10 replies to this topic

[Vitor]

Your question is very, how do I say this?, generic?

The best tire for you car is...............
It depends what you want the tire to do for your car and for you.
Smooth ride?, better handling?, better looks?, piece of mind?, inexpensive rubber?, something that car will roll on?, better traction? lots of miles out of them?, better fuel economy? or, just replace what the car had before?

I'll take the last option. In tires like in almost everything else, you get what you pay for. A good all season, good performance, good ride tire is also a good name brand such as Michelin $$$, Good Year $$, Dunlop $$ and so on.

I'm now shopping to replace the tires on my 98 V70, I have the 17" S60 rims with Pirelli P6 235/45R17. This is a very good performance tire, rough ride, very good fuel economy, expensive, good looking.

I am cosidering giving up some performance for better ride. I was told that the new P6 four season has a smoother ride than the older P6, mine are over 4 yrs. old now and well over 50% of thread left on them.

[brickbat]

Consumer Reports just gave pretty decent ratings to the Falken ze512 205 55 r16. The good news is that they sell for $83 a copy. I put a set on a few weeks ago and so far, I'm happy.

[DashingDaryl]

When my OEM tires wore out on my 99 C70 I went with the P6's. The ride is MUCH SMOOTHER. I really like them!

The tires are much softer, but I think I may have lost a mile per gallon, and they seem to be nail magnets, but I love the ride.

[Geevs]

Hi,

I second the Falken ZE-512. I have the standard size 205-50/16 on stock 850 Turbo wheels (Columba). I think it gives excellent ride quality and very low-noise level. Performance-wise, the sidewalls are not as stiff during hard cornering as higher-performance tires. But given the price, it is hard to beat in terms of overall features. Consumer's Digest rated them #1 in its class. Also, it has a rim guard feature that has saved my rims on occasion from curb damage. Looks-wise, it has a nice flared sidewall look compared to the squarish sidewall look of the Yoko ES-100s.

If you want higher perf tires, I heard the Goodyear Eagle FS3 (?) gives the best bang for buck. I understand that Goodyear and Falken have the same parent company - Ohtsu rubber of Japan.

Geevs

[armonkian]

Trust Consumer Reports for certain things. The Dunlops that made their list worked wonders with my Accord for snow driving and all-around handling, while my S70 with its factory Pirellis (and traction control) couldn't even get up the driveway. Maybe I'll try the Falkens on the Volvo when the time comes. Advice: some tire shops will need to pre-order the Falkens.

[ed850]

We have Dunlop SP Sport A2 on 2 cars in the family. I have the on my 98 S70na and My son has them on his 2000 Pontiac GrandAm and he ran them all winter here in the Boston area in the snow with no problem.They do run a little noisy on the S70.The new BF Goodrich Traction TA looks like a good tire also . It has an AA traction rating.

[armonkian]

Rob A,
The Pirellis currently on my s70 are P4000's. I'm not 100% as to whether this car had them as original equipment, but they put a fear into me that I've never felt while driving in the snow (especially with a front wheel drive car). It was sliding all over the place, and I had to coast to a stop in certain places --forget about trying to use the brakes. I don't have any real complaints with these tires relating to warm-weather driving, although something with more isolation from the road would be nice.

[swsteckly]

I'll chime in on what I feel is the best tire for those who desire high performance on dry surfaces, and adequate performance on snow, ice, and wet surfaces.

I installed the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S (225/50R17 for my S80 T6) and have been nothing but happy with them. They also provide an extremely long life for a performance tire, they're rated at 40,000 miles.