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Tires; driver leather seat 200 1993

New 1993, 240 owner.

Need new tires 195/70/14 - good luck w/ Yokahamas in past, heard of Hankook too. Recommendations? Brand AND model?

Also - driver's leather seat is severely cracked. ANY covers work well or repairs vs. junk yard replacement.

Thanks








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    Leather + vinyl + tires 200 1993


    Leather 240 seats have buttons sewn on.
    Vinyl does not.

    Cloth is very comfortable and as I wrote recently, you'll probably like it if you try it. If you put two cloth seats of the correct color in a vinyl car it will prolly look OK. The cloth holds up far better than the vinyl, 240s of matching age and similar mileage will usually prove this. case in point, my car is at 280K with cloth seats, which are in better condition than our wifemobile at about 220K with vinyl.

    BTW, the cloth seats have a liquid-proof backing, so any spills are pretty well isolated from the foam. No problems there. And, you can machine-wash the upholstery if you remove it to work on the seats.

    Tires:
    For a wagon, 195-75-14 is ideal. Or 205-70-14 if you must have the 205 tread. The 205-70's are a bit wide for the 5.5" rim flange width. 195-70-14 is just barely OK; load capacity is reduced from stock spec and speedo will lie, but they should handle the weight of car + driver OK.
    --
    Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.








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    Tires; driver leather seat 200 1993

    When the leather gave out on my 1988 245 GL I found a very close matching vinyl but I live in a moderate climate so vinyl is ok the majority of the year. Are you sure it is leather, I was under the impression Volvo didn't offer leather in the last years - could be mistaken. Anyway, if yours is "tan" what we refer to as tan is really more carmel in color. I had all seats redone front and rear and I saved by R&Ring them myself. Rear seat back is not hard to remove but you need to know the technique. About $300 plus fabric for the entire car. Am not familiar w/ the '93 but my '88 GL had buttons as opposed to the stitching on the DL verion for my year. I mention that because if you want it to look as original as possible don't throw away the buttons as they are hard to come by. Or follow the DL design with stitching as most people won't notice or care on a 14 year old car. Also a good time to inspect the grid and springs that suspend the seat bottom, they are under the foam and are easy to see if you look under from behind with a flashlight. Very common for the grid to break, easy to find replacement. Upholstery shops usually won't take the time to find the OE part and will do something makeshift with straps so you should provide the OE parts. If springs are missing, go to the PNP and get some. I believe there are 4 springs on each side, 8 total per seat. Compare to the passenger seat to be certain.








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    Tires; driver leather seat 200 1993

    On the seats, leather is almost always cracked and the vinyl doesn't fare especially well either. I find cloth more comfortable and durable. Junkyard replacements are seldom better than what you've got, so the best option is a new replacement.

    IPD sells an expensive seat cover which should be a very good fit, cloth only.

    If it were ME, I'd take my seats down to Mr. Kim's upholstery on rt. 1 and have him recover them with a decent cloth. I bet he'd do it for $100 a seat, tops. If you have something like that near you - a good, cheap upholstery man - then it will probably be cheaper than IPD and far nicer than junkyard replacements.

    --
    Sean - now frolicking in the Land of a Thousand 240's (aka, Fredericksburg) thrice a week.








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    Tires; driver leather seat 200 1993

    Yokohama Avid T4. Curently $52 a throw at Tire Rack. I mounted 205/70-14s on my 245 and was impressed with handling, wet traction and low noise. No better or worse than any other "all season" tire, but I always used dedicated snows in the CT winters.
    --
    Thank goodness we don't get all the government we pay for. -- Wiley Post







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