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That accolade goes to Michelin Energys for me - noisy, harsh, snatchy and utterly useless in the wet. They seem to last forever, but you just wish they wouldn't.
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Volvo recommend P6000's though if you look on the owners club website they get slated by S60 and s80 owners. They are bad for noise and tramlining.
Most owners recommend (genuine) Goodyear F1's. I say genuine because there have been problems with tyres being supplied from none European sources.
I have P6000's on my S60 and they are carp. I'm going to try Fulda's, which I use on a FIAT Coupe with no problems, next time.
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P6000s have been around a few years though are a fine tyre, I reccommend Falken FK452s, a true premium brand tyre in Germany etc, made in Japan, never penetrated the UK market.
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Flakens are a highly recommended budget alternative to the Goodyears on the Volvo website
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The car is a little noisy on certain stretches of motorway, though it's generally a quiet car, so it's not something that bothers me, more the problem is the ridiculous bumpiness over manhole covers and the like. Not sure if new tyres would fix it, possibly need smaller wheel as well....
Bit of a dilemma, the tyres are nearly new (not fitted by me), might just be able to just get the tyre repaired. Though, I don't do many miles, and I'd probably be stuck with them for a while if I don't change them.
Other weird thing is, I tried to remove wheel today and put on spare, but having got all the bolts out, the wheel just didn't come off, and wouldn't come off, no idea why. So I couldn't put spare on.
And wife is nine months' pregnant, so probably need to get tyres sorted ASAP, so was thinking of having mobile tyre fitters out while I'm at work tomorrow.
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16" wheels will definately give you a more compliant ride than the 17's you currently have with the taller sidewall.
I don't know how old your car is ? You may be able to swap with the dealer if you explain the situation, failing that, if you post on the Volvo owners club website you may be able to do a swap with someone.
It's not uncommon for alloys to "stick" on the hub with these Volvo's. Recommend some Copperslip on the inside of the wheel (between the wheel and hub) when you do get it off when refitting the wheel.
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As if by magic, this has reappeared tonight on the Volvo Owners Club website with an owner of a C70:
www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=40663
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I put it all down to the ludicrous fashion for 17" rims.
Comfort or "cool". Your choice.
V
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The demonstrator that persuaded me I wanted an S60 had 17" wheels and rode and drove fine. The one I actually went for had (and still has) 16" wheels and 205/55 tyres and I'm equally happy with that. It even has four of the reviled P6000s - as it did when new - and I'm generally happy with those too, although I have no experience of the blessed Goodyear alternative.
I do find the steering feels a little odd at low speeds these days, but I don't think that's the tyres - we've had some seriously shoddy trench repairs done in town lately. Everywhere else I drive it, it seems fine.
What you mustn't put on an S60 - or probably any big Volvo - are the very expensive 18" Nebula wheels and 225/45 tyres. They make the ride marginally less pleasant than riding a bike down the town hall steps.
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yes, P6000 are the Devil's xxxxxx's as far as I am concerned - they don't actually seem to do anything well - dry grip is poor, wet grip even worse.
If you want quiet, you want either Continental PremiumContacts, or the new Goodyear Excellence - the Continental's grip slightly better in the dry, and Goodyear have better wet grip - and I would agree with the Volvo link's post though about the sidewalls on Continentals, btw.
Avoid HJ's favourite the Michelin Premacy, which are quiet and last well, but you'll be sliding all over the road in the wet in them !
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I put it all down to the ludicrous fashion for 17" rims.
Unfortunately the S80 comes with:
15" wheels on the 2.4 S
16" wheels on the 2.9
17" on the 2.4 SE (same as S apart from leather/electronic climate, etc.) and on the 2.5T models
Don't quite understand the logic behind this, but I am unfortunately lumbered with 17" wheels. Not sure if I'd have to notify insurance company if I reduced the size...
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>> Other weird thing is I tried to remove wheel today and put on spare but having got all the bolts out the wheel just didn't come off and wouldn't come off no idea why. So I couldn't put spare on.
