I'm going to need to get tires pretty soon after I get the car(i'm in NY and winter is almost upon us). It has 17" rims, i need a decent tire, don't have a fortune to spend on them, but not going to buy the cheapest either. Tread life and traction are important, but mostly important is sidewall strength(again, live in NY, land of the pot holes, if i keep getting flats i will shoot myself).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

PS-How much would the 15k miles check up be at a Volvo service center?

i'm currently looking at the Bridgestone Potenza G009. my rim size is 225/45/ZR17.

Im don't know that much about the bridgestones.The C70's came with either michelins or pirelli's.The pirelli's where good for the trash.The michelins are the best i've seen so far.The tires on the C70 seem to feather.So I would keep an eye on that.You can try the bridgrestones and see how they do.