posted by
someone claiming to be Mark from MA
on
Sun Apr 22 18:41 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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I bought my used Volvo over the winter with 2 full sets of tires. I had to replace the winter snows (went with Gislaved) and have just put on the summer set. They are Michelin Energy MXV4 pluses on steel rims (not very sexy, I know). I suspect they were the original tires as they are pretty close to worn out. I figure I'd go with exact replacements, but the cheapest new ones I could find were $134 each, so now I'm looking for a way to save some money.
In general, across brands and lines it looks like I could save about $15/tire by going with H rated instead of V. Then when I asked at a tire place, the tech told me my 850 wagon needed V rated tires, and wouldn't sell me anything else. I know I won't drive fast enough to need them based purely on the speed rating. Are there other differences between the tires that might make it desirable to have the V rated rather than the H? Is the performance at lower speeds any different? Or is this just a ploy for tire shops to make more money?
Originally I was considering Bridgestone Potenza RE930 ($57) which doesn't come in a V rated version (these are what the tire place wouldn't sell me). After more checking it seems Pirellis seem to have a great value/performance ratio and now I'm thinking about either the H-rated Pirelli P6000 ($66) or Pirelli P6000 Sport Veloce ($64). Both of these got good ratings and reviews relative to the Michelins (at Tirerack.com) and are half the price. Even if I have to go with the V-rated versions it sounds like they would still be a better value.
Does anyone out there have experience with any of these tires on an 850 wagon? Any suggestions/experiences would be helpful!
Thanks,
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posted by
someone claiming to be Wayne
on
Tue Apr 24 07:51 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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I put Goodrich Touring T/A 205-55 VR 15 on mine the last time around. Shorter sidewall provides slightly better handling and v rating at least means they are made to slightly tighter tolerances. I think upgrading from the 195-60 HR 15 was maybe $10 a tire. Well worth the improvement.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Ray Niblett
on
Tue Apr 24 05:34 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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I replaced the MXV4s on our 95 wagon with Continelntal Conti
Touring tires (H rated). Three had sidewall damage witin a
year (the outer layer of rubber had cracked) and I replace
them with Michilin XGT H4 Pilots. The H rated Pilots are
about $100 each and are a fine tire. I don't think they
handle as well as the OEM MXV4 but others have posted that
they feel they handle better then the MXV4. The Pilot probably
has a slightly softer ride (I can't really recall well since
it has been a while since we had the MXv4s on the car).
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posted by
someone claiming to be Mark from MA
on
Tue Apr 24 15:50 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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So Ray, what do you think of the Bridgestone Potenzas on your S70? I guess by now I know I can pay $540 and get the v-rated Michelin MXV4's, which I would probably be happy with, but I could get a set of H rated Potenza RE930i's for only $228 -- about half the price.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Ray Niblett
on
Tue Apr 24 18:00 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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I have the Potenza RE-730s. They are V rated and definitly biased
towards performance (size is 205/55 16). They ride harsher then
stock XGT V4s and at first I did not like them. However, I have
learned to really appreciate the performnce (and I now know why
leather seats are a bad idea if you really like to turn fast -- you
just slide right out of them). Perhaps over time I have become
used to the harsher ride or maybe the tires softned up a bit; whatever
it is, I like them much more now then when new.
I did have one problem in that one tire would not balance. There
was actually a problem with the tire and it had to be replaced.
The bad tire was on the rear and I did not find the problem until
I rotated the tires (the balance problem was much more obvious once
the tire was on the front). Important lesson here for me is that
now with any new tires I will drive them for about 1K iles then
rotate them to make sure they are all balanced ok (also, you
would want to replace a bad one as soon as possible before there
is a lot of wear on the other 3).
The dealer I purchased the tire from could not determine the cause
of the problem that was causing the vibration after I rotated
the tires. I took the car to another shop that uses a Hunter GSP9700
balancer (see http://www.hunter.com/). This device can place a 700
pound load on the tire and is really good at balancing tires. The
web site also can locate a dealer with this equipment (you can also
have tires from tirerack.com drop-shipped to a lot of these garages
which is what I would do next time). Check out the web site for some
info on tire balancing. In the future, I will make sure any dealer
I have mount tires has similar eqipment.
Note that the shop that did the nice balancing job said that problems
with Bridgestone tires were very uncommon and in his opinion Bridgestone
was the current leader in tire technology (he did sell other tire
brands but not Bridgestone).
