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Awd useless. Waste of time. Why did i bother!

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Old Feb 1st, 2016, 01:43   #11
moorgate
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been up in the alps many times in proper snow - as in metres of it - and the truth is, tyres are the biggest enabler. They enable bad drivers to go fast enough to ram their BMW X6 in a ditch (O how we laughed) and they enable lost English men to get through fresh snow in their V8 RWD mercedes. Snow is a slightly odd situation for AWD vehicles anyway - they do best in mud and rain when the traction is altered but not entirely removed, anyway.

Best snow car I drove up there was a little Skoda hire car a couple of years ago. Very grunty little 1.2L engine with a turbo, driving winter-tyred FWD. Kept going past Teslas spinning their tiny low-profile tyres like crazy! I don't think anyojne makes winter tyres for those things...
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Old Feb 1st, 2016, 03:50   #12
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[QUOTE=leenineplus;2046746]Just for information or wheel tyre help.

I went out in the snow last week and very disappointed with the XC60 AWD. I have never had a 4x4 before and thought this time it would help with the bad snow and winters I get being 1200ft above sea level. How wrong I was.

The grip is shi-e and skidding everywhere.

I have run winter tyres on cars for 15 years around here and never had a problem like I have in the Volvo. I always wondered why I overtook 4x4 cars going up hills, around corners and never struggled .....................




If you know your weather situation each winter and you have run vehicles for the past 15 years as you say why were you not already prepared with winter tyres on your volvo?
You cant blame the car if you dont shode it with the right wellies can you?

A good compromise is the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Tyre which I have run on for 18 months now and can recommend as being a superb tyre.....quiet, handles well in all weather (which I found out again on Friday just how good they are at emergency braking when some tit in front of me decided he was going to stop and park there and then at the road side having given no warning of his intention as another car was coming the other way) and the xl type I run on has virtually cancelled out body roll when cornering completely (unless you are an a##e and throw it into a corner down hill too fast ....lol).

I see pirelli scorpion rossos have been mentioned on this thread but they are summer tyres.
I had 2 of those on the front and 2 odd-uns on the back when I bought the car and I wasn't impressed at all, but I can assure you the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season is a completely different animal and I like it very much enough to recommend it to you.

I am running on 235/60/18 XLs.

Also with an all season tyre you dont have to worry about changing it each year.

My Mrs has a D5 185 C30 and we have that fitted with Goodyear Vector 4 Season Tyres which are also a superb tyre all year round (see youtube for these and you'll see what I mean), although its only fwd I know but....

She works nights and when she leaves work sometimes in the early morning there is still nasty greasy frost on the roads when she's coming home which I reckon is
worse than snow and ice for gaining traction. The all season tyre just gives her that little bit of edge and security over a normal tyre.
I'm in the hand's up camp for all season tyres.
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Old Feb 5th, 2016, 19:19   #13
Mr steptoe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leenineplus View Post
Just for information or wheel tyre help.

I went out in the snow last week and very disappointed with the XC60 AWD. I have never had a 4x4 before and thought this time it would help with the bad snow and winters I get being 1200ft above sea level. How wrong I was.

The grip is shi-e and skidding everywhere.

I have run winter tyres on cars for 15 years around here and never had a problem like I have in the Volvo. I always wondered why I overtook 4x4 cars going up hills, around corners and never struggled .

My theory is now correct. Its all in the tyres. Do not waste your money getting a 4x4. Just get a front 2 wheel drive car and get a set of spare wheels with winter tyres. A 4x4 is only worth getting for going off road and up bad tracks.
A pointless vehicle really for my use as I don't drive across fields or on dirt tracks. Steep hills I do yes but this Volvo couldn't even handle them in the snow. I parked the car up and used our Zafira and Pug RCZ which have winter tyres and wheels on.

I'm now looking at either getting a set of 16" steel wheels with 215/65/16 tyres or a set of 18/19/20" wheels with winter tyres on for between Dec to April like I do with my other cars we run on winter tyres. Tyreleader and mytyres do all the steel and alloy wheels with a great range of winter tyres.

Anyone else run winter tyres or have a view?

You have the same problem as 90% of the population in their thinking regarding a 4x4 vehicle.

A 4x4 doesn't give you more grip, it gives you more traction. Two entirely different things.
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Old Feb 5th, 2016, 19:31   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leenineplus View Post

I went out in the snow last week and very disappointed with the XC60 AWD. I have never had a 4x4 before and thought this time it would help with the bad snow and winters I get being 1200ft above sea level. How wrong I was.

The grip is shi-e and skidding everywhere.

The AWD is really rather good, as you have found it is the tyres that are at fault. Pirellis I take it?

I posted that XC60 with AWD and Pirelli Zeros was actually quite dangerous, as I have never felt less in control of a car than the 60. Other cars driven by me at the same time (FWD without winter tyres) out performed the XC60, which surprised me, as did a Hyundai with winter tyres. The grip in that was brill.

Put winter tyres on and transform the car.

Further, AWD "isn't just for winter" - it provides a more sure footed safe feel in every day driving in the warmer months, better handling,grip, less torque steer.

Regards
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Old Feb 18th, 2016, 07:19   #15
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Tyres are everything, the right rubber makes a huge difference but so does AWD.
In difficult conditions its better to have four wheels pushing rather than two pushing and dragging another two.

I have owned a number of 4x4, two of these were part time four wheel drive. so I could select four wheel drive when needed. Stuck in snow or a rut off road in two wheel drive switching to four wheel drive was the difference between being stuck or moving.
So same vehicle, same tyres and weight, two wheel drive stuck, four wheel drive go.
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Old Feb 19th, 2016, 15:22   #16
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As a second car I run a little SWB 2004 Suzuki Grand Vitara 1.6 that is fitted with a good set of All Terrain Tyres.

This thing is brilliant but would not be if it had the same tyres as when it left the factory.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2016, 14:45   #17
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Interesting topic this one... I sold a perfectly good "real" 4x4 Pajero to buy my first XC last year. Since then I've not had chance to even get close to trying to go off-road, however - i bought a 2.5 Se Lux petrol manual and in comparison to the old bus I had, I'm not even partially convinced it'll be any good on anything more than some slightly loose cobbles!

Sure - it doesn't have the dirty great big mud grabbers my Paj did, or the ground clearance, or the low ratio box but when the damm thing wont even drive on a slightly damp tarmac road without spinning the wheels up with the slightest of throttle application, how on earth would it cope elsewhere?

I'm resigned now to not daring to risk getting stuck anywhere in the XC, and have drawn a line on tarmac only and just enjoy the XC for what it is - a steroid induced V70 with a little extra ground clearance because 4x4 mud slinger it certainly aint!
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Old Mar 3rd, 2016, 14:52   #18
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spinning the wheels - does the 4wd work ? Sounds like it might not.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2016, 16:05   #19
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Funny I slid very briefly on some black ice this morning on a fast right hander , although it was after a hill so wasn't going really fast. Just enough to show me the Nokian weatherproof tyres were doing there job and remind me I would probably have ended up in the hedge if I still had those Pirrelli summers on!
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Old Mar 4th, 2016, 08:59   #20
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Volvoid - A good question.....tbh i'm not convinced it does, but I have no dash messages, or obvious errors showing - other than a lot of wheel spinning. Here was me simplistically thinking that the system cant not work, and that I was being too heavy footed (but it doesnt take much)

Potentially a can of worms here but not having a Volvo AWD before - what would I need to check? What's the easiest way to know? (for a non mechanical person)
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