Thanks for responding. I don't find mention in my 2000 manual about tires. I pointed this out to Volvo customer relations and they keep telling me that it does and refer to a statement regarding "wheels" of the same dimension at the same place they talk about the spare. We all know that wheels and tires are two different things, in fact Volvo makes the distinction in the same sentence in the manual.

The dealer told me that was how that info was distributed. Customer Relations says it should have been mailed - but they had my address wrong - funny Volvo leasing has had no difficulty finding me.

Volvo dealer rotated and checked tires at 67.5k miles and said nothing. They put the big radius tires on rear - they should have known better. 3k miles later independat mechanic replaces angle gear - says nothing about tires. 500 miles later another failure - and then I learn about tire problem. Volvo won't warranty original part sold to indepedant. Wish I had seen all the BB posts here before I bought the car or changed the tires. But it should be Volvo's reponsibility to inform independents, and buyers of these AWD cars before purchase, in the owners manual, and at the dealership whenever they "rotate and check the tires." No one would probably buy one of these cars if they read the Tech-Net Note - its scary.

Volvo customer relations kept feeding me BS about wheels and tires so I went to President Volvo - no response so I sent Bill Ford, CEO Ford - the guy in the ads, an email and got same silly response about different wheels from President of Volvo NA's office. Sent Bill another email and have not heard back yet.

I love my V70 R AWD, it is a great car except for this one major problem and I could live with that if Volvo would do whats right.