The tire size on my 03 Volvo S40 is 195/60R15 with a 15'' wheel. The aftermarket tires I bought are 205/40ZR17 with a 16'' wheel. Will they fit on my car without damaging or affecting the ABS/Suspension? (don't really mind the speedometer reading a different speed) If they don't fit. Can I get a different tire to match the circumference of the OEM wheels?

 

Can't say - you've told us you have a 17" tire on a 16" wheel. Yeah, THAT will affect the suspension! ;-)

Which is it really?

 

The Gen 1 S40 stock wheels are a 4x114 bolt pattern with a 44ET offset and a 67.1 center bore (important since these are hub-centric to center the wheels). Tjhe factory offered both a 15x6.5 with a 195/60x15 tire and a 16x7 with a 205/50x16 tire. You can go to a +2 rim using a 17x7 with a 215/45x17 tire. 205/40x17 will fit but will be about 2% shorter (meaning an indicated 60 mph will be a ~59 mph road speed). I happen to run 15s in the winter and 16s for the summer tires.

Check out wheel-size.com for the details on the tire/wheel recommendations or use a site like Tire Rack's.

 

It is a 17'' sorry about the confusion.

 

So you're saying that my 17'' wheel will fit better with 215/45r17 tires? If I decide to keep the 205/40r17 tires on the 17'' wheel would anything else besides the speedometer be affected such as ABS or suspension?

 

I calculate that the 205/40/17 tires would be about 2.5% smaller (in diameter) than the stock 205/50/16 tires. Not really a huge deal - you car will be about 0.3" lower to the ground, but other than your speedo and odo being off by that 2.5% (give or take any error that is built-in to the system now), you won't have any problems.

And yes, do try to match the bolt pattern, center bore spec, and the offset, or at least do some noodling to figure out where any differences will place the outside of the tire relative to the fender lip. I miscalculated on a set of rear spacers, and ended up with my (wider than stock) tires rubbing the fender liner at the lip on big bumps. Switching from 32mm to 25mm spacers fixed that nicely (and still looks a LOT better than stock, IMHO).