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tinmanson,
I have a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE950 ( P195/60R15 ) on my '98 S70 non-turbo for the past six months or more.
Previously, I had a set of Pirelli P6000 Sport Velocites and before that, the
horrible Michelin MXV4 that came with the car.
Before I talked about the tires, I would brief you on the type of driver I am
and the way I drive. I considered myself what you would call " a fast and
aggressive " driver. Tire wear is not important to me, but excellent grip on
wet and dry roads is extremely important. I do a mix of both city and highway
driving.
Now, compared the Pirelli to the OEM Michelin, it was a big world. Noticed
big improvement in handling, shorter braking distance, and noise. The only
bad thing about it was that it sucks when snow falls.
Then I got the RE950 and boy oh boy, did it ever make the Pirelli look like
a sucky tire. I mean, I once took a sharp 180-degree corner at relatively
high speed ( 80 ~ 100 km/hr ) with an old Porsche 914 and the tires just grip
thru the corners without any tire noise, etc ... When you slam on the brakes,
the tires grip like nobody business.
The tread design is awesome, has a lot of people mistaken it for a summer
performance tires. After six mths, there are definitely signs of wear. We
relatively had a dump of snow and it performed slightly better than my old
Pirelli tyres.
These days because my company gives me a company M-B E320 4Matic Sport sedan
to drive, I am allowing my younger sister to drive my S70 to/from university &
despite being a new driver, she felt more confident with the RE950 than the
old Pirelli, she told me. BTW, she definitely has that " fast & aggressive "
genes in her too.
In conclusion, this is one of the best all-season ultra-high-performance tyres
you can buy for the S70, as it definitely transformed the 4-doors sedan from
that " your mom Volvo " to a " fast'n'furious volvo " , if you know what I
mean.
If I can be more assistance, feel free to e-mail me - news94@hotmail.com. I
have some pictures of it on my Volvo S70 website. The URL is:
http://www.geocities.com/suvrules/Volvo.html
Hope that answer your question !
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Kenny
2004 Chevrolet Optra LS
2001 Nissan Pathfinder SE
1998 Volvo S70 GLE
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