Wheels/Tyres: 164: tyre size

[woolfie1948]

Please can someone advise on correct tyre size for 1972/3 my 164?
The car has four recently fitted 165-15 S rated but the spare that really looks like (and previous owner claims) has never been on the car is 175-15 (pirelli cinturato)
The handbook says either 165 or 175 are used in different markets but most write-ups eg old road tests say 175 HR 15.
For both sizes when I look at tyre retailers on the net they also need to know the profile number (eg 175-65-15) but my tyres do not have one on the side. What would be appropriate?
Thanks
Jonathan

[Michael J]

I gather that no profile number means that it is an 80%, so 175R15 is the same as 175/80R15.

[john h]

Yes no profile number = 80 profile.

You won't get a modern tyre that size unless its a van tyre - avoid those they will ruin the ride and handling.

If you go modern, closest is probably a 185/70 15. That's the same rolling diameter as the 165/80 15.

I assume your rims are 5.5 inch. If so, I would personally not go wider than 185, although I know others do.

If you buy period tyres, I really recommend the Michelin XVS or XAS - really excellent, but not cheap.

http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/

But they are not listing any 175x15, so it might be an impossible size to get now. Worth searching specialist suppliers elsewhere though

John

[Audrey Old]

By chance yesterday a friend mailed to say he has a 5.90x15 tyre as a spare in his 164E. That must be an old cross-ply....
He too wants replacement recommendations, but to confuse matters my 164E has run on 185SR15s since I got it. However they are due to be replaced soon: I have a couple of 175HR15s which will probably do one axle, but I haven't tried for new tyres that size.
Must do some research.....

Paul

[woolfie1948]

Thanks Michael J and John H
Now I understand why previous owner put these on as they are cheap readily available and I suppose will do the job without problems? As they are in very good condition maybe I wiill leave them on - for now anyway
I dont know at the moment what rims are on it but I think 51/2 was the standard so probably are.
Black circles have 185/80 r15 T car tyre at £65.04.
Surely this will have the same rolling size as 170/80 15 as its only the width that is different?
Jonathan

[Michael J]

No no, the profile height is given as a percentage of the width.

So 170/80 has a height of 136mm, double for top'n'bottom = 272mm, plus 15x25.4=381mm wheel, overall 653mm rolling diameter.

185/80 gives height 148mm, doubled is 296mm, plus 381mm wheel = 677mm overall, which is 3.7% larger.

According to a website I saw earlier, you should try to keep within +/- 2.5% of original spec else your speedo might end up well off, and you might run into some other mechanical problems with clearances for suspension travel, steering, etc. This obviously depends upon the car.

185/75 is a better close match, at 658.5mm overall, only 0.8% larger than 170/80 on 15" rim.


Hmm, ed: where did 170 come from? It was 175 at the start of the thread.

[classicswede]

On our 164's we have always run 205/60 15 tyres. Cornering is much better and the understeer is pretty much eliminated. I'd personaly not run a 164 with 165's as the handling is crap with them and understeer quite a bit.

If you want to keep is close to original then the 185's would be your best bet.

[Mike Hollebone]

Hi Woolfie I have had several 164s over the years and tried all sorts of combinations of wheels and tyres. The original 164s were brought out with rims and tyres from the 140 model the rims were either 4-5inches wide or possibly 5" I cant remember and had 165x15x80 section which were far too small for the weight of the 164,hence the poor handling mentioned on the texts below Volvo updated the cars to run with new 5-5" rims and 175x15x80 tyres these worked better but were still under tyred so most owners went to 185x15x80 tyres the problem then was the rolling radious was then getting too big and it had an effect on gearing especially on automatic cars as they had higher gearing also it affected the speedo readings. one of my cars was converted to manual overdrive but had the high auto axel great for motorways but excelleration was a bit poor. so I put 240 14" wheels on it with 185x14x80 tyres this gave me the best of both worlds and was the best comination yet. I later ran a 164 with 195x65x15 tyres with 240GLT alloy wheels which looked great but destroyed the ride and tended to bump steer.
If you want to keep the original wheels I would recomend 185x70x15 tyres,that will give you the same rolling radious as the 175x80x15 but with a little more grip and stabilty. failing that use 240 wheels and tyres. Hope that clears things up a bit. Mike Hollebone

[Snowman]

Mike, on an aside. I've looked at using 14" wheels as there is a much better choice of tyres available in 70 Series which is the minimum profile I can use for the rallying I do. I'd heard that there could be clearance issues on calipers, did you have any problems?

Thanks in advance

Duncan

[woolfie1948]

Thanks Mike
However please see my previous comments about availability, choice and price of less popular sizes such as 185/70/15. Some of the big suppliers don't stock, and some that do list them are out of stock.
Availability and price will have to have an influence my decision.