Tire blowouts
 

I have a 2010 S80 with 245/40R18 optional wheels.

I have already replaced three tires and bent two rims after blowouts while driving on Interstate highways.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Could it be that the 245/40R18 cannot handle the weight of the S80?

Check your air pressure often. I have found 39 psi to be the best in my '06

Very low profile tyres can be under inflated as much as 50% and not be noticeable in the sidewall bulge....most blowouts are tyre pressure related.

pdforrest,

the weight limit is stamped on the side of the tire, usually as a number next to the speed rating..

eg. 99v or 98W etc..
See what yours has and cross reference it to a chart..
Highly unlikely that volvo would put tires on that could not support the car..

Also, what brand tires you running?

My responses
 

The tires on my 2010 S80 are Pirelli 245/40R18 97 VM+S

The sticker on the driver's door says to inflate the tires to a cold pressure of 35psi

My four tires are inflated between 35 psi and 38 psi and checked often

Where do you find the chart to check the tire marking (97) versus the weight?

38psi sounds awfully low for a low sidewall tyre like that. Are you sure that the wheels and tyres fitted are originally for that vehicle and that the tyre placard you are reading is for that size tyre?
I run tyres of that size at 45+psi. A good guide is to get close to the maximum reccommended inflation pressure marked on the sidewall of the tyre, forget the ride enhancing car manufacturer's inflation pressures.

Another response
 

I have attached a picture of the sticker on the door of my S80 telling me how to inflate my tires. As you can see from the sticker, it specifies the 245/40R18 tires that came as an option from Volvo when I purchased the automobile last August.

I agree that it makes sense to over-inflate the tires to give them protection against the blowouts I have already experienced.

But don't you think Volvo should take some action to protect other S80 owners who chose the 245/40R18 option and don't know they should use more than 35psi in their tires to protect against blowouts??

I have an 09, with the same tire size. No problems yet:eek:. I run mine at 36 alla round. This does seem to be a common complaint with 18" + wheel size.

I have a 2011 Volvo S80 T6 AWD. It has 245/40 R18 tires. I got it used (68K mi) in 2016 from a MD Volvo dealer and drove it to NJ and discovered sidewall bulges (Pirelli tires). Drove it to my destination (NY) and purchased four new Continental Pure Contact tires. Three months later, I discovered the passenger side front tire had a sidewall bulge. I replaced the tire. Five months later I discovered that same new tire had a sidewall curb slice. I replaced the tire. Two months later, I discovered a sidewall bulge on the drivers side tire. I had increased the air pressure to 40 psi when I got the new set of four. Previous to all this I owned a 2000 S80 T6 for 13 years and a 2009 S80 T6 for two years. they had 17 " wheels and I never had tire trouble of any kind. Before this, I never had a sidewall bulge or a sidewall curb slice. I am not sure what I should do about this situation. Any suggestions ?

RichInSoMD

Buy new rims
 

I had a similar problem with a 2010 S80 with Pirelli 245/40 R18 OEM tires. I had three blowouts the first winter hitting "normal" potholes in Connecticut roads. I finally gave up and bought new 17" rims, Cooper 245/40 R17 Zeon tires and I have gotten 80,000 miles on them without a problem.

PJ,

What you did was exactly what I was thinking. I priced it out on Tirerack. However, I am giving it one last try. with a Cooper Zeon 245/40 R18 RS3-G1 that I ordered yesterday. Regarding your jump to 17" rims, Did you get a Tirerack rim/tire package or did you get remanufactured Volvo wheels and tires separately ?

Thanks, RichInSoMD

New rims
 

I purchased new rims from Tire Rack. They were less than half the price of Volvo replacement rims. They look nice and you can't feel the difference in the drive.

I have a 2019 volvo s60 r-design and while the drive n car is excellent the tires suck!! I am bringing in my car to dealer for a third blowout on front (i dont drive crazy in this car). I just looked at back tires and one has a bubble so it has to be replaced now too as well as a visible crack in the other back tire.

so happy i got the insurance on tires and rims but this is RIDICULOUS. This is my third volvo and the first two never ever had to have the tires replaced!!

as noted above, this has nothing to do with Volvos per se (short of the "recommended pressure") as the problem is common to Audi/BMW/VW etc who run similar low profile tires on OEM rims. This is about the tire profile and the pressure required to keep the sidewall from collapsing when hitting a pot hole. Buy yourself a quality tire gauge and actively maintain your pressure. I have 235/45-17s and keep those in the 36-39 range. For 40 or 35 profiles, I'd go with the high end of that range ie 38-40 PSI. You can opt for run flats too which use a firmer sidewall with a trade off for ride quality or you can go with the -1 or -2 approach to go to shorter rims. Check out wheel-size.com for appropriate rim sizes and you can find some nice OEM style replacements online at wheel stores. I used hubcaphaven.com to get some OEM style rims for my S40 for half the dealer's price.

re: low profile tires
 

All of this is excellent information, especially, “Buy a quality tire gauge and actively maintain your pressure” preferably on the high end between what Volvo recommends and the tire’s maximum rated pressure.

When I purchased my 2021 S60 Inscription last year, I had never even heard of low profile tires. It was just earlier this month that the phrase actually came up and I did research on it. The S60 comes standard with 18 in alloy wheels, but mine has the Advanced Package, which includes 19 in 5 multi-spoke black diamond alloy wheels, with 235/40-R19 tires. I‘ve already had one flat, and for the most part have only driven the car on smooth roads.

Regarding swapping the rims out for smaller ones: I hesitate to do this for two reasons. First, I’ve read that when trading the car in, the buyer will require the original wheels that came with the car. Second, Volvo states in their manual that “The wheel and tire sizes for your Volvo are specified to meet stringent stability and handling requirements. Unapproved wheel/tire size combinations can negatively affect our vehicle's stability and handling. Any damage caused by installation of unapproved wheel/tire size combinations will not be covered by your new vehicle warranty. Volvo assumes no responsibility for death, injury, or expenses that may result from such installations.”

Also, if the tire pressure is increased above the recommended value, then the new pressure reference values should be saved into the TPMS to ensure that the system can correctly alert the driver of low inflation pressures. Instructions on how to do this are in the manual.

newer TPMS systems (2015 and later) use the wheel speed sensors to determine when one or more tires are deflated (as that will decrease the rolling circumference). So there' really isn't a reference per se as to the pressure but the systems are sensitive to size so you may need to do a reset after winter tire change-overs, when new tires are installed etc. I suspect that the computer also compares the transmission speed sensor to the wheels. I have the speed sensor system on one car and the in-wheel sensors on my 2012 CC which is really nice as it actually shows each tire's pressure (Volvo never did this). One other draw back on the speed sensor design is that you can get false positives when driving in heavy snow but its way easier to maintain (no replacing units, servicing valve stems etc).