Good tyres for Volvo 940

[haymitch]

Apologies for such a basic question but it'd like to know what a good type of tyre would be for my Volvo 940.

My mechanic advised me that my current tyres are wearing quickly because they are asymmetric which the cars suspension was never designed for. He suggested a pair of old fashioned 'block' tyres to last longer and improve the cars handling. After looking online I'm guessing he meant symmetric tyres. I'm finding it difficult to identify a suitable pair of tyres using online tools like blackcircles.com. Most tyres I keep coming across are asymmetric. I wondered if any other 940 owners could help please?

Thanks!

[Laird Scooby]

I've had good results with Pirelli P6000s round here but sadly they're now "old hat" and the price has shot up to ten times what i was paying a few years ago.

Depends what you're looking for in terms of tyres, price and so on.

I've found this place is more competitive than Black Circles :

https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyr.../?orderby=prix

Not sure if i've picked the correct size for yours but you can alter the size and do another search.

[James_EG_940]

I use Dunlop Sport Bluresponse 195/65R15 91H... seem to work just fine and are about £50 fitted on black circles.

Maybe you should elaborate on what you mean by good? Are you drifting on 17" rims or cruising the motorways on steels? Personally I go for a name brand but don't spend loads, I'm swayed by those that are rated as being less noisy to give me a more peaceful cabin!

[martin calva]

I fit Michelin Energy 195/65 R15 tyres to my 1994 940 diesel estate. The last lot were fitted 56,000 km ago and have lots of life left in them.

What your mechanic said about asymmetric tyres being unsuitable for a 940 sounds like nonsense to me. Is he making an excuse for something?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by martin calva

I fit Michelin Energy 195/65 R15 tyres to my 1994 940 diesel estate. The last lot were fitted 56,000 km ago and have lots of life left in them.

What your mechanic said about asymmetric tyres being unsuitable for a 940 sounds like nonsense to me. Is he making an excuse for something?

It's a possibility but i've always found the 740/760 ride/handle better on symmetrical tyres than asymmetrical.

Asymmetric tyres are more prevalent in recent years as suspension etc has changed and more cars are being designed to use "Directional" tyres or at the very least tyres that have an outside and an inside.

Symmetrical tyres are those that don't have an outside or inside face, non-directional so can be fitted to any of the wheels in any orientation. See below........

Originally Posted by haymitch

Apologies for such a basic question but it'd like to know what a good type of tyre would be for my Volvo 940.

My mechanic advised me that my current tyres are wearing quickly because they are asymmetric which the cars suspension was never designed for. He suggested a pair of old fashioned 'block' tyres to last longer and improve the cars handling. After looking online I'm guessing he meant symmetric tyres. I'm finding it difficult to identify a suitable pair of tyres using online tools like blackcircles.com. Most tyres I keep coming across are asymmetric. I wondered if any other 940 owners could help please?

Thanks!

See my bit above about asymmetric tyres, what you're looking for is a tyre which, when you look at the tread pattern and imagine a line through the centre of it, if you placed a mirror on this line the tread pattern would look the same in the mirror as it does on the tyre.

This Goodyear Asymmetric 3 tyre is a good example of asymmetric :



By contrast, the symmetrical Pirelli P6000 :



Hopefully gives you an idea! What tyres are you currently running anyway?

[jpliddy]

hi i have only ever used michelin energy tyres 185/65 r15 88t I've had over 45000 miles out of every set i put on . if you are keeping the car go for it expensive i need another set shortly on my 940 diesel at £67 each pricy but safe .! only my opinion !

[baggy798]

Originally Posted by James_EG_940

I use Dunlop Sport Bluresponse 195/65R15 91H... seem to work just fine and are about £50 fitted on black circles.

I got 22,000 miles out of a set of those on the front.

Just fitted some Toyo Proxes CF2 205/65/15 99H XL to the rear, nice and chunky!

[aardvarkash10]

Originally Posted by haymitch

Apologies for such a basic question but it'd like to know what a good type of tyre would be for my Volvo 940.

My mechanic advised me that my current tyres are wearing quickly because they are asymmetric which the cars suspension was never designed for. He suggested a pair of old fashioned 'block' tyres to last longer and improve the cars handling. After looking online I'm guessing he meant symmetric tyres. I'm finding it difficult to identify a suitable pair of tyres using online tools like blackcircles.com. Most tyres I keep coming across are asymmetric. I wondered if any other 940 owners could help please?

Thanks!

If thats what he said AND what he meant, your mechanic is speaking from his nether regions.

Wear rate is almost entirely the outcome of the tyre compound. Soft tyres stick well, but wear fast.

All else being equal, tyre noise is largely the outcome of tread design - block tread is noisey, linear tread not so much. The reasons are pretty self-evident.

All else being equal, wet traction is the result of tread design, but I qualify that by adding that compound and the road surface are almost indistinguishable players in this game too.

An "older style" block tread design is almost certainly going to be noisier, less grippy cornering in the wet and harsher riding. If you consider that an improvement, go for your life.

[jpliddy]

the michelin energy tyres i have on the car now went on at 20500 the car has now done coming up to 248000 there is still life in them and obviously legal so will take them to the end of the summer and replaced for winter . i have kept a log /service history since purchasing the car in september 1999 . i have just checked my previous set and they have only done 380000 so sorry for the error
strange how I've managed another 7000 miles on these tyres i can't explain why the first set of michelin energy i put on was march 2005 . these are showing according to my records over 50000 mile so a vast difference in milage I'm getting over the years are there different compounds ? can't be

[haymitch]

Lots of interesting stuff there - especially since my current tyres are in fact Uniroyal RainSport 3s! They're the asymmetric tyre I was talking about. The previous owner added a full set to the car around 11 months ago. I had the wheels aligned around 4 months ago so I don't know if it's the driving before this point that has caused them to wear prematurely?

I changed the PSI in all tyres to 32 around 2 months ago. The car has definitely handled better since then but it's not stopped the wear. I've just looked through the service history and the car's done 8000 miles since the tyres were last changed.

I trust the mechanic - he's an honest sort and has been recommended on this forum. I've also taken the car to three garages now and none of them have spotted anything wrong with the suspension, which is what makes it so strange.

One garage noticed that the tie rods looked worn but not badly and recommended not to replace them. This wasn't mentioned at all by the other garages.

By 'good tyre' I mean one that is medium to hard wearing with good grip - not sure how else to describe it but not cheapies basically