Probably slightly rusted on ....nothing that a good kick or club hammer on the wall won't fix. Wishing you and your wife good luck with the baby.
Paul
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i've got P6000's...and....really can't fault them...(225/55ZR16 J95W)
very good in the wet, not noisy, last for ages....fairly expensive though
i suspect different car's suspensions, shocks, wheel size, driving style, etc all has something to do with it as well as the tyres
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Agreed, WP. If they made a car feel as bad as some people here say, I can't imagine the likes of Volvo fitting them as OE, however cheaply they could buy them.
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SWMBO's Focus was fitted with P6000s as OE. Whilst I initially thought they were noisy, I now suspect the racket is an undesirable fact of life with all (otherwise splendid) Foci.
I cannot complain about the durability of the P6000s. The front ones did 32,000 miles and the rears are still there at 50,000 with maybe another 8-10,000 left in them.
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If they made a car feel as bad as some people here say I can't imagine the likes of Volvo fitting them as OE however cheaply they could buy them.
Nothing Volvo does these days suprises me.
When I picked my car up from Volvo I checked the tyre pressures the following morning and found:
FOS 26psi
FNS 30psi
ROS 31psi
RNS 33psi
That would not exactly help the tramlining issue with the car especially as the optimum seems to be 36psi all round.
My car is the Sport model and it is pretty bad on P6000's (225/45x17 91Y) on a less than perfect road.
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Probably slightly rusted on ....nothing that a good kick or club hammer on the wall won't fix. Wishing you and your wife good luck with the baby.
Gave it another go and managed to pry wheel off with a post. Put low-speed tyres on now, so have vehicle for emergency use.
Probably not going to replace tyres if I can get repair. Any ideas on this? Risky thing to have done??? Skilled job (i.e. avoid Kwik Fit)? Any recommendations?
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P6000s are a bit noisy. I have them on my XJ and the noise is noticeable on anything but smooth tarmac. Grip and ride quality is fine though - I'm on 225/60-16's with touring suspension which suits the car well.
If the tyre is repairable I'd have it repaired and then look at replacing all four tyres together when the time comes. I don't think you'll see much difference replacing the rears on their own.
I picked up a screw in a nearly-new P6000 last year - centre of tread so repairable and cost me about £16 at ATS Euromaster in Reading.
Kevin...
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Flunky, definitely get rid of the P6000's. I had a V70 fitted with these which suffered from terrible tramlining and a very poor ride. I fitted Toyo Proxes which completely eliminated the tramlining and improved the ride quality a bit.
The only way to improve the ride on the V70, S60, S80 to an acceptable level is to fit 16" wheels.
I got rid of my V70 after 9 months as I found it deeply flawed in so many ways that I could not live with it.
HectorG
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Probably not going to replace tyres if I can get repair. Any ideas on this? Risky thing to have done??? Skilled job (i.e. avoid Kwik Fit)? Any recommendations?
As long as the hole is the the middle band of the tyre it is an easy repair. It is also a very safe repair. (the Police use patched tyres) Thing is you can't plug the side wall or edge. If it is the later replace both tyres with something Toyo's or Kumho's both very good mid range tyres (Just shop around like mad) if you can afford it fit with Dunlops - very good on the V70. Oh and if you have to do this (i.e. buy tyres) keep the old unaffected casing as a spare.
Regards Paul
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(the Police use patched tyres)
Not here they don't. A puncture = new tyre.... New tyre = compare the rest and if they're significantly different in tread depth, all 4 get swapped.... They also get swapped at 2mm not 1.6mm.....Also, different makes are a no-no as well.
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Westpig, if you haven't already seen the data on tyre performance after wear, might be worth talking to your fleet manager about it - basically wet performance plummets after 3.5mm, hence our 3mm limit - and the first time you hit standing water, you'll realise 'you're worth it!' If you're using F1's the cost difference would be minuscule!
Neil
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i haven't checked...but now that you mention it i think you're correct, it is 3mm as a recommended change, although some slip through the net
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"It is also a very safe repair. (the Police use patched tyres)"
On patrol cars? Not my force - no repairs, change at 3mm, always change in pairs.
