I have Pirelli Scorpion Verdes (235/50/18) on my 2015 v60CC. They have around 15000 mi on them and one has a defect. Tire dealers say AWD, so all 4 tires have to match. How much of that is true for this car? One tire guy suggested get 2 Toyo Celcius (similar footprint). Another guy said have to match other tires, third guy said have to match tread, so buy 4 new tires. Which is true?

 

two different thoughts going on here. 1) AWD cars generally need the tires to all have the same rolling circumference or the wheels will spin at diffferent speeds putting stress on the differentials. Most modern cars like Volvo with a Haldex system are really front wheel drive with an open center differential - which locks up when the tracs system detects slippage. SO this is why you may hear some say as long as the front pair or rear pair match you are good. 2) different tires have different handling/braking characteristics. If you have brand X in front and brand Y in the rear, there's a certain amount of uncertainty in the handling and braking so for safety reason all tires should match.

My two cents: You may want to have a shop measure the remaining tread depth and research online the acceptable variance between tires. If your best two tires are still in good shape wearwise, I'd probably be inclined to replace two with like for like (ie two new Scorpions) and put the new on the front and old on the rear. I'd be more concerned about left/right being the same within the fronts or rears than variances front to rear. But, if your tires have 15K miles and look like they will be toast at 25K, then I'd go for all four new and enjoy your new and improved quiet ride.

 

Welcome to VF xawdis


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Here is my 2 cents worth,
If you drive the car back and forth to work in stop and go traffic in Phoenix, you would likely be OK with handling problems as you won't be reaching speed where they would create anything really dangerous and will have next to no low traction driving.
If your wife hauls the kids down the freeway regularly and you live in a wet, cold climate you might have an issue and that one time might have disastrous consequences.

I had to dump some Michelins with under 5,000 miles I had on my Tahoe 15 years ago because they literally would just slip on anything wet. Can't remember what model they were, the truck tires it came with were too loud so when they were ready for replacement I asked the tire shop what they had quieter, "These are the OEM on the big Lincolns, very quiet and softer riding too". And they were, but no wet traction. Don't know how the "big Lincolns" did with them but they were too dangerous for my wife and our kids to use. Hated to lose the money never had a sliding problem again.(Sitll have that '99 Hoe that I bought new, always put "truck" tires on it and live with the ride and noise)

Just my opinion