I have a 98 volvo v70 fwd with origional 15 inch rims. The tires on there are curently 195 60 r 15. A co-worker of mine has a set of tires 205 70? r15 tires that might fit. What are the biggest tire sizes that would work on origional rims? He needs to double check the sizing but hes pretty sure about the 205 part. I found these sizing charts Volvo V70 1998 - Wheel & Tire Sizes, PCD, Offset and Rims specs - Wheel-Size.com and Wheel and Tire Fitment Guide for 1994-2008 FWD & AWD Volvo Models but its all a bit confusing. If anybody could give me some info, it would be much appreciated.

 

looks like the numbers are actually 205 65 r15

 

The V70s "base" tire is similar to the 850s - the 195/60-15 is decoded as tread width (195mm), sidewall "profile" ratio =60% of treadwidth) and rim diameter. You can certainly install other sizes but a 205/65-15 will have a different diameter - which will impact the revs/mile. So to go to a different size you need to match the rim, profile and width to keep the revs/mile consistent. Example - a 195/60-15 will rev 875/mile. Assuming the goal is to stay within 1-2% of that, You can match to a 185/65-15 (ie for snows), or go to a bigger rim, 205/50-16s will rev 875 as well. If you install those 205/65s you will get 820 revs/mile - which is a 6-7% difference! So at 60 MPH true speed, your car will indicate 56 and log .93 miles for every mile on the odometer.

Last comment is matching tires to rim widths. Most Volvo OEM rims are 6.5 to 7.5 inches wide. 205s can fit in this range easily. Most of the time this is not a concern unless you go to very wide after market rims (8 inches plus) and don't move to wider tread widths (say to avoid rubbing on the wheels). The rest of the info you saw is about how the wheels fit: 1) bolt pattern - Volvos use 5x108 2) hub centers - Volvos are "hub centric" meaning the rim center whole sits on the hub (to center). Volvo use a 65.1mm center bore. Wheels with larger bores need centering rings to right size, wheels with smaller bores won't mount. 3) Wheel offset. This is the difference between the center of the rim to the center of the mounding hub. Wheels overhang the hub for FWD cars so they typically have a "negative offset". Volvos typically use a 40-45mm offset but can tolerate a range of 5-7mm - too much one way or another can create rubbing. If you look at your rim you will find a stamping similar to ET43 which says your wheel has a 43mm offset (ie the OEM spec). So say you decide to take your original 15 inch wheels to keep for snows and want to buy some nice 17 inch summer wheels. For the snow tires, many of us northerners use 185/65-15 (narrow snows cut through snow versus riding on top) or you can use 195/60-15. Now for those new rims, I'd look for a 7.5 inch wheel with a 5x108 bolt pattern, a 65.1 center bore and a 43mm offset (38 to 48 as my optional range) and I'd use a 205/45-17 tire.

 

Thanks for the info! I am just concerned they would rub or something. I'm not too worried about the spedo being off. I'll probably sell this car fairly soon and get something nicer anyhow. Its a really basic fwd and the previous owner beat it up pretty hard. He was an older guy and I can tell its been in a number of accidents. I'm also working on getting my first car, a 94 940 wagon up and running as my project car.