V70 Wheels/Tyres: Winter Tyres

[sarv]

Hi guys. Have a 2005 V70 2.4 non-turbo with 17" wheels. Was ok in the winter last year but after some very bad experiences driving BMW's in the snow i have decided to go for winter tyres. I have just ordered a set of 15" steel rims from Volvo but need some advice on which winter tyres are good, bad, or ugly etc. I need them to not only be good in snow but also have a decent compound to cope with cold temperatures and lots of rain. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

[Jim314]

Originally Posted by sarv

Hi guys. Have a 2005 V70 2.4 non-turbo with 17" wheels. Was ok in the winter last year but after some very bad experiences driving BMW's in the snow i have decided to go for winter tyres. I have just ordered a set of 15" steel rims from Volvo but need some advice on which winter tyres are good, bad, or ugly etc. I need them to not only be good in snow but also have a decent compound to cope with cold temperatures and lots of rain. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

My 2004 V70 came with 15" wheels and it has the small brake discs. If your V70 came with 17" wheels or even 16" wheels, then it very likely has the next size up of brake calipers. I think that 15" wheels might be too small to accomodate those discs, but 16" wheels would be OK.

You need to check on this and maybe get 16" wheels instead.

[Georgeandkira]

Hello, When you get your steel wheels try mounting one. You'll then know. Did a dealership help you select these 15" steels? Kira

[mds]

Make sure 15" rims will clear the brakes

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by sarv

Hi guys. Have a 2005 V70 2.4 non-turbo with 17" wheels. Was ok in the winter last year but after some very bad experiences driving BMW's in the snow i have decided to go for winter tyres. I have just ordered a set of 15" steel rims from Volvo but need some advice on which winter tyres are good, bad, or ugly etc. I need them to not only be good in snow but also have a decent compound to cope with cold temperatures and lots of rain. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Vredestein Wintrac

[Bill_56]

Hi sarv,

I bought winter tyres for the first time last Jan, after discovering that the S60 was worse than useless in the snow with regular Michelins on 17 inch wheels. As soon as it hit the slightest, barely perceptible incline, it just spun its wheels and refused to budge, regardless of driving style and regardless of traction-contrtol settings.

After much research, I went for Nokian WR G2s. In Europe they are sold as purely a winter tyre, in the USA they seem to sell them as all-weather. I think the truth is that they are first and foremost a winter tyre, but one which will also remain useful in milder weather too without wearing themselves out. Seemed ideal for our ill-defined winter climate.

I fitted them to 16 inch wheels though, with hindsight, i wish I had checked whether 15inch wheels would have fitted as they would probably have been better still. As others have said, your exact model spec may restrict the choice of wheel sizes.

The bad January snow had all gone by the time I got the Nokians, but there was a light dusting of snow a few weeks later that allowed me to experiment briefly on our 1 in 4.5 driveway. Our Polo, which had behaved much better than the S60 in the heavy snow, got stuck almost immediately it hit the slope. The S60, with the Nokians, not only made it up the drive without any wheelspin, but I was able to stop and do a hill-start half way up. Truly incredible, though I wait with interest for more snow to see if it was just a fluke.

There was another incident in February when I hit sheet black-ice on a country road, which had already caused three recent vehicles (one a police car) to be stranded in the ditch and another embedded in a telegraph pole. I could feel the Nokians sliding a little, but nothing that a passenger would have noticed and had no trouble at all slowing down, keeping on the road, and driving around the carnage.

- Bill

[MrP]

as this is being asked, can i ask for some advice please.

my V70 has 17" wheels, so i was thinking about getting some 16" steel wheels, but what will fit??

do they have to be volvo, or can i use 5 stud ford wheels (from a mondeo or similar?)

also, can i get away with just putting winter tyres on the front, or is 4 a better idea??

what size and make would go best with the 16" tyres??

i wanna do this as cheap as possible, esp when my summer tyres are £120 a peice!

[Bill_56]

Originally Posted by MrP

as this is being asked, can i ask for some advice please.

my V70 has 17" wheels, so i was thinking about getting some 16" steel wheels, but what will fit??

do they have to be volvo, or can i use 5 stud ford wheels (from a mondeo or similar?)

also, can i get away with just putting winter tyres on the front, or is 4 a better idea??

what size and make would go best with the 16" tyres??

i wanna do this as cheap as possible, esp when my summer tyres are £120 a peice!

Some of the winter tyre-vendors will sell tyre&steel-wheel packages that are very economical. My tyres came from mytyres.co.uk, and they did offer the wheel&tyre bundle, which would have come to little more than the cost of tyres alone.

Trouble is, I lost confidence when the mytyres helpline was unable to answer detailed technical questions about the wheel design, so I just ordered the tyres, and bought the wheels from Volvo at considerable extra cost.

I may have judged them too harshly though, the bundled wheels may have been fine. You'd have to judge for yourself.

One point, that nobody has asked yet, involves wheel-covers for steel-wheels. I had originally planned to buy cheapo' covers from the likes of halfrauds. Upon inspection the generic wheel-covers all suffered a fundamental flaw in that, to guarantee clearance for different designs of wheel bolts, they all had vastly over-generous clearance in the middle, causing them to 'bulge out' in a ridiculous way, which would also have made it impossible to park close to a high kerb without crunching them. If you want wheel-covers, I suggest you grit your teeth and buy originals from Volvo, which are a nice snug-fit designed for the bolt pattern.

- Bill

[sarv]

Thanks for replies guys. I asked the dealership to advise me on winter tyres and wheels and they said they had no info and could do me another set of 17" wheels - as they would be ok. I actually got the wheel sizes from the manual - says 195/65 R15 will be winter tyre size of choice for my car with 205/60 R16 for turbo, 215/65 R16 for XC70, and 225/45 R17 for V70R. From memory last time i had the discs changed i did not have the larger ones on my car. I hope they fit as i have had to pay up front for the wheels as volvo said they have to order them from Sweden.
Any other thoughts on which tyres would be good choices?

[chopper_harris]

Guys - the wheel/rotor question is an all time FAQ - the search button is your friend.

If you have 286mm rotors, you can fit 15",16" or 17"
If you have the 305mm rotors, you cannot fit 15" rims.

Originally Posted by sarv

From memory last time i had the discs changed i did not have the larger ones on my car.

So, unless the Brembo fairies have been to see you, you have 286mm rotors.
Any rim size will work, but 15" will allow you a deeper tyre wall, which is a good thing if you skid into a kerb


I drive in Toronto during the winter months, +1 for Vredestein Wintrac