New guy here. I have a 1996 960 wagon and I put a nice set of Ariane 5 spoke Aluminum mags on it. Currently running 195/65R15 tires. The wheels look great and contrary to some online info they fit properly. 43m back spacing is correct and the wheel is 1/2" wider. It's time for new treads and I'd like to go a bit wider than 195's The wheel will handle 205's and 215's. My question is; If I use a wider tire do I need to use a lower profile? (Like 215/60R15) Any input welcome. bob

 

Welcome. All I can tell you is, in your example with the 2 tire sizes 195/65R15 and 215/60R15, they are almost the exact same overall tire diameter, 25.0" vs. 25.1" and the circumference is 78.0" vs. 78.5". I did some math and I think this means with the new tire size, your speedometer could be off by about 7/10 of 1 MPH at 70 MPH. It could be actually going 70.7 MPH when the speedometer says 70.0 MPH which to me is negligible.

Here's a link to a handy tire size web site. Put in the values 195 60 15 look at the resultant tire size and then enter 215 60 15 and compare. I guess different brands of tires could be a fraction larger or smaller than other brands for a given rated tire size, but in general this should give you something to go by. FWIW, I installed winter tires in the late fall last year and although they are rated at 195/65R15 which is the same size as the front tires I bought at the same time, the snow tires on the rear sit just a little bit taller in diameter and my speedometer is off by a small percentage that increases how far off it is as speed increases. By the time I hit 70.0 MPH on the speedometer - and I checked several times with a GPS - I'm actually going about 71.5 MPH so I mentally compensate for this.

Here's the tire size site: https://www.omnicalculator.com/everyday-life/tire-size

Hope this helps.

 

Tom, Thanks for the reply, I'm taking the car to get the front end aligned as I had the steering rack replaced. The shop also is a tire dealer. I'll see what he has to offer. Looking at the wheel wells both front and rear there appears to be enough clearance for a wider tire of the same diameter. I'm not overly concerned about the speedo reading. A side note, I had a 740 wagon some years ago and have 4 sale a nice set of Volvo five spoke mags for that car. I think they are called Draco's. bob

 

A couple of other good resources on tire sizing: wheel-size.com and tirerack.com. Tire Rack lists rolling circumference by size and brand if you want to see what's close, particularly when going +1 or +2.

 

Took awhile to make this happen but it has worked out well. I had the 1996, 960 Wagon
to the alignment shop and asked the tire guy about using 205/65R15's or 215/65R15's.
He thought the 215's would rub. I went with the 205's mounted on Volvo Ariane 5 spoke
wheels. The tires fill the wheel wells nicely and the look front and back with the wider tire
is great. Handles the same or maybe a bit better.

 

I’ve been looking at this issue too and found the 205/60/16 is as much as I want to push the envelope. The 60 leaves about 5/8” to the bottom of the front strut. I suppose it could be stretched to a 65 but that would leave 1/4” to the strut. The rear aren’t a problem for the 60 and likely not for the 65. I like the look of the 60/16 as it raises the car and fills the wells nicely.

 

JimV8, We have about identical looking cars. Mine is a 96. I'm glad you posted pics of yours and doing the same. My tires do not rub at any time but they do sling a little road slop down the side of the car. Mine came from Texas only has 114k miles.
bob

205/65R15's on Ariane Wheels 1996 960

 

Hey Bob, your car looks a hellava lot nicer than mine does. Mine was being sold as a parts car because it’s got a blown head gasket. But the body was in very good shape, no dings anywhere and no rust which is astounding for any Canadian 24 year old. Mines a project that with a bit luck will be going through Texas on the way to Mexico about a year from now. I call it my invisible Mexico car and don’t intend to polish it up, just keepn it plain so as to hide the 5.3 L33 Chevy and the CD009 close ratio 6 speed under the hood . I wanted to go with as tall a tire I could find to try and compensate for the low 3.73 rear end. But even with the 60s at 2500rpm it only does 65mph in 6th so I’m on the lookout for a 3:31 R&P.

 

JimV8
How difficult was that engine swap? I can't even imagine the electronic part of making that work. The motor mounts and drive
shaft stuff I could handle but not the wiring. I've driven 4 cylinder Volvo's from B16's to Turbo charged 240's, even the later ones
were somewhat under powered. Especially on hills. Then came the 960's with the inline six and it has ample HP and Torque. I'm a rear wheel drive guy and the 1995-1998 960/V90's suit me just fine. I wish they would have offered the 960 with a manual trans.
Good luck on you project and plan.
bob

 

Thanks Bob. I haven’t done the transplant yet but it doesn’t look too hard. I got a running 5.3 L33 complete with all the accessories still mounted with the harness and ICU intact. The seller also does tunes so I had him do a couple of deletes (auto trans), up the redline, take out the security system. I’d done an LS1 into a Porsche 968 years ago so had a pretty good idea what I was looking for. The trans to the engine is the major deal but Collins does an adaptor and have a chev disk on a Nissan spline so that make life easier. I’m at the collect the parts stage now and won’t do any assembly until next Spring. Regards the tires though since my last post I’ve learned that 215/60/16 will work, just, but every little bit of tire height is going to count. The engine puts out 310hp with 350lf/lb torque so the thing is going to move smartly. I decided on this build as it will be my Mexico car and the roads I mostly travel are narrow 2 lane paved with twisties. There’s lots of slow traffic and I want something with enough power to pass.

 

Welcome. All I can tell you is, in your example with the 2 tire sizes 195/65R15 and 215/60R15, they are almost the exact same overall tire diameter, 25.0" vs. 25.1" and the circumference is 78.0" vs. 78.5". I did some math and I think this means with the new tire size, your speedometer could be off by about 7/10 of 1 MPH at 70 MPH. It could be actually going 70.7 MPH when the speedometer says 70.0 MPH which to me is negligible.