V60 R-Design winter tyres

[Rich54129]

Hi folks, newbie here. I've just this week bought a 2016 V60 D4 R-Design and am very pleased with it.

Living in a hilly town next to the Peak District I have been putting winter tyres on my cars for years; so I've been looking into it for the new motor and the manual does not specify a tyre size, it says, "contact your Volvo dealer for information".

So what is recommended? Do you put 235 winters on the 18" rims or fit smaller rims?
Having only just bought it I don't really fancy taking the smart R design rims off it for the next 5 months, but I will take a judgement on it.

Nowadays do all season tyres do almost as good a job as proper winter tyres? We've put all season tyres on my wife's car recently but not been through a winter with them yet to try them out.

I did a couple of searches and see some people have had 235/40/18 winter tyres but couldn't find the answer as to what Volvo recommend. Any info much appreciated thanks.

[Adrian888]

Personally i would fit all weather tyres. I have the same car bought used a few months ago and it came with almost new Dunlop Sport summer tyres. However i have a slightly different dilemma in that i have a set of barely used 225/45/18 winter tyres which came my way a few weeks ago. Previously i ran all weather tyres on my Passat Alltrack and my wife's A2. The correct tyre size (if you check the tyre pressure info in the door jamb) is 235/45/18 and from my enquiries that applies which ever season type fitted. There is nothing to stop you buying a set of 17” wheels on fleabay and fitting winter tyres on those, just make sure the overall rolling circumference is the same.

[Rich54129]

Cool thanks Adrian I'd not thought to look on the door jamb, still getting to grips with the car..

[Bonefishblues]

The answer is 'it depends' in terms of how close all seasons are to full winters as there's a range of different tyres (obvs!) which have differing design parameters.

So, for instance, we will be putting Hankook Kinergy 4S2 on our XC70 (replacing summers that it came with) because they are less snow-orientated, and more designed around dry and wet handling, but can handle snow on an occasional basis. If snow was more of an issue, then (IIRC) the Nokians and one or two others are the way to go.

The tyre tests on mytyres site are a good starting point to make a decision.

[Adrian888]

Look at tyrereviews website and the 2020 Autobild all weather tyre report. Kleber Quadraxer are much more of a winter tyre that works in summer (very good in snow, not so good dry handling or wet braking. Others will have the reverse bias.

[Tannaton]

All seasons tyres are much better now but at best when used in ice and snow they sit half way between summer and winter options.

By equal measure, winter tyres have got better as well both in terms of winter performance and summer longevity. When looking for full winter tyres the ONLY ones to consider are those with the 3PMSF marking (3 peak mountain snowflake). 3PMSF tyres will perform substantially better in ice and snow than all season tyres which will outperform summer tyres by probably equal measure.

Hence with a FWD car, the difference between all season and winter tyres in your area might well be being able to get up that hill or not parking in a ditch.

Unless you frequently tow or drive the car hard, I would just run winters all year round and that's what I do on my XC60 and Ranger. They do wear a little more quickly in the summer but not nearly enough to justify spending circa £60 twice a year to remove and refit different season tyres.

If you are considering buying an extra set of rims, there is a cost to that but winter tyres will be cheaper on a smaller rim (with higher profile) and will also improve the ride quality (at the expense of handling).

www.wheel-size.com will list the factory tyre/rim size options.

[Adrian888]

I agree with much of the above. I used to leave winter tyres on all year (after faffing about changing over i had a spare set of cheap wheels) until i started towing a caravan especially with that including into southern EUland in summer. Winter rubber in summer heat can be too squirmy. I have a V60 hybrid so have on demand 4wd which helps so even with summer tyres traction on wet grass is impressive. I may go for 235/45 all weather and sell the spare as new winter tyres on fleabay.

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by Adrian888

Look at tyrereviews website and the 2020 Autobild all weather tyre report. Kleber Quadraxer are much more of a winter tyre that works in summer (very good in snow, not so good dry handling or wet braking. Others will have the reverse bias.

Ha!

I did, of course mean to reference this site rather than mytyres

Very good price comparison widget on there, too - seems to pull back lower prices than many/most because it also includes some smaller providers.

The very cheapest I've found though is Autodoc in Germany

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by Adrian888

I agree with much of the above. I used to leave winter tyres on all year (after faffing about changing over i had a spare set of cheap wheels) until i started towing a caravan especially with that including into southern EUland in summer. Winter rubber in summer heat can be too squirmy. I have a V60 hybrid so have on demand 4wd which helps so even with summer tyres traction on wet grass is impressive. I may go for 235/45 all weather and sell the spare as new winter tyres on fleabay.

Just because I'm dull, I feel compelled to point out that it's not particularly the heat that's an issue with Winters with their high silica compounds. It's just that the tread construction by definition contains many many more sipes, designed to trap snow and improve adhesion, so in a sense greater flexibility is designed in right from the get-go.

My personal view is that all seasons have now improved to the point that living where I do, they are the best all-year solution. I last fitted winters about 8 years ago and haven't felt the need since. Still a compromise, but closer, especially with careful choice, to both summers and winters than they were.

Something that did surprise me a little when looking at the tests a few days ago is that in wet braking tests, full summers still come out ahead. Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind was that AS/W would be better. Perhaps it comes back to that slight reduction in tread block integrity - don't know? Interested in explanations for this, if anyone has one.

[Adrian888]

I did read why in a technical article a couple of years ago however i cannot recall why. I suspect the tread pattern required to perform well in snow has the opposite effect in rain.