All Season Tyres......Goodyear Vector 4

[clivea]

During a recent trip to Poland, Germany and Czech Republic I noticed a significant number of cars that had full winter tyres fitted in what was still summer. These ranged from small old runabouts to some executive expresses. So clearly not all drivers in these countries have two sets of tyres. I spoke to a rally driver with a cracking Volvo 122 and he told me that his normal car (Audi A4) he keeps fitted with full winter tyres all year around, and that Continental recommend that if you do only keep one set of tyres then make them winter tyres.

This led me to start thinking about what tyres to fit to my XC70 as the fronts are down to 3mm. Currently the tyres are 235/55/17/99V Pirelli Scorpion Assimetrico which if you read the sidewall close enough are M&S rated but in snow last winter they were not all that great. I have been looking at tyre reviews, particularly the German Autobild tests which seem to be quite objective in the manner of testing. Three All Season tyres consistently perform best in the All Season winter tests, and do remarkably well when tested against full winter tyres too. These are Vredstein, Hankook and Goodyear. Of the three only Goodyear Vector 4 are V rated so would be a straight swap on the XC 70 with no insurance notification needed.

Give that UK winters rarely need full on winter tyres I feel that a good All Season would be the most suitable for UK driving conditions. My wife's cars has had Kuhmo All Seasons with snowflake/mountain symbol and it was good in snow with no noticeable change in driving characteristics elsewhere, or wear rate, but it is a small Nissan Note.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has experience of the Goodyear Vector 4 All Season tyre on their large Volvo or any other such tyres too. My tyre size is 235/17/55/99V

[Harvey1512]

I ran Nokian Entyres last year on a Skoda Yeti and found no difference in running terms between them and summer tyres. Noise and wear rate were both low. My car had 4wd so I can't truly comment on grip in snow other than to say the car did not miss a beat throughout another bad NE winter. Whether that was the tyres or the haldex system I could not say exactly but I would happily get them again if I was going to get one set only.

The Vredestein and Vectors were always highly rated on the Skoda forum as the best two on the market, Nokians came a close third. They were tyre obsessed there, especially people in rural areas where gritters don't exist so I would trust their views.

[tommyweaves]

Not had any experience of the Vectors but my mum runs Nokian WR G2s on her V70 all year round. Wear doesn't seem excessive in the summer. I have a set of the same tyres on my V70 for winter use and again the wear is very good. However, they're not as good as decent summer tyres when the weather warms up properly. Depends on how many miles a year you do and what sort of driving.

[clivea]

Yes as with most things its a compromise. I have seen data from Continental which shows that in winter the proper winter tyre gives much less braking distance than a summer tyre in the cold conditions as tested. But when using full winter tyres in summer the loss of braking distance is quite small cf to a summer tyre both tested in warm conditions. Hence Continentals advice that if you can only buy one set they should be winter tyres. But of course this is for countries such as Germany that have colder winters than UK. The Goodyear Vectors are not a full winter so below -7 deg C their snow and ice grip falls of cf full winter tyres, but conversely they maintain grip better in summer conditions than would full winter tyres. So for most UK driving they would seem to be the best compromise unless you live in areas which have more snow and colder winters ie Scotland, Pennines etc.Wear is not really an issue as we only do around 10k pa.

[GrantA]

This is an interesting thread as I am about to leave France and go to live in the north of Scotland. At the moment my XC70 has the same tyres as the originals, Pirelli Scorpion Assimetrico, but when I come to change them I have been debating on having winter tyres all year round or stick with all season tyres. My experience, living in SW France where summer temperatures can reach 40C, is that winter tyres become far too soft when the temperature rises above 20C. Last winter we experienced temperatures down to -17.5C (albeit for a few weeks only) and I literally had to fit winter tyres to my old Merc to be able to drive it up and out of my driveway. The tyres I chose were Nokian WR D3 and I found them the dogs doo dahs in snow, before, on Bridgestones, the rear wheel driven Merc would slide about and struggle on the slightest incline, the Nokians transformed the car. However when the temperature started to rise earlier this year and went above 20C the car felt soft and spongey on the winter tyres and "rolled" on the corners so I changed back to the Bridgestones. The Merc has gone and now I have the XC70, living in the north of Scotland where the temperatures do get above 20C, occasionally but not for long, I suspect I will change to winter tyres when the present tyres wear out and try them all year round.

[cloggers]

I run Vredestein winter tyres on my V70 and only fit them when the weather gets below 5 celcius or when I go to Germany in the winter. They are hard to compare to my summer tyres as the winter ones are on 17" alloys and my summer tyres on 18". But the handling on my summer 18" Vredesteins is noticeably better.

If you keep your car for longer you shouls get two sets of tyres. A cheap aftermarket set of 16" alloys (I only bought 17"s because I like the look of them) should mean the money isn't that bad. Google tyres and you will find people like mytires or similar who will do sets for a decent price.

Winter tyres in the summer scrub of very quickly when driven in a sprightly manner on twisty roads. And braking just isn't as good.

With regards to AWD versus FWD:
FWD and winter tyres gives you enough traction up the hills. When they can't get you going you shouldn't be driving anyhing but a tractor anyway. And besides that, getting going in the snow is the easy bit, stopping is much harder. And as all cars have brakes on each corner no amount of AWD makes you stop any quicker than a FWD car.

[dtadaz]

I run continental winter contact on a v70 estate. Very pleased, had them on for over a year, 20,000 miles on a set of 4. Backs still at 5mm, fronts now down to 3 so time for a change. Had them on all year reasonable load plus i don't tend to hang around either. Performance in the winter was tremendous in my opinion.

Good tyre, with astonishing wear rate. I would recommend these all day

Daz

[Stevepvolvo]

I am wondering if Volvo have changed the recommended tyre as on the models up to 2008 my understanding is that the stock tyre was the Pirelli scorpion STR. Indeed that is what my car was fitted with from new in 2007 and the previous XC70 I had was fitted with the same. I am a regular driver to Austria for skiing and have always been impressed with the grip and stopping capability on these tyres with the AWD. I always take snow chains but did not need them even when going up a 1 in 5 mountain road covered in 2 inches of snow ice to an apartment we hired a few years ago up a mountain. Also had to come down it daily so I know it stops just as capably. I notice that if you check on Pirellis web site and do a comparison on the Asimmetrico vs the STR then it does look like the Assimmetrico is more for on-road and that may be why the winter use is not inspiring you? Seems a bit strange for Volvo to have changed the standard tyre on the newer model as the whol purpose of the xc70 is its “off road” capability? My tyre size is 215/65/16 but I just checked Pirelli site and the STR is available in the 235/17/55. Obviously a full winter tyre will always be better than an all season but so far I have never felt a need to go to a full winter tyre and I probably use the full capability of the tyres and AWD when going on my skiing trips and I am a very cautious driver. Hope this may be of some use to you.

[clivea]

Thanks thats a useful input. My tyres are 235/55/17/v and STR are H rated in that size. My son uses STR on his CRV and they were impressive during last winters snow. I suppose if I were to change to STR I would need to notify the insurer whereas Vectors are V rated

[macs]

Last Sat I've put vector 4 seasons on my '09 v70 D5, size 225/50 r17 98V XL.
So far so good, it's too early to tell more about their performance other than they are quiet. I've driven only about 150 miles so far.