Hey all,
 I know it's been covered many times before, but I was wondering if any of you T5 owners out there had used any of the
 following tires and what your comments are:

 Bridgestone Potenza RE940
 Dunlop SP Sport 5000 Asymmetrico
 Pirelli P7000 SuperSport

 And finally how you all feel about those Michelin XGT V4's.....

 I need to replace my tires and, if you haven't noticed already, am looking for 'relatively' cheap high performance A/S tires.
 (Looking for most bang for the buck here)
 I don't change tires in the winter but DO get a decent amount of snow.

 If you have anything you feel I should look at, feel free to tell me your experiences with those as well.

 Thanks in Advance!
 Scott Silverman
 --
 '98 S70 T5-M - Tropic Green w/ tan, Spoiler, Fog Lights, CD Changer, Cold Weather Pkg, Sunroof, recently installed SC-900
 and external amp

 I have SP 5000 Dunlops. I like them. They replaced a set of Dunlop SP 8000s, which I thought wore out w*a*y too quickly.
 IMHO the replacement Michelins were overpriced.

 I also have Dunlops on daughter.gov's '88 Colony Park and my '86 Porsche. Wife.gov still has the original Michelins on her
 Odyssey. They'll be replaced with Dunlops.

 I've had pretty awful luck with Pirellis over the years.

 I do not own stock in Dunlop.

 -Pennsylvania Groundhog
 

 --
 98 V70 T5M white/beige cloth/sport suspension/cold weather/fogs 76k mi., V-1, IPD stabilizer bars, Volvo strut tower brace
 and skidplate

 Got to go with Phil Pux on this one. I just recently changed from Michelins to Dunlop SP 5000 Asym and love them. Bought
 them Tirerack.com.

 I think the cornering is much tighter. Wet and dry traction are dramatically improved. Noise level is equivalent to the Michelins.
 I cannot comment on longevity as I have had them for 2K miles.

 Funny story - I had the installed ('97 854 GLT) and on the way home I was pushing it a bit. Well a great big bit - 80 in a 65. I
 was very late making it to the job. Well as you might guess - got nailed by the Tenn State Trooper. I pulled over and waited for
 him to get turned around (approx 2 miles down the road)!!! As it turned out he owns a 850 Turbo. I told him I had just installed
 the tires. He was looking for tires as well for his. So he put me in his car and took off in mine to test them out. When he
 returned, let me go with a warning. I'll trade $1-2 for gas versus a $150-200 ticket any day.

 Get the Dunlops - you won't regret it.

 Andrew T. Watson
 --
 1997 850 GLT, 1996 Toyota 4Runner

 do the tires still come with a get out of jail free card? or was that a limited time offer?

 You never said what the cop thought, did he like em?

 I've always imagined that same incident though, being pulled over and having the cop ask if he could take my T5 for a ride and
 give a warning because he liked the car so much (and understood?). Glad to hear it actually can happen :)

 Scott
 --
 '98 S70 T5-M - Tropic Green w/ tan, Spoiler, Fog Lights, CD Changer, Cold Weather Pkg, Sunroof, recently installed SC-900
 and external amp

 Scott,

 I don't know about the Bridgestone, but don't get PIRELLI, if you don't have winter tires. I run a set of A/S Pirelli P6000 Sport
 Velocites  ( P195/60VR15 ) on my 1998 Volvo S70 NA. When the snow falls, your S70 isn't going anywhere, if you got Pirelli on it. I live
 on a steep hill  on a high mountain ... when it snows ... it really snows ... when it does ... I drive my new SUV !

 I do run my S70 on Pirelli's during winter, when there isn't any snow on  the ground. Pirelli are great on dry and during rainy conditions. It
 improves the braking on the car. I also have a set of Toyo low-profile high-performance summer tire on 17" "R" rims.

