Winter tyres fitted

[chrisrixy]

Originally Posted by KNVXC90

Dealer is quoting around £2,250 for 20" wheels with winter tyres.

That seems in line with official prices last year - but the 19" were cheaper, and 18" were from about £1200 for the set.

http://www.johnsonscarsmarketing.co....quickguide.pdf

C.

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by KNVXC90

Question to those who switched to winter tyres:

Are you keeping a separate set of wheels for winter or simply swapping the tyres on to existing wheels?

I keep a separate set of wheels. If you just swap tyres you have to factor in the cost of swapping them twice per year (~£100 including re-balancing) and the fact that almost inevitably an alloy wheel will get damaged at some point in the process.

Dealer is quoting around £2,250 for 20" wheels with winter tyres. If I just use existing wheels and go for new tyres, it could cost around £1,200 for a Goodyear or Dunlop.

No need for 20" wheels. Much more expensive than smaller ones and actually smaller is better with winter tyres due to the higher sidewall (which also gives a better ride). My winter wheels are genuine Volvo 18" (you could go 19" too) with Conti winter tyres. Got them as a package from the dealer last year for iirc ~£1,400. Only a couple of cms of snow last night but car felt great.

Are these quotes reasonable?

£2,250? Not really. Go smaller.

Note that 18" wheels cannot be fitted to a T8 because of the larger front calipers fitted on these cars.

[jmot]

Originally Posted by KNVXC90

Dealer is quoting around £2,250 for 20" wheels with winter tyres. If I just use existing wheels and go for new tyres, it could cost around £1,200 for a Goodyear or Dunlop.

Are these quotes reasonable?

Absolutely not. Complete rip off. If you really must have a separate set of rims for your rubber then just buy a cheap set of steels.

I nearly choked when I saw the price of new rims and tyres from the volvo dealer.

Black Circles have deals on tons of winter rubber, its where i've always bought mine from. Think I payed something just under £850 inc driveway fitting for my 19" Winter Conti's.

All this about damaging wheels etc, just take a pic of both sides of car before fitting. If they ruin your wheels then make them pay, they all have insurance etc if you get someone decent to fit. I do this whenever I take a car in anywhere for even a puncture repair...

As for salt and other winter corrosion concerns... if you are not planning on keeping the car past 3 or 4 years who cares and 99% of cars on road are on same rims 100% of the time!

[chrisrixy]

Originally Posted by jmot

Absolutely not. Complete rip off. If you really must have a separate set of rims for your rubber then just buy a cheap set of steels.

I nearly choked when I saw the price of new rims and tyres from the volvo dealer.

Black Circles have deals on tons of winter rubber, its where i've always bought mine from. Think I payed something just under £850 inc driveway fitting for my 19" Winter Conti's.

All this about damaging wheels etc, just take a pic of both sides of car before fitting. If they ruin your wheels then make them pay, they all have insurance etc if you get someone decent to fit. I do this whenever I take a car in anywhere for even a puncture repair...

As for salt and other winter corrosion concerns... if you are not planning on keeping the car past 3 or 4 years who cares and 99% of cars on road are on same rims 100% of the time!

But a full set of 18" wheels & tyres is only £1250 from the dealer (so £100 per rim if tyres are £850) - with less hassle and cost of swopping tyres & re-balancing twice a year, less risk of wheel damage and time wasted arguing about repairs with a fitter, the summer wheels will be in better condition after 3 years, and you have a full set of winters rims ready for your next xc90 or to sell...

It's a personal choice which is better depending on circumstances I guess..

[gaby]

Originally Posted by jmot

Absolutely not. Complete rip off. If you really must have a separate set of rims for your rubber then just buy a cheap set of steels

Excellent idea! Please let me know where to find them.

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by chrisrixy

and you have a full set of winters rims ready for your next xc90 or to sell...

Exactly. There's a good market for second-hand wheels with winter tyres; more so than for either of those alone. For my CR-V I bought genuine Honda wheels with Goodyear winters for ~£950 and sold them 5 years later on eBay for ~£450. So they cost me £100 per annum. It's a no-brainer.

[Deman77]

I am into a third winter season on my winters that get swapped onto original 20in mat tech and back every season. I would argue for this as better option than a set of 18s:
- my car looks as intended all year around on 20s and does not look like an old xc90 on 18th for 6months a year. I think dark colour momentum or r-design must be on dark alloys - they look silly on silver; inscription can pull off the silver rim look because of all the shiny trim. but to me all xc90s in sub 20in wheels look like those 6’8” guys who shop in for trousers in normal shops. This is personal so do ignore it if you like to mix it around with the look.
- I do not have perceptible tyre noise difference now my summers are conti silents. It used to be much louder on summers. On 18in you will get narrower thread and that will be quieter. It is also less safe according to continental who know what they are talking about (yes some journalists testing vw golf in a foot of snow in finland might get benefit from thinner tyre and then sound very clever - this is a two ton suv that has no problem putting weight on - more contact is more grip).
- I did not have to pay for new set of rims and expensive tpms sensors into a new set of tyres (this is an mot requirement - but it does not apply to my17 onwards as they have pretend tpms on them from software). 600 for a set of top performing winter tyres on 20in.
- I do pay for swapping twice a year but the dealer doesn’t charge me for storage and uses a proper tyre shop to do this - I have had 5 swaps now between seasons and no problems - rims, tyres and tpms not damaged. This also ensures I get balancing done twice a year. Continental confirmed to me that under warranty they would cover any damage that occurred from swapping done by a competent shop. Volvo keep reminding me at every swap that I should not do this and buy a new set of tyres from them but continental insist that swapping does not damage the tyres and it’s a myth created by people selling rims.
- correct storage is important but Volvo assured me they know what they are doing and store tyres only different from full sets. I am on a third cold season on my winters and they perform fantastically well in the snow, wet cold weather, no uneven wear or spots, acceleration, breaking, feedback. I am low mileage user and for many people it won’t matter as they wear tyres out in two seasons but bad storage would degrade rubber. Mine is fine.
- I would be weary of using tyres past 4 seasons due to rubber ageing so at first sign of less than perfect performance from next season on I would just change my tyres to the latest top performing winter set but that would apply to any tyres regardless of whether you are swapping or keeping them on rims.

All in all I think extra rims is suboptimal in most areas only winning on reducing the risk of damage and some noise reduction provided you didn’t choose a noise rubber. But given that that risk of damage is very low and it’s covered by tyre warranty I recommend just a spare set of rubber.
Regardless of what you choose do not leave the summers on. That is very unsafe.

[Deman77]

Sorry that was awfully wordy

[155mph]

Swap tyres on the one set of OEM wheels. Been doing so for the last 8 winters. No wheel damage.

[KNVXC90]

Thank you all for the various responses/opinions. Much appreciated.