V70: Wheels/Brakes 205/60 or 225/55 for R16 winter tyres ?

[georgeav]

Hi,

What tyre size you would recommend for V70 2.0d 2009 R16 rims ? 205/60 or 225/55 ?
I won't be driving them very much on heavy snow, but on cold roads covered occasionally with sludge and morning ice. In my area we usualy have -5C - +15C temperatures during the winter; but it get get as cold as -25C.

I currently have 205/60 and I'm not that happy with them, if the road is not perfect clean, when I start I get wheel slipping, and quite a lot of ABS during breaking. On the other hand, these wheels came with the car (second hand) and I have no idea how they performed when they were new; now they seem to have medium wear.
So I want to buy new tyres, but I don't know if switching to 225 would help.

Thanks !

[Tatsfield]

There are a lot of arguments about the optimum sizes of winter tyres. Although disputed by some, it is a general view that the narrower the winter tyre, the better it will travel through snow and mud. Wide tyres which will support a vehicle across sand by spreading the applied pressure acros a bigger footprint and reducing burrowing into the sand thus improving traction, will behave the same on snow and fail to cut through to the tractable road surface below. Wide tyres always look sexy and are often fitted for eye-candy purposes where they are not truly needed but in snowy conditions, including slush, they are counter productive. Skinny tyres with unappealing looks are actually much better on snow and slush. On wet or dry cold road surfaces the softer compound of winter tyres helps them grip and the extra cuts in the tread which are called sipes, will disperse rain, slush and even snow better than the more solid tread on summer tyres. Of course the price you pay is that the soft winter tyres will wear rapidly in hot weather and the winter tread pattern will be noisier on hot dry summer roads.

So the advice would seem to be, fit the narrowest winter tyres that your wheels will accept and only use them in the winter. But you do seem to have real winters justifying the use of winter tyres, unlike the UK where you never know from day to day what the weather will be like!

[georgeav]

Thanks for the reply.

Now a new contender appeared, somehow forced: 215/55 (or 205/55). This is because according to all reviews, Continental TS 860 is the best winter tyre; the problem is that it doesn't have any of the sizes above; the closest are 215/55 and 205/55
According to the calculator found here 205/60/R16, 225/55/r16 were almost identical in the resulting wheel diameter with my summer tyres: 245/45/R17; but 215/55 are a little off.

245/45/r17: diameter 652 mm
205/60/r16: diameter 652 mm
225/55/r16: diameter 654 mm (0.3% more)
215/55/r16: diameter 643 mm (1.4% less)
205/55/r16: diameter 632 mm (3.1% less)

The wheel calculator recommends the difference between wheels to be less than 2.5% (but it doesn't say why) so 205/55 is out.

But is 215/55 close enough ? Will I need wheel alignment or other stuff when changing between summer and winter tyres ?

[mhon72]

Originally Posted by georgeav

Thanks for the reply.

Now a new contender appeared, somehow forced: 215/55 (or 205/55). This is because according to all reviews, Continental TS 860 is the best winter tyre; the problem is that it doesn't have any of the sizes above; the closest are 215/55 and 205/55
According to the calculator found here 205/60/R16, 225/55/r16 were almost identical in the resulting wheel diameter with my summer tyres: 245/45/R17; but 215/55 are a little off.

245/45/r17: diameter 652 mm
205/60/r16: diameter 652 mm
225/55/r16: diameter 654 mm (0.3% more)
215/55/r16: diameter 643 mm (1.4% less)
205/55/r16: diameter 632 mm (3.1% less)

The wheel calculator recommends the difference between wheels to be less than 2.5% (but it doesn't say why) so 205/55 is out.

But is 215/55 close enough ? Will I need wheel alignment or other stuff when changing between summer and winter tyres ?

Hi there,
I had the same dilemma as you recently.
I had a set of 205/60 R16 96H tyres to replace. I bought these originally with the belief the skinnier tyres would be better in snow than the 225 width ones.
Incidentally, my D5's handbook states 225 are the correct width for that model and the 205s are for the smaller engined D3/eDrive models.
In practice, I found the grip on greasy roads a bit worse so have switched to the wider 225/55 R16 99H. These have felt better but that could just be having fresher rubber on.

I looked at the Continental TS860 as well and was disappointed they didn't make it in either of the sizes above. Checking with Continental and the previous tyre versions they made confirmed it unlikely they would make one in the future.
Instead I went with the previously best rated tyre, the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Gen-1.

I considered the alternative sizes you have listed as well but the advice is a 0.5% difference in tyre diameter is fine. 1.0% is marginal.

Hope that helps.

[airineialex]

i think its 225/55ZR16... but you can check it here : http://carstiresize.com/volvo-v70-ti...les-2001-2016/ ...

[FIBAMAN]

I have a set of 225/55/16 on my V70 D5. They are Nokian and have performed very well this winter in ice and snow.
I ran similar sized tyres on my previous car (BMW 525 TOURER) rear wheel drive for the last ten years. Never had any problems even in worse weather than we have had lately.
Ihad either Vredestein or Nokian on that car and found both excellent.
All things considered I think the all round value of Nokians made it the best choice.