or faster to stop the resonation! We only did it every couple of months so it was fine, but if I was to do it every day it would get tiresome!

[Volvocano]

You're only going to make a marginal difference with tyres - Volvo tyre noise and bump/thump suppression is barely adequate - certainly nowhere near good and nowhere what I'd expect from a premium product. Every Range Rover I've owned (and I've had quite a few through the years) are quiet on that stretch - even with AT tyres - in a totally different league to the Volvo - as were my Jag XJs.

[Fastpatsilents]

Originally Posted by Volvocano

You're only going to make a marginal difference with tyres - Volvo tyre noise and bump/thump suppression is barely adequate - certainly nowhere near good and nowhere what I'd expect from a premium product. Every Range Rover I've owned (and I've had quite a few through the years) are quiet on that stretch - even with AT tyres - in a totally different league to the Volvo - as were my Jag XJs.

That's because the Swedish roads are better!