[ptpatrick]

So my buddy purchased a 2010 3.2awd xc90 with about 7500 miles on it. Never occurred to him to look at tires that close with miles that low. Apparently to his dismay he is near the wear bars on the front. He does feel the alignment is off...but I am reading this premature wear is not uncommon for xc90s. So My questions...

1) is it worthwhile to rotate the fronts to back, re-align and try to salavge another 10,000 out of these? He would likely reach 20,000 before the next winter and we are Denver so rain traction isn't of the utmost importance.

2) if he goes ahead and replaces all 4...what's the best all season that combats this premature wear. I am tentatively recommnding the Firestone destinations as they have a higher weight rating and good reviews on xc90s on tirerack.

3) Im recommending he check with a Volvo dealer to make sure that there isn't something else causing wear, like bad control arms, as 8000 miles seems bad even for a bad tire/weight combo and bad alignment....but what else would he want to ask to check?

Unfortunately taking back to dealer to complain is probably moot...it's a Honda dealer so it's no longer their baby...and I doubt Volvo dealer will want to own the problem.

 

[Tommm]

Unfortunately taking back to dealer to complain is probably moot...it's a Honda dealer so it's no longer their baby...and I doubt Volvo dealer will want to own the problem.

It still has a bumper to bumper. it is volvo's problem. ive been pleased overall wth mcdonald. my neighber has three volvos with rickenbaugh plastered on the trunk so they cant be too bad. im not sure about the one in boulder since i am south. but overall, i think that mcdonald and rickenbaugh have pretty good reputations for service. The volvo dealers reputations are better than the service our friend had with schomp and the pre owned oddyseey she bought from them.

Read this thread I started. I am sold on michelins, not sure about conti or firestone/bridgestone on the xc. the servie records for her/our xc90 from mcdonald show two or three alignments int he first 20k miles. we still got only 20k out of the second set, so it wasnt the alignment, it was the fact that the factory pirellis sucked.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?165180-Pirelli-V.-Michelin-The-real-numbers

do a search and find plenty of stories about how pathetic the factory pirellis are. i didnt think the contis were the same. that little mileage sucks. the local discount tire will bust your chops if you try to replace two. i say burn emout over the summer and put winter tires on in the fall.

i am very pleased with the performance and mileage we got from the first set of michelin xice in south suburban denver both in the winter and last summer when they reached the winter wear bar. the first set goes on again at the end of april - im not making the same mistake i made three years ago when i changed them on the 14th and we got the foot of snow on april 15th or 16th.

I am a big believer in winter tires expecially with the big dumps we get that are gone by the afternoon. If you have to have tires, mightas well get the ones that will definitely get you up the hills on the snowy mornings. i got a set of used rims from mcdonald so changing them each season is no big deal. i do the same withtwo sets fo wheels for my astra.

 

[xallenx1]

Mine are the Yokahamas YK520...I got 19350 miles and they still look brand new!!

 

[lacibaci]

I just took my 2010 XC90 to the dealer. 18000 miles and OEM Contis were bald. Service manager called Continental and I got a set of new ones for $99 each. Not bad.

 

[ptpatrick]

It still has a bumper to bumper. it is volvo's problem. ive been pleased overall wth mcdonald. my neighber has three volvos with rickenbaugh plastered on the trunk so they cant be too bad. im not sure about the one in boulder since i am south. but overall, i think that mcdonald and rickenbaugh have pretty good reputations for service. The volvo dealers reputations are better than the service our friend had with schomp and the pre owned oddyseey she bought from them.

Read this thread I started. I am sold on michelins, not sure about conti or firestone/bridgestone on the xc. the servie records for her/our xc90 from mcdonald show two or three alignments int he first 20k miles. we still got only 20k out of the second set, so it wasnt the alignment, it was the fact that the factory pirellis sucked.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?165180-Pirelli-V.-Michelin-The-real-numbers

do a search and find plenty of stories about how pathetic the factory pirellis are. i didnt think the contis were the same. that little mileage sucks. the local discount tire will bust your chops if you try to replace two. i say burn emout over the summer and put winter tires on in the fall.

i am very pleased with the performance and mileage we got from the first set of michelin xice in south suburban denver both in the winter and last summer when they reached the winter wear bar. the first set goes on again at the end of april - im not making the same mistake i made three years ago when i changed them on the 14th and we got the foot of snow on april 15th or 16th.