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posted by
someone claiming to be BOU BOU
on
Tue Apr 24 06:17 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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Ray: In my opinion, I've had both XGT H4 Pilots and MXV4's. I feel the latter is a much smoother ride but is inferior in traction and handling on both wet and dry surfaces. I gave up the smooth ride of the MXV4 and switched to the Pilot XGT H4 because traction and handling are more important to me. The XGT H4 is also less expensive. On the highway, the XGT H4 Pilots were also very smooth but a tad noisier, perhaps because the design is performance oriented with a more radical thread pattern and stiffer sidewall. My point is , they are both excellent tires but I prefer the Pilots. I've tried many different brands over the years but now stick to Michelins. Expensive but worth it. I also buy only Bilstein replacement struts & shocks - they rule!
Bou Bou - 1993 850 GLT 144,400 miles with no regrets.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Ian
on
Mon Apr 23 04:21 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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I agree with the other two guys to a point. I will say this however, there is a big difference between H and V ratings which goes beyond the tires max speed. On a 99 S70 (i know different car but the experience is still valid) V rated tires give the car a sturdy responsive ride. When these wore out and I put H rated tires on to save some cash the ride degraded a lot. The car became much less responsive to steering inputs, and liked to float though corners (couldn't tell if it was gripping or sliding). Also, the tires had weaker sidewalls which was very obvious the first time I hit some S-corners and the car squished into the outside tires going into the second curve. If you don't drive hard and/or don't care about higher speed handling go for the H-rated, there really isn't anything wrong with them. However, if you are more likely to DRIVE the car, stick with the V's you will be much happier
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posted by
someone claiming to be Mark from MA
on
Mon Apr 23 04:51 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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Thanks Ian, this is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find out! While it IS a wagon, I do love to really DRIVE the car. Unfortunately I am forced to be on the cheap, having been a victim of the recent economic downturn. I wonder if the v-rated version of the less expensive Pirellis would do it for me?
Thanks for the input!
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posted by
someone claiming to be Ian
on
Mon Apr 23 05:12 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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Do you have a discount tire near you? If so go there and get a set of P6000 pirelli's. I got a set there recently and love em. at 72 bucks a piece you cant argue. And yes they are V-rated.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Tony Giverin
on
Mon Apr 23 04:29 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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Good Point...
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posted by
someone claiming to be Jesse
on
Mon Apr 23 01:44 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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Mark, H rated tires are fine for your car. Most tire shops I have seen will allow you to drop at least one Speed Rating, if not two. There is no law saying you need to have a speedrating above the cars top end. The store is trying to bilk you out of your money by selling you far too much tire for the car, i would take my business elsewhere. Also, I run MXV4 H rateds on my car and i am very happy with them, you may not get the same ride and comfort level with the Potenzas. Think for a minute why one is 40 bucks more than the other.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Tony Giverin
on
Mon Apr 23 00:28 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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Mark,
Your idea of switching to H rated as a cost saving, at the same time keeping performance specifications is right on the money. In fact, many a performance car (Corvettes, BMWs, etc.) are riding on H rated tires as chosen by there owners. As you probably know, to completely understand tires is to understand speed ratings, load ratings, sizing and tread life. My 850 came with Michelin MXV4 as well (which IMHO are over rated) and I am now running H rated Viper directional tires made by Cooper. H rated will proved twice the tread life of V rated at half the cost. Any shop refusing to sell you what you want, including a touring tire if thats what you choose (I wouldn't recommend it though)is selling you bulls**t, go somewhere else. Pay attention to your load rating, go ahead and pick H speed rated, choose an appropriate size (why not get rid of the steel rims and go alloy?) and take note of the tread life rating....happy shopping!
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posted by
someone claiming to be Yuri
on
Mon Apr 23 08:11 CST 2001 [ RELATED]
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I was also thinking about saving some money, but ultimately decided to go with Michelin MXV4+. I went for H rated tires (I do not race) for $110 (195/60R15), 4 tires installed were $500 and I doubt it can be done for less. My reasoning was - I will ride on these tires for the next 40-50,000 miles, two years at least. So think if saving $100 for a long-term part is worth it. These Michelins are really great - smooth ride, very quiet. Under normal driving I do not even feel any difference between dry and wet road. I am sure I'll get better gas mileage as well.
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