 As for the Dunlop, they just don't compare to the Pirelli's or/ Toyo's in the handling and cornering during WET ( rain ) and dry
 roads. My friend runs a set of Dunlop SP5000 Sport on his 1997 Volvo 850 T-5R sedan, and he admits that his tires doesn't
 grip as well as my P6000 when you REALLY pushes it. He nows run a set of P7000 SuperSport, still he drives his other Volvo
 when it snows ... a 2001 V70 XC AWD ... not his 1997 850 T-5R.

 As for the Michelin's, I HATE THEM ! ... They are okay in the snow, period.
 They are VERY NOISY, the grips S-U-C-K-S, and ... basically ... a piece of CRAMP ! Put it this way ... even you were to give
 a set to me FREE for life ... I won't accept it !

 Hope this helps !,

 ---
 Kenny
 

 --
 2001 Nissan Pathfinder SE; 1998 Volvo S70 GLE

 Scott,

 I'll add my vote along with A.T.W. and the Groundhog for the Dunlop SP 5000's. My wife has a set on her car, and when the
 Michelins on my V70 wear out, I plan on replacing them with Dunlops. Despite what Kenny might think, I've found them to be
 great wet weather tires. However, while they are clasified as Ultra High Performance All-Season tires, I don't know how they
 will do in heavy snow. Looking at the tread pattern, I'd guess not that well. All three of your choices are designed for light
 snow. I always switch to real snow tires for the winter, and if you have a set on steel wheels, it's not that big a deal, and no
 more expensive in the long run. Just something to think about.

 Koz,

 Go with the Potenza RE950 tires. They are a directional wet traction tread, quite, comfortable, affordable and they grip. I put a
 set on my '95 and will put another set on my '96. You also get a 30 day test drive with the Bridgestones. You like them or your
 money back. Check out the tire comparisons and reviews on tirerack.com. Great source for information from people driving on
 the tires. The RE950s are top rated.

 Kenny... where's the new BMW?
 --
 '00 S4 6spd, '80 245 DL

 I have Bridgstone Potenza RE-730s (about $130 each after mounting)
 on my 98 S70 T5M. They give a harsher ride then the XGT V4s but
 handle very well. So, on the XGT V4s I liked them and they did
 seem to have a good performance/ride trade-off. But, they are
 way to expensive. If they were $100 each I would have used them
 again. However, after going with the more performance oriented
 730s I realized that Volvo probably did a good job tuning the
 car to the OEM tires (again in terms of ride quality -- a common
 area of complaint on the 850 series).

 I did find the XGT V4s easy to drive fast in that they tell you
 when they reach their limits as they start to slide a bit before
 really letting go (a good tire for average drivers and
 most of us have average driving skills, even if we don't like to
 admit it).
 

 --
 Ray Niblett 98 S70 T5M / 95 855 GLT

 The RE950's are only H rated tires, wouldn't this be a little low for a car of this performance level? (the T5) It would seem that
 nothing lower than a V-rated tire should be used with this car.

 Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
 --
 '98 S70 T5-M - Tropic Green w/ tan, Spoiler, Fog Lights, CD-6 Changer, Cold Weather Pkg, Sunroof, recently installed SC-900
 and external amp
               

 How fast do you intend to drive for sustained periods? I am lucky if I can drive >80mph without a ticket. When passing I will
 kick it up to 100-110mph on two lanes, less on multi-lanes. If your in Europe, I understand. If your in the USA, I have a surplus
 of state troopers in Missouri I would like to send you. If speeds greater than 130mph are normal for you, then go for a V or W
 rated tire and enjoy. If not, I still recommend the RE950 as an excellent tread. If you want to be a little unethical, take up
 Firestone/Bridgestone on their 30 day test drive and change tire types monthly, then post a review of each tire you try. Just
 think of the valuable service you would provide to your fellow Brickboarders.

 how fast do i intend? or how fast would I like to be going....

 Though that idea of the monthly tire change didn't sound all that bad....

 but here's my question... if speed ratings above H are ONLY necessary for speed trips in excess of the rated speed, 130, then
 why is it that these tires are even sold?

