Never Have to Apologize for the Ride Quality - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

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Never Have to Apologize for the Ride Quality - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

Our long-term 2015 Volvo S60 has 18-inch wheels and tires, but it rides just fine.

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kirkhilles1

I'm still sold on smaller wheels. Softer ride, more protection for the wheels and cheaper when buying new tires. For instance, for the Volvo, it's a difference between $122 and $172 for the same tires between 17" and 18" tires. That's $200 difference right there. Go with the 19s and you're talking about $247 each, another $280 on top per set. $500 difference (plus extra mounting costs, etc) between 17" and 19" is a lot of money just for a small visual and handling difference.

dm7279

I have the 17" wheels with the same Continental tires on my S60, and the only issue with the smaller wheels is that they make the ride height look a bit high. I'll gladly take a bit more sidewall to protect the wheel and tire over impacts and smooth the ride a bit. As for the ride, this car seems just right, firm but comfortable. When the car needs tires, I won't be buying the Continentals again. Those tires are truly terrible, mine have 22,000 miles and while there is still plenty of tread, they are already noisy and lumpy, plus the sidewalls are known to bubble easily, especially on lower profile sizes.

ebeaudoin

Wheel size is a very personal thing it seems. I have 16" steels on my 2010 Odyssey LX and 15" alloys ( :O ) on my 2001 Camry LE. I wouldn't want anything bigger than 17". I've driven plenty of nice-riding 18" wheel vehicles, but my preference is smaller with more tread wall.

vvk

I always upgrade to the smallest diameter wheel my cars support. I switched from 17 to 16 on my M-Sport E46 325i and from 19 to 17 on my M Sport E60 550i. So much better!!! I despise large wheels.

stever

That's an issue for me too. I've read that if the dealer won't cooperate on a wheel swap when you buy a car, lots of tire shops will do a swap for you and since you are going down in size, there's often no or just a small out of pocket cost. You buy your car, drive straight to the tire shop and do the swap. Just do your fitment homework first.

emajor

Not a fan of the oversized wheels with rubber band tires that are becoming more and more commonplace on non-performance cars. Cars are so slab-sided now that I think designers put larger diameter wheels on them just to break up the visual mass of the body. Look at the first profile shot of the Volvo here, there's acres of sheet metal to break up and sixteen-inchers aren't going to do it.

Speaking of that profile shot, it reminds me of why I'd have a hard time opting for this S60. It looks kind of cheap. It looks like a 2008 Civic, not a $40K luxury car.