At the prices we pay for F1s I'd be surprised if any force does - plus they're off in 10k so they get changed at 6k services 'cos they wont last until the next.
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At the prices we pay for F1s I'd be surprised if any force does -
How much would that be?
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Haven't got latest actual price, been a couple of years since we had that (short) debate in force, but because of a national deal with Goodyear and the Police Fleet Managers Association the cost of an F1 in Volvo T5 sizes was certainly less than £40. Used carcasses are recovered by Goodyear, to what purpose I don't know. No idea what we pay for Focus tyres, but I'd hazard a guess that isn't much either!
Tyres are something which have massive profits built in somewhere!
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For Flunky and GMAC (and others for that matter) I can report that I had standard P6000's on my S60 from new which were not great. Not very grippy and quite noisy.
Having previously always had P6000's on my previous Mondeo I decided to change what was on the Volvo when the P6000's were worn out (after 20,000 miles) and I tried Goodyears as I was told they were 'grippier'. At the end of the day a grippy tyre is a safe tyre and for a sake of a few pounds extra money well spent (I thought) - company money as well........ They seemed much stickier, but no quieter. However the fronts were worn out after just 9,000 miles!
So having read HJ recommending Michelin Pilot Primacies I replaced the worn back ones on the S60. They 'chirupped' a bit on roundabouts and I read that as 'not gripping well' but persevered with them and when the fronts were due to be replaced I fitted the Michelins again.
Well, what a difference with all 4 on! Significantly quieter all round and the ride seems better, no funny noises any more on bends and roundabouts, really good grip, better than the P6000's and as good as the Goodyears, and so far I have done 28,000 miles on the fronts and still have nearly 4mm of tread left.
I would not bother trying another tyre again as these really are very, very good.
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Well ATS Euromaster put a plug in my tyre, for £20.
When I do get round to replacing them, is there any truly discounted supplier? For the 225/50/17 tyres, MyTyres.co.uk wants £95 for Goodyear F1s, and £145 for the Pilot Primacy.
I would have thought you could do a lot better?
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I don't know whether you could do better, but you could do worse.
Kwikfit price for Michelin is £207!!!
National price for P600 is £141!!
So if you buy the Goodyears and pay £10 per tyre for fitting you will be better off.
You could also ring some independent places, you might be surprised at some of the quotes. I recently managed to beat Costco for some Michelins by £5 per tyre from a British sounding tyre firm in Derby. (Also the former name of a charter aircraft firm)
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Used tyres get converted into carpet underlay. At least, some of them do!
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Used tyres get converted into carpet underlay. At least some of them do!
FWIW, I've spent some time in Indonesia, and as I recall, the cost of raw rubber from the tree was only about 5p/kilogram. So I'm not sure that a used tyre is worth all that much.
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Just to clear this one up the Police where I live (SE) will patch a Skoda Octavia or Fabia but not a V70 all tryres are taken away or repaired by Hi Q and the skoda octavia's run on Dunlops not Goodyears I think because of an Oem speed rating issue with Octavia VRS Estates.
There are several Fire Brigades running on remoulds as part of a Leased tyre contract with Bridgestone. Reason I have been told is that they can calim back the VAT as a "managed service" where as they would pay VAT otherwise if they just buy the tyres.
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There are several Fire Brigades running on remoulds as part of a Leased tyre contract with Bridgestone. Reason I have been told is that they can calim back the VAT as a "managed service" where as they would pay VAT otherwise if they just buy the tyres.
Can't see that the remoulds have got anything to do with the managed service - if it's a lease contract, and hence wholly tax-deductible, not capital allowance, then you simply rent the tyres for 3 years, then they take them back, whether they are remoulds is just the supplier/brigade cutting costs, and can't affect tax treatment
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Flunky,
The point is that a FB is not a VAT reg company however they can claim a vat refund on a managed service not on a purchase. What I was really getting at was two fold firstly that things that were seen as a no no twenty years ago ie remoulds or plugging casings are now very common as standards have risen.
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