 In my mind I felt that for a high performance car with lot's of torque and hp, a tire with a hire speed rating would likely last
 longer. Maybe I'm buying into the marketing machine and putting my money exactly where they want me to....

 Don't feel that I'm bashing you, because that is in no way my intention. (actually, I prefer Bridgestone tires over anything else,
 I loved the set of RE730's on my last car)

 But for the same price (about 50 bucks less per set, actually) I can get the hire speed rated (and higher rated overall at
 tirerack.com) dunlops which many brickboarders here highly recommend.

 Someone needs to tell me what this speed rating stuff is really all about!

 Scott Silverman
 --
 '98 S70 T5-M - Tropic Green w/ tan, Spoiler, Fog Lights, CD-6 Changer, Cold Weather Pkg, Sunroof, recently installed SC-900
 and external amp

 I had the same issues with the speed ratings myself in recent weeks. I knew the the OEM tires on my GLT were V-rated but
 when I purchased the car a month ago, it had 1 V-rated tire on it, 2 H-rated tires on it and a T-rated tire on it! Needless to say,
 I wanted a matched set ASAP.

 I started looking at V-rated tires both at tirerack and locally. I found out that beacuse Vs are considered "performance" tires,
 they are not covered by the same road hazard warranties that most H-rated tires are. This warranty is important to me as I
 commute daily on a highway that is usually littered with all sorts of debris (no joke - several tons of plate glass a few weeks
 ago). So, because I am not an overly aggressive driver and traffic never lets me get much faster than 80-85mph, H-rated tires
 seemed to be a good choice.

 Next problem - biggest local tire dealer says that their insurance wouldn't allow them to sell me H-rated tires becasue they are
 not OEM for my car and my car is "too new" (65,000 miles). So now I started calling all of the Volvo dealers in the area and
 every single one of them said that going with H-rated tires is absolutely fine. So I went back to the tire dealer (different location
 - the first guy I spoke to was plain rude)with this info and now I'm all set.

 Tirerack was great for researching tires but I found that you can't get the same warranties and service unless you buy locally.
 Plus, armed with Tirerack prices, there's lots of room for bargaining and by the time you have your tires shipped, mounted,
 balanced and aligned, they're not much cheaper than the ones down the street.

 Good luck!
 

 --
 1998 S70 GLT

 Rocky,

 Didn't like it anymore, found it to be a girl car more than a car that a 23-yrs old boy should be driving, so I GAVE it to my
 girlfriend and brought myself a silver 2001 NISSAN PATHFINDER SE 3.5L Yep ! the one w/
 240 horses and 265ft/lb under the hood. Can't wait until my chip upgrade arrive to boost the power up to 300 ponies, as far as
 the company claims.

 S4 are nice fast cars, but when you got 1 feet of water or/ snow to cross or/ a deep pothole to travel thru or/ need to tow a pair
 of jet-ski's, they JUST don't do the job like a SUV or a full-size truck.

 Let's be practical .. how fast can you go before the red & blue light appear on your reaview mirror ? For the price of a S4, I
 rather buy
 a nice silver Mercedes-Benz E430 4Matic sedan OR/ a BMW 540i Sport. This is NOT to say that I don't like the S4 .. I luv it ..
 but don't see the need to pay that much for power that I probably NEVER use anyway like my friend who also just traded his
 940T for a '01 S4.

 ---
 Kenny
 

 --
 2001 Nissan Pathfinder SE; 1998 Volvo S70 GLE

 Hi Scott: No bash taken or intended. The fastest sustained speed I ever pulled off was 125 mph across Mississippi on I-20 in
 the middle of the night. I was driving a '87 Ford F250 4x4 with a 4sp. manual and a 460ci engine. It wore me out and I was
 much younger then. Driving a Volvo at that speed would be a different story. I did pull off 110 mph recently in my '96 850
 coming up the Florida turnpike out of Miami. It was in the rain and I had to slow down to 90 mph on occasion. I did this on
 marginal H rated tires and the car handled fine.
 Now as far as your question on speed ratings, I am just a layman so I only know what I read and hear. As I understand, the
 rating not only affects speed, but braking performance as well. I also think that higher speed ratings = less tread life. I may be
 wrong, I often am. You have an excellent question so I am going to refer you to Volvospeed.com and Charles Findley,
 Webmaster. He posts here often and is a wealth of information. Let us know what tire you end up with and how you like them.

