Gislavad tires?

[L7]

My sister is looking for winter tires for her new Volvo XC70. Volvo is recommending 'Gislavad' tires. I've never heard of them nor has she and can't find much on them on the web. Anyone heard of them or had experience with them. Advice on those or other tires would be appreciated. She does lots of crap driving in Onterrible, Toronto to Collingwood so lots of ice and freezing rain and slush and such.

[runethechamp]

I'm pretty sure Gislaved is regarded highly in Norway for winter driving. I'll see if I can dig out some links.

[runethechamp]

OK, here's an article from a Norwegian car magazine. The two tables on the first two pages give a summary of the tests, where the first table is for studded tires, and the second one is for regular winter tires. You can see that the Gislaved tire is inb the top in both categories.

http://www.motor.no/pdf/044-50_Mo08_LR1.pdf

[L7]

Thanks for that. For some reason that second table cuts off the side headings. Looks like the tire rates quite well against the other big names. We were apparently spelling it wrong so maybe I can search some more and get something. Thanks again.

[300hp]

While Glis makes a very very good tire, as you have found, they are quite hard to find and expensive. Most of the time they are distributed through dealerships of european cars in their aftermarket parts division. In my opinion, they are no where near worth the hastle of getting them. Go with Nokians. I have had my Hakk(I can't spell the rest) pro's for 4 seasons of hard driving now, and they have plenty of tread left. I have run wintersport m3's (2nd choice) Blizzaks, and Michelin artic alpins in my quest to find the perfect snow tire. Nothing comes close to Nokian. If I had to chose another one, the wintersport m3s had excellent snow/ice grip as well and had decent wear on paved road.
Good luck.
Hunter

[coastal]

the Gislaveds are what pretty much all Volvo dealers suggest for snowtires, they have some sort of a marketing/distribution deal. Though they are a good tire, it's not the only option.

Personally I'm with 300HP and would go Nokian.

Not intending to spam, but I run a site specifically geared towards Volvo XC owners called VolvoXC.com. There's been plenty of discussion as suitable snowtires for the XC70, the following two searches will get you started.

http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/search...earchid=119279

http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/search...earchid=119283

[lingcod]

If you lived in Spokane, you'd hear "Sven" on the radio pumping Gislaveds, in Norwegian, every 90 friggin seconds. Friends that drive them throughout North Idaho / E.Wash / BC say they're phenomenal snow tires, but because of the soft and sticky rubber compound, which is what makes them so good, they are both expensive and very short-lived (a couple of seasons).

[L7]

The difficulty finding them comes out of the equation as her volvo dealer has them in stock and for @$1090Can. she can get a set of 4 with rims mounted.
I'll check the links, thanks.

[runethechamp]

Thanks for that. For some reason that second table cuts off the side headings. Looks like the tire rates quite well against the other big names. We were apparently spelling it wrong so maybe I can search some more and get something. Thanks again.

The table is cut off since the pdf is from a magazine where the two tables were on opposing pages so you could still see what category you were looking at. But if there's something I've learned, they know how to test winter tires in Norway.

[Twoplanker]

Go with Nokians. They rawk.

[300hp]

My WRX feels like a tank with the nokians on. I have had no problems in fresh snow up to my headlights, granted I keep moving. I dunno much about the turbobrick crowd, but I personally recommend running skidplates front and rear. They give you an added measure of protection against debris in the road and help fresh snow flow under the car.
Hunter