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 !

[Prufrock]

You call that pricey; and they've been on for 45000 miles..! I'm not saying I don't believe you but I'd say that's pretty remarkable. I rate Hankook's very highly, well priced, good all weather grip and quiet --someone mentioned Pirellis - dreadful tyre.

Good quality budget tyres are Sava (Goodyear) and Lassa (Bridgestone), I bought four Kumho's for our V70 recently for £212 fitted.

Jon.

[Jebus]

Sounds like "pub logic" from your local tame mechanic, rather than any usefull type of information.

A non-directional/directional/asymmetrical tyre are not going to wear anymore than any other type, based purely on the tread pattern.

Modern tyres are by far magnitudes better than tyres "back in the day" in terms of how they wear, noise, wet and dry grip and so on.
What type of wear are you getting with your tyres, a mod for the camber on the front was released by Volvo to stop excessive and unusual wear, and like all cars they need to have the wheel alignment done properly.


You might need to adjust tyre pressures, form the volvo ones, which you can do my monitoring wear across the tyre and adjust from that, i.e. centre wear more lower pressure needed edges increase it a tad.

I am getting a set of Uniroyal rainsport 3 in 195/65/15 to go my 940 to replace the random assortment of budgets,old and wore things that are on it just now. Not had them on a 940 but they are a very good tyre, fitted on my S40 which would spin its wheels all the time with the nearly new but budget branded it had on before.

Going for them because they a) are excellent value £150ish quid for 4, b) great in the wet c) and quite soft sidewalls for a modern tyre so more comfortable ride, and a more predictable handling overall its a 940 it is supposed to be pillow like comfort

Personal theory more than anything else, would be that the more modern tyres, with much better grip levels any wear in the suspension will be highlighted far more...were an old style less grippy tyre is starting to give out, the modern one is just digging in and gripping..so more stress is put on the springs/shocks/bushes, the speed you are doing everything is a little higher so again little more stress.

[James_EG_940]

40,000 miles is quite remarkable. I will probably get about 20,000 out of mine. I had to swap the front two early though due to alignment issues wearing them out prematurely. They do have a nice squidgy sidewall though and are quiet, good for the Volvo comfort!

As others have said, get the most expensive (although expensive does not explicitly mean quality) or at least most highly recommended tyres you can. They are of course safety critical parts and I cringe when I see the average fiesta cruising along with 4 mismatched budget tyres, one probably bald and one a get home spare that's done 1000 miles at 80mph!

[martin calva]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

You call that pricey; and they've been on for 45000 miles..! I'm not saying I don't believe you but I'd say that's pretty remarkable. .....

As I said earler, my Michelin Energy tyres have now done about 56,000 km (around 35,000 miles). There is still bags of life left in them.

So jpliddy getting 45000 miles from his does not seem surprising to me.