Tires for my Volvo C70

MTED schrieb:

During winter you use snow tires and during summer you use summer tires.

Everything else is a lousy and dangerous compromise!

Joerg

Joerg is right -- partly.

I bought a set of highly-rated "high performance all season tires" last year (Toyo Proxes 4) for my 95 854T, hoping they'd substitute for my snow tires, which have only a little more than the recommended minimum tread left.

To make a long story short, the Toyos DID work much better in the snow than my summer tires. But then I put my well-worn Pirelli Ice Radials back on to see how close the Toyos came to REAL winter tires.

It was no contest -- I WILL NOT rely on the Toyos during winter. But here's where I disagree with Joerg -- the Toyos are a very good 3 season tire -- good waterplaning resistance, quiet, good dry traction, smooth riding, and not too expensive. They aren't quite as good as the Michelin Pilot summer tires I had before, but they're much closer in performance to the Michelins in summer than they are to the Pirellis in winter!

Java

I have had good experience with Michelin Pilot Exalto All Season for moderate snow. They are better than Michelin Pilot Sport All Season that I had previously. I have a 1995 850 Turbo Sedan and have had a variety of tires on it in the past 12 years. May I suggest you go to

Joerg Lorenz schrieb:

I have always wondered why people spend a fortune to buy a new car and then try to save on relatively cheap safety issues like optimal tires for the exisisting weather or a hands-free-device for the mobile phone. Regards Viktor

Right you are! First spend $60K on a new car and not be prepared to buy snow tyres for less than $1K? Absolut nonsense. Tyres and brakes are the most safety-critical parts of a car.

As you seem to live in Austria, you know that drivers that cause an accident and the car not having adequate tyres are held responsible and punished accordingly in many European countries. This new regulation in Germany led to a shortage of snow-tyres in Europe last season. I seriously doubt that so called All Season Tyres are considered adequate on snowy roads in case of an accident.

Gruss, Jörg

Michelin or Yokohama should give a good balance of ride, traction and tread wear in my experience. If you had only one bad experience with one storm, I would not spend too much money trying to solve problem that occurs once every 7 years.

On the other hand, if you live in an area that normally gets a lot of snow and the roads are not plowed frequently then you might want to consider a separate set of wheels with snow tires for winter use.