Thoughts on wheels
 

So I am torn....im getting 17" wheels for the '94 850 wagon (black) and dont know if i wanna get volans or titans. Anyone have any opinions here?

how about pegasus :)

Well, if you can find me a set of 17" pegasus wheels for about $475 brand new, I'm in.

I'm going with 17" wheels absolutely. A friend of mine who works at tire rack can get me a set of 4 tires with less than 50 miles on them (225/45/17) for $40/

How about something other than titans or Volans like every other 850 has.

Gilber: suggestions? I like your tethys wheels....dont get me wrong, but compared to the volans or titans, they're a pain in the ass to clean.

I havent seen ANY 850s around here with titans or volans.

Comets? Propus? Tritons? My friend is selling a set of clean Neptunes. Thors are decent looking wheels. There's a couple different kind of nice looking Volvo reps on eBay too.

so anyone else have any opinions on this?

unfortunately I am really partial to spoked wheels. If I had to choose between the two I would go titans. I think they are the OEM 'R' wheel and has the best presence.

Titans are the OEM wheel from the '95 T-5R's.
Volans are the OEM wheel from the '96 and '97 850R's

I had Volans on my 854R and I really liked them, but I like the Pegs that are on the car now better. Currently running 18" dark bronze Pegs.
Either way you go, the wheels will look great on the car.

I think Titans are the best looking Volvo wheel ever made, but they suck. They are very soft and bend quite easily. That's why I have Volans on my T5R. I like 17" Pegs quite a bit too because they look a lot like Titans. My son has 17" Pegs painted the Anthracite color of Titans on his white 98 S70 T5M. Looks great!

Be careful with the 225's, they are going to rub.

Jim: the wheels im getting are reproductions. I had the 225s on the car via a friend of mine's C70 wheels (comets) and there was VERY little rub, and only all the way at lock.

Thank you for the input though!

Yes yes, what I meant is that the Titans have the best 'R' factor to them. Volans dont look very stout.

Something about the 5 spoke wheels on the 850's is just right.

I can see your point here. Although I still really like the wheels. I would love to see what a set of 18" Volans would look like. Make them a little bigger and a little wider, and they would be full of win!

MAN, STAY AWAY FROM 17" WHEELS. NO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNN''''''TTTTTTTT DO IT!!! LOW PROFILE TIRES SUCK!!! RUN, DON'T WALK, CAN YOU AFFORD YOUR EGO??? YOU WILL NEVER WEAR OUT A SET OF TIRES UNLESS THE ROADS YOU DRIVE ON ARE PERFECT!!! I HATE LOW PRFILE TIRES!!! CAN YOU SAY TIRE DAMAGE!!! CAN YOU SAY FULL SIZE SPARE??? CAN YOU READ WARNINGS???

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! THEY DON'T RIDE AS SMOOTH!!! THEY GO FLAT ALL THE TIME!!! THEY ALWAY GET BUBBLES!!! CAN YOU SAY "BIG BALLER!!!" YOU WILL HAVE TO BE ONE TO KEEP RUBBER UNDER YOUR CAR!!!

Seriously, there is a high cost to running low profile tires. My T-5R is parked right now ONLY because I could not afford to replace ANOTHER 3 tires. I have to have them balanced every 2 to 3 thousand miles and they get damaged all the time. A lot of the low prifile tires are not rated for driving in temps under freezing and they will go flat fast. Get some nice 16" wheels and don't go any lower than that. You wll enjoy the comfort, life of tires, and save a lot of time with the jack under the car...

Did I say DON'T DO IT???

Rspi: you DO understand where I said I can get 17" tires for 40 a SET, right?

I keep 15" wheels on my 97 R that my wife drives. I definitely feel that it rides better than mine, and I don't notice much difference in handling.

Man, get 3 sets, you will need them if you plan to keep your car on the road. If they are cheep tires, you will know it. The next set I get are the Michelins that cost about $220 each at Sams. So I can get them replaced every time I hit a pot hole and get yet another bubble.

You have to realize that a low profile tire has a lot less air in it. Lets say 1/2 of what a normal profile tire has. So if you loose a little air, you are close to the tire breaking the bead seal and being flat. Keep you air gauge in you hand, check pressure weekly and don't let the wheel mounting company put the clip on weights on it because the often leak a little and cause you to get a flat when you don't need one. Big Baller!!!!

Actually, the volume of air in a 225/45/17 will be GREATER than the volume of air in a 205/50/16. Not a whole lot of difference in sidewall height either. Sidewall height on the 205/50/16 is 102.5mm, and sidewall height of the 225/45/17 is 101.25mm. I don't see LESS than 1% difference in sidewall height being a problem. And I'm not getting cheap tires - I'm getting continental extremeContact DWS with about 50 miles on them.

It's good to know folks at tire rack. Also, these will be my summer wheels only.

The reason for me wanting to go to the 17 over the 16 is because my buddy at tire rack CAN get me tires at 40 a set, but in 225/45/17 only. thats the size they use for their testing, because it's what their BMW test cars use. In the long run, it will save me quite a bit of money.

Well, the 17" on the T-5R are suppose to be 205/45/17. If you put a different size on them that's a different story. I'm sure the 16's are suppose to be 205/55/16. That's what I have on my 960. I'm sure the air volume is a lot different, my guess is that it's double. From ground to rim on my T-5R is 2-1/4", on my 960 it's 3-1/4". The Titan's have a lot shallower rim lip.

https://www.customers.volvocars.com/...850_Turbo.html

Section 5:3 here: https://www.customers.volvocars.com/...501.htm#wheels

When the tire pressure in my 17's gets as low as 23 psi, they break their seal and go totally flat. I actually have to jack the car to air them back up. Yes I do carry an air pump with me at all times.

Besides that, I have had a few issues with rubbing. When everything with the car is RIGHT, I have no rubbing. But if something goes a little wrong, I get rubbing and it wears through my Kumho's in no time. I have lost 2 tires to rubbing.

I had a nut on my splash guard come loose, which allowed the nut to rub the tire and it wore through the tire before I knew what happened. Went flat and found the problem.

On another occasion I had the nut come off and the splash panel was loose and rubbing the tire while I was driving and rubed through the tire before I knew what happened. The tire was loosing air and when I ran my hand around the inside edge of it I hit the belt that was coming out the side of the tire.

I really can't imagine how tough it would be to run 225's with lowering springs. I would have to install much thicker turn stops because I like turing tight circles from driving the rwd Volvo's. They can do a u-turn on most streets.