I am a big believer in winter tires expecially with the big dumps we get that are gone by the afternoon. If you have to have tires, mightas well get the ones that will definitely get you up the hills on the snowy mornings. i got a set of used rims from mcdonald so changing them each season is no big deal. i do the same withtwo sets fo wheels for my astra.

Well I doubt he will want to get snows and summer tires. He is more of a drive it and forget it type. Plus he grew upon northern Wisconsin with a camero as his first car with all seasons so he thinks he's invincible. He also lives downtown like me so roads and hills are much less of an issue than south hoods. In any case...I use Rickenbaugh for my c30 and love them. Great folks there. I'm thinking with it as bad as it is this early it'll be hard for the dealer to hide behind alignment, user error etc. I think he can at least get a free alignment and a discount on tires if he plays his cards right. Like the guy said below, he got new contis for 99 each...although I doubt I'd buy the same tire on at any price since a proven bad combo on this car...unless conti makes a tire with higher service weight.

 

[NewVolvoGuy]

If your buddy wants a year-round tire and good performance in winter snow driving, there's only one real choice: Nokian WRG2 SUV. They have lasted 45k on all my other vehicles, but I just got our first XC90 and haven't put them on yet as our car is down South this winter. One member reported getting 45k on his XC90 after a rear toe-in change.

 

[Excimer]

Have to agree that the Noke is the best. Mileage will be between my paltry ~25K and NewVolvoGuy's 45K but in an all season tire that can handle really bad snow the Noke is number 1,2 and3 on my list. Probably does not want to hear about the Conti DWS.

 

[ptpatrick]

Yeah I'm surprised that the nokian has good wear being that it is a soft rubber compound...but perhaps at this size has a higher weight rating...I'm telling him to go with something around 16-107 rating...the contis are 102 I think. I will mention the Nok to him though....and that may be the next tire for my c30 if they make the size.

 

[Tommm]

how many miles a year does he expect to drive? The first set of Xice already has 28k on them and there is a lot of tread left (just not above the winter wear bar). I am not far from DU so we get the same weather. If he is going to ake it to the ski areas he may be better off using a winter tire year round. Ive read that a winter tire year round is a common practice in places like vermont. add the fact that the michelin winters were always quieter and better handling than the pirelli all seasons.... YMMV

 

[ptpatrick]

He drives for work so about 25-30,00/ yr...that's a lot so cost us a bit of a factor. He prolly won't want to pay premium for tires that will be replaced every 12-18 mo.

 

[Tommm]

He drives for work so about 25-30,00/ yr...that's a lot so cost us a bit of a factor. He prolly won't want to pay premium for tires that will be replaced every 12-18 mo.

at almost 30k a year I would throw a new set of medium priced snows on every year. Guaranteed not to get stuck in the snow. i would run the contis till early october then get half decent snows. She puts on about 12k a year. My wife told me that the snow we had a few weeks ago on thursday morning that had two city busses sideways on arapahoe road at 8AM and no snow north of about hampdon was a piece of cake for her while other cars and SUVs were struggling to go straight on university. it wasnt fun for me in my little astra with snows at the winter wear bars. that will change next october!

 

[NewVolvoGuy]

how many miles a year does he expect to drive? The first set of Xice already has 28k on them and there is a lot of tread left (just not above the winter wear bar). I am not far from DU so we get the same weather. If he is going to ake it to the ski areas he may be better off using a winter tire year round. Ive read that a winter tire year round is a common practice in places like vermont. add the fact that the michelin winters were always quieter and better handling than the pirelli all seasons.... YMMV

You're better off with the WRG2 than with winter tires year round, especially in Colorado, which gets lots of snow, but isn't particularly cold. We did Hakka Rs all year round in VT a couple of years back and you can get away with it, but they definitely wear faster, are loud as hell, and too squirmy in the summer time.

 

[Tommm]

You're better off with the WRG2 than with winter tires year round, especially in Colorado, which gets lots of snow, but isn't particularly cold. We did Hakka Rs all year round in VT a couple of years back and you can get away with it, but they definitely wear faster, are loud as hell, and too squirmy in the summer time.

Haven't experienced the WRGs but can tell you first hand the the xIces handled better, wore better, and were quieter in the summer than the pathetic excuse for a tire pirelli supplied. after 28k miles there is still plenty of tread left and they are going back on in a few weeks. If I can get two summers out of them I will have a dilemma. run a winter tire with a little winter tread left over a summer or buy a set of summer tires.