Had I known I would have gone with the Cross Country but I just wasn't thinking. Plus I never owned low profile tires so I had no experience.
Traveling from Pennsylvania to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore Maryland is a 55 minute trip. There are pot hole on their Jones Falls Expressway near the city. I looked at my rims the other day and they are not happy. The low profile tires offer little comfort when hitting a big pot hole at 65 > 75 MPH.

If I had known or thought about the tires, the Cross Country that we were also considering did not have low profile tires and it would have won the day. Plus my V60 has no spare, it has a can. That can won't do a thing to get me back on the road if I lose a tire because of rim damage.

Not sure about the age of this video but these Mercedes owners were not happy.

"As the accompanying video shows, many people who buy luxury sedans have found the tires that come with the sedan are not practical. In an ideal world we would be able to buy a vehicle with the top-trim options package, but with the base size wheels and tires. Until that changes, I suggest you pay close attention to the wheels and tires on the vehicles you test-drive."

https://bestride.com/news/technology...ning-your-ride

 

low profile tires have a different construction vs tires with tall side walls. The side walls are more rigid in order to deep the wider tread width flat so they do have some innate ability to resist sidewall pinch blowouts. As far as safety goes, the best way to prevent pot hole blowouts is to maintain proper tire pressure. Read the sidewall of your tires and you will see the maximum pressure - which often is way more than whats shown on the sticker on the door jamb or inside the gas filler door. I typically keep 3 PSI more than what the labels show. Also keep in mind, low profile tires perform better - better handling, better stopping, better emergency manuever response. Agreed that this will come at the expense of ride comfort but that's really the personal preference of whether to run tall rims or go with the shorter options.

 

Yes I am well aware of the handling, preformance they add to the car. I'm a touch from 70 years old, my performance days are long gone.

Taking my wife, the cancer patient on that Johns Hopkins drive, comfort is number one.

I'm **** about checking air but when your rim hits that pot hole the wrong way, air pressure goes out the door. You're going down. The pot hole I constantly hit is located on the only lane to exit for the hospital, no getting around it.

I think (what do I know) but I think the low tire performance should be an option and not standard.

I see more of this below than those that are into the low profile.

"The Only Good Thing About Low-Profile Tires Is When You Get To Replace ThemLow-profile tires are ruining modern cars, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with these monstrosities.

Automakers these days are simply too cowardly to not put higher-profile tires on performance versions of their cars. Those tires might have some advantages at the track, but as I’ve said before, most people don’t go to the track. And low-profile tires have one huge disadvantage for regular driving: they go flat quite easily, as I discovered myself last year in France.

This is because cars are pretty heavy these days, and all that weight is sitting on what seem like ever tinier sidewalls. Having a small sidewall also increases the likelihood of the road impacting and possibly damaging the wheel itself, since there is less distance between the road and the wheel.

All of which our friend at Engineering Explained, Jason Fenske, found out recently in his Tesla Model 3 Performance. Fenske blew out two tires and damaged two wheels driving over a pothole that other drivers didn’t seem to be felled by, the aftermath ($2,600 for new wheels, tires, and installation) of which he ."

 

I own both a SUV and a sedan that runs 235/45-17s with no issues. The car that I had problems with was an 850 which ran 196/60-15s - which Volvo lost a class action suit for. Funny thing was, once I upped my tire pressure +3 on the 850, I never had another blowout. So play the cards you have - you can either do a rim swap to go to shorter factory rims (see wheel-size.com for factory rim size options and tires specific to your model) or you can add some air to the tires for added protection.

 

Yeah, I've priced out changing rims and tires. Ugh --- I don't like the idea of dumping rather new tires.

But I may tire your 3 psi more tactic. I'm guessing that 3 psi can't harden up the ride too much and the last thing I want is a flat tires in the Johns Hopkins Baltimore, MD area. It isn't what I would call a safe place. Even the security guards don't walk around at night. If you stay on the campus you are safe but cross the perimeter and yikes!
Looking at my rims it may be too late. My BMW friend has had to replace multiple rims. But he does like to push that pedal.

 

UDRWHO, I own s 2020 V90 Inscription T6 AWD, while a friend of mine owns a 2019 V90 CC Inscription T6 AWD. His CC has a smoother and more quiet ride than my car, with his 235/55/19 tires. My car has 255/40/19 tires, and are wider with a lower profile. Both my car and my friend's car have Continential ProContact TX tires, which I would suggest that no one consider buying. The increased tire width from my tire adds to road noise, while the lower profile makes the ride harsh, particularly when confronted by even mildly irregular roads. My friend's CC's raised height allows for greater strut travel/spring compression, and absorbs the bumps better. I currently have 16.5K miles on my car/tires. Because I'm getting tired of the road noise and the harsher ride, I'll probably opt to get a new set of 4 tires at around 22K miles. Based on my research, I'll be buying Michelin, either the CrossClimate2 or PrimacyTour A/S tire.

PS: Both my wife and I are 68 and have surgically repaired backs. Comfort, quiet and safety are my primary needs from my car, which we often use to 5+ hour long trips to New England and Virginia from our home in NJ.

 

It's a sad day for me. I was reading this post a few days back and im thinking to myself, "they aren't that bad, ive hit a few potholes over the past 2 or so years and haven't had any issues at all." Now here I am, car at the dealer with a cracked wheel for hitting 1 pothole. $750 later and my wheel wont leak air anymore. I guess thats the huge different between a 17" and 18" wheels. and a 2006 vs 2018..

Maggs: I can vouch for the quality of the crossclimate2 tires. Very good tire in all weather with a deep tread (10/32!!) Noise isn't terrible either.

 

Yep. Dealer and parts department made out on the deal.

 

Im sure they did lol. Dealer where the car is wanted 620 for a rim, which I do not think it was new because I wanted to keep my old rim but they said there was a core charge (?????) So I said Ill find one better and ended up ordering one online through a different dealer and got it for $460 with tax. So now im just paying for an alignment and mount and balance on the new rim. Im assuming he was about to put a refurbished rim on there for $620. I have never seen a core charge on a NEW item, only refurbs. Plus the core charge was $100 so in my head, I saved myself about $300 getting my own new rim from a different dealer that had a website with those weird discounts.

End of summer I will probably put new tires on with a higher % for the side wall, currently have 235/40/18 on there, might bump up to 45 or 50 depending on the overall size change. Still need to look into it. I am hoping the old rim is in good enough shape to get repaired and keep as a full size spare because these glorified fix a flat systems volvo uses are bogus to me.

 

My last set of extra wheels came from a salvage yard $25 each. The old ones can be sold on Facebook or Craigslist.

 

Look what I get to replace... results of a dreaded pothole. Ugh! Practically new 20" Continental Sports.

 

I feel ya on that one!

 

Hi, Dingus. Follow-up question. Did the CrossClimate 2 reduce your gas mileage?

 

I don't have them on my current car yet, but will be putting them on in the late summer or early fall as I just bought this car in Jan and it has newer tires.

I had them on my 2006 S60 which I did not see a change to my gas mileage. I had cooper RS3s (which sucked and wore out before 20k miles) and then BFG Gforce Comps (good but wear quick as they are a high performance tire) and then the cross climates which were on until I sold it. I tend to be more a spirited driver. The cross climates do very well in the snow and being located on a mountain in Connecticut, is very important for me.

 

I agree --- that is an ugh!