What are the best tyres to put on an XC90?

[TruckbusUK]

[QUOTE=RoyMacDonald;1504614]Don't all tyres have "Component Type Approval"? I thought that's what the speed rating was about?

QUOTE]

Probably is Roy, but the XC90 was done under "whole vehicle" I believe and as a result the insurance industry in particular will assess and award rating/groupings based on those components at the time of testing and how they behave, for example in crash tests.
The XC90 was granted "whole vehicle" approval while using, 235x60R18's with a load index of 103 and a speed rating of V.
So in the past deviation from this of that means that the insurance company is no longer insuring the car and its performance it thinks it is ... so it is a huge grey area.

Re the tyre speed, the rating of a tyre is the maximum speed a rotational tyre will survive 600 seconds before carcass failure, this is actually tested to destruction before the rating is awarded and quality approval granted.

Food for thought.

[RoyMacDonald]

[QUOTE=TruckbusUK;1504651]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

Don't all tyres have "Component Type Approval"? I thought that's what the speed rating was about?

QUOTE]

Probably is Roy, but the XC90 was done under "whole vehicle" I believe and as a result the insurance industry in particular will assess and award rating/groupings based on those components at the time of testing and how they behave, for example in crash tests.
The XC90 was granted "whole vehicle" approval while using, 235x60R18's with a load index of 103 and a speed rating of V.
So in the past deviation from this of that means that the insurance company is no longer insuring the car and its performance it thinks it is ... so it is a huge grey area.

Re the tyre speed, the rating of a tyre is the maximum speed a rotational tyre will survive 600 seconds before carcass failure, this is actually tested to destruction before the rating is awarded and quality approval granted.

Food for thought.

So what's the situation if you have to fit the spare wheel at 1:00 am on Sunday night?

Use of the car must depend how it's set up I would think. ie if you have tyres with a different type approval rating you can only use it to the type approval recommendations of that particular component? In which case the maximum speed is 50 mph regardless of the vehicle type approval.

How many people run their cars exactly as it came from the factory? Particularly the consumables like tyres, oil and shock absorbers?

I thought insurers assessed cars on risk. The XC90 insurance cost has dropped a lot over the years I've owned mine if that's anything to go by.

[TruckbusUK]

[QUOTE=RoyMacDonald;1504711]

Originally Posted by TruckbusUK

So what's the situation if you have to fit the spare wheel at 1:00 am on Sunday night?

Use of the car must depend how it's set up I would think. ie if you have tyres with a different type approval rating you can only use it to the type approval recommendations of that particular component? In which case the maximum speed is 50 mph regardless of the vehicle type approval.

How many people run their cars exactly as it came from the factory? Particularly the consumables like tyres, oil and shock absorbers?

I thought insurers assessed cars on risk. The XC90 insurance cost has dropped a lot over the years I've owned mine if that's anything to go by.

Re spare tyres, I have no idea, but would guess temporary use may play a part, but we were never talking about tyre component type approval, we were talking about Volvo XC90 Whole Vehicle Type Approval.

TBH Roy, dont think anyone mentioned "running the car" exactly as it came from the factory, somewhat removes choice, however for this discussion many manufacturers make for example 235x60R18 103V tyres, why would you want to stick to "factory Conti's" its the size and specification thats important, not who manufactures the tyre.

Insurance is based on lots of items, many used to come up with the insurance rating, assessment of risk, vehicle use, driver history, crash test information, mileage, previous claim history etc ........ every insurance company will assess differently, hence different prices from different insurers.

Think this is drifing a bit from subject here!

[RoyMacDonald]

[QUOTE=TruckbusUK;1504739]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

Re spare tyres, I have no idea, but would guess temporary use may play a part, but we were never talking about tyre component type approval, we were talking about Volvo XC90 Whole Vehicle Type Approval.

TBH Roy, dont think anyone mentioned "running the car" exactly as it came from the factory, somewhat removes choice, however for this discussion many manufacturers make for example 235x60R18 103V tyres, why would you want to stick to "factory Conti's" its the size and specification thats important, not who manufactures the tyre.

Insurance is based on lots of items, many used to come up with the insurance rating, assessment of risk, vehicle use, driver history, crash test information, mileage, previous claim history etc ........ every insurance company will assess differently, hence different prices from different insurers.

Think this is drifing a bit from subject here!

Isn't the subject of whether Whole Vehicle Type approval is the be all and end all of tyre choice and that a H or V or whatever the temp tyre rating is has to come down to use. ie if your going to run the V8 at 130 mph for protracted use it would make sense to seek V rated tyres. If you want to go off road use H rated. (I'm not aware of any off road or winter tyres rated above H)

[TruckbusUK]

[QUOTE=RoyMacDonald;1504751]

Originally Posted by TruckbusUK

(I'm not aware of any off road or winter tyres rated above H)

The Nokian's I use WR SUV G2's 235/60R18 are V rated tyres ... a very common size and speed rating, Vredestein also do the Quatrac SUV 3's in 235/60R18 in V rated tyres, so not that difficult to find really, albeit slightly less common than the "H" rated versions, admittedly not "full" winters, but afterall we do live in the mild UK.

[RoyMacDonald]

[QUOTE=TruckbusUK;1504857]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

The Nokian's I use WR SUV G2's 235/60R18 are V rated tyres ... a very common size and speed rating, Vredestein also do the Quatrac SUV 3's in 235/60R18 in V rated tyres, so not that difficult to find really, albeit slightly less common than the "H" rated versions, admittedly not "full" winters, but afterall we do live in the mild UK.

I did consider the WR G2's but was put off by the fuel economy rating and noise rating. I opted for a set of Wintrac4 extremes again because of the off road grip and wear qualities. I gave no consideration to the speed rating as an H rating is way in excess of any speed I would ever be doing in mine. I wouldn't want to risk my licence.

In over sixty years of motoring I've never had a loss assessor check what tyres I had on the car when I've put in a claim.

Just looking at what's on the market now and the Nokian WR 3's look interesting.

[Shadeyman]

Just found this in the handbook. It would appear that Volvo recommend the V rated High Performance tyre be replace during the winter with a more appropriate tyre.



The car is appoved as a whole but the exception is winter tyres and H rated are perfectly acceptable according to the handbook.

[RoyMacDonald]

The complaint about the original tyre fitment on the XC 90 circa 2003 was that you'd be lucky to make it over 10,000 miles. There were only about 3 alternatives in the 18" size as I remember, all H rated. The only way to get a bigger choice then was to opt for 17" wheels.

What about changing the Nivomats for something else, as a lot of people do because of the cost? Does that affect the type approval?

[RoyMacDonald]

I have to say Volvo don't really follow the tyre manufacturers recommendations as tire manufacturers say if you're only going to run one set of tyres all year round they recommend using a set of winter tyres.

[Shadeyman]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

What about changing the Nivomats for something else, as a lot of people do because of the cost? Does that affect the type approval?

My guess is yes it would.

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

I have to say Volvo don't really follow the tyre manufacturers recommendations as tire manufacturers say if you're only going to run one set of tyres all year round they recommend using a set of winter tyres.

I tried to run a set of winter tyres for a year on my old Range Rover. No chance, they're far to soft a compound and didn't last.