 P.S. Another post suggested taking your tirerack.com quote to help negotiate prices. Tire shops have a wide margin on their
 markup and will deal. I got my last set at car dealer price and that saved me over $100.00.

 Kenny wrote:

 > Rocky,

 > Didn't like it anymore, found it to be a girl car more than a car
 > that a 23-yrs old boy should be driving, so I GAVE it to my
 > girlfriend

 Would that be your mother Kenny? Someone of your obvious intellectual deficiencies and pathological nature couldn't score
 with anyone but those forced to protect you.

 > and brought myself a silver 2001 NISSAN PATHFINDER SE 3.5L
 > Yep ! the one w/
 > 240 horses and 265ft/lb under the hood. Can't wait until my chip
 > upgrade arrive to boost the power up to 300 ponies, as far as the
 > company claims.

 Yeah. Tons of use for 300 HP in a UTE. Just what I want. A vehicle with a high centre of gravity, more weight to lug around,
 longer braking distances and some punk kid who jams another 60 HP under the hood who probably has no clue what he's
 doing (as evidenced through all of your past rants).

 > S4 are nice fast cars, but when you got 1 feet of water or/ snow to
 > cross or/ a deep pothole to travel thru or/ need to tow a pair of
 > jet-ski's, they JUST don't do the job like a SUV or a full-size
 > truck.

 Yeah right. Haldex AWD is crap compared to 4WD? You are as stupid as you sound Kenny. With a set of snows, an S4 will
 easily outhandle your ficticiously owned UTE.

 > Let's be practical .. how fast can you go before the red & blue
 > light appear on your reaview mirror ?

 As fast as you did in your dreamland Z3, Arnage or Diablo.

 > For the price of a S4, I rather
 > buy
 > a nice silver Mercedes-Benz E430 4Matic sedan OR/ a BMW 540i Sport.

 Price?? Once again Kenny, you never cease to amaze us with a complete lack of automotive intellect. I'll keep it simple for
 you in Canadian dollars Kenny as I know you live in B.C.

 The S4's Canadian base price is $57 200 for the 2001 MY. The other two cars you mentioned, the Bimmer and Merc are $79
 600 and $79 550. So what you meant to say is that for the price of an S4 and an extra $22 500, you'd get the Bimmer or
 Merc. Right? Moron!

 > This is NOT to say that I don't like the S4 .. I luv it .. but don't
 > see the need to pay that much for power that I probably NEVER use
 > anyway like my friend who also just traded his 940T for a '01 S4.

 250 HP isn't power you can't use. The S4 is extremely well engineered to allow you to use almost all of it right off the line and
 on up into the highly illegal speed stratosphere. The current T5 is only 3 HP shy of that mark.

 Please Kenny, do us all a favor and climb back beneath the rock where you obviously reside. You have little value to add here.

 Scott: I need to correct an error with my sincere apology to Charles Linden, Webmaster @ volvospeed.com. for listing his
 name incorrectly.

 I have 4 Dunlop Sport 5000 tires on my S70GLT, those tires are great and inexpensive comparing to Michelin. The OEM MXV4
 that came with my car had almost cost me an accident last Winter, those tires have problem gripping in light rain, not to
 mention snow.

 I have driven with those Dunlop 5000s in heavy rain and they could get rid of water very quickly, all those rain water got
 expelled toward the center of the car as the outer tread blocks on those tires are linked to provide cornering stability. I have
 yet tried out how they perform in snow. I do predict it will perform well in light snow. Best of luck in tire shopping.