Collective -
A couple of months ago for family use and occassional commuting purposes I picked up a 2003 Volvo XC70. The car is remarkably clean for a North East car. (Along with the car the PO gave me $25,000 in DEALER receipts - She is a Princeton math professor, so anything broken, however minor, got fixed.)
Awesome ride, but I hate hate hate the 7 year old Michelin Symmetry all seasons. They are "Low Rolling Resistance" tires, which translates into a crappy, noisy ride. Even if they didnt suck so bad, by age alone they need replacement.
The size is 215/65-16, which is mostly a light truck size and limits tire options a bit. My wife will drive about 4-6k miles per year on the new tires, with kids in the back etc., in all kinds of weather. I am more focused on wet weather traction and ride comfort than cost or mpg. Any suggestions for a new suit of shoes?
Thanks!
Duke
UltimaDork
9/22/14 12:42 p.m.
Continental DWS. Available in your size, quiet, pretty solid dry traction and feel, absolutely stellar wet-weather ability, and darn good in snow.
[edit] Dang. Not available in your size after all. They are available in a 225/55/16. Should fit OK on the stock wheel width. It's about 4.7% smaller in circumference, though - indicated speed will be almost 5% above actual speed. Revs will be about 5% higher at cruise, too.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ExtremeContact+DWS&partnum=255WR6ECDWS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes
[edit 2] There are a few items from Yokohama in 225/60/16 that may be good - Advan S4s are about buck and a quarter each in that size. That would be less than 2% away from the OE circumference.
Check out the General Altimax RT. It is a highly rated tire that is selling for a great price right now!
If you do swap tire sizes, you may have to shim the steering stop limiter on the control arms or buy a new one.
