Wheels/Tyres: 164: tyre size

[mad matt]

i.ve been running my 164's allways on 205/60 15 on stok rims in it's been a dream to drive as i love to push mine hard rond bends with 165 15 or 175 15 on i can't trust the car in bends

[woolfie1948]

Thanks mad matt for your contribution.
There appears to be a difference of opinion (see comments by classicswede and johnh) as to whether or not 205/60 is too wide for the standard rims. Can I assume you run yours on standard rims?
My thinking is try 195/65 as there is no doubt they are not too wide for the rim size,there is lots of choice, so good prices, and speedo error not as great as with 205/60.
The other possibility I considered is 195/70 with very little speedo error but not so much choice as pointed out earlier a lot are for vans not for cars and less choice means higher prices.

Jonathan

[mad matt]

yes 195 65 15 would be good to they are the same hight as 205 60 15

[classicswede]

I have a feeling 164 rims are wider than 140 ones. The 195 is quite comfortable on 140 wheels so 205's would fit fine without any problems with 164 wheels are wider

205 do not rub unless either the wrong wheels are fitted or the car has been lowered at the rear without the panhard rod being adjusted

For most the 195's would be ample

[woolfie1948]

Thanks classicswede
According to the handbook the wheel size is 5.5 J and tyres are "175/15 or for some markets 165/15".
My spare that looks unused but very old is 175/15 but I think previous owner took the easy option and put on 165/15 on the other four, probably due to difficulty finding the 175s.
I suppose somewhere there is a list of definitive maximum widths for all different size rims?
Jonathan

[Snowman]

Just to add to your ponderings, I've just purchased a set of 185/70 x 15's (Vredestein) which I'll be fitting on 6" wide GLT alloys, they'll go on no problem and imagine my 144 has the same space as the 164 available. Those wheels came with 195/60's originally and the clearance was marginal on the wings at the rear although my car is a bit lower than standard.

185/70's with a reinforced sidewall have rubbed on my rear dampers in the past using stock wheels when cornering hard and I bet that's close to a 205 section in real terms.

IMHO, the problem with going too low/wide is only a cosmetic one as in the front arches, the tyres just look lost.

[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.

[80sRich]

Originally Posted by 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?

My 144, came wearing a set of 14" 740 Volvo Alloys (Arizonas). I recently bought four new 185/70/14s for it and there doesn't appear to be any problem with it running on these.

Judging by the age of the tyres it has had them for a long time!