Folks,

Just recently picked up a very fine 90 740 GL wagon, 5 speed. Car currently wears very worn 195/60/15 which I know is OK per Volvo specs. Seen a lot of info on tires, but wondering if anyone has run 205/65/15 on their 740. FWIW, I have a set of 780 alloy wheels currently on the car, which I believe are 6" wide. I've been to the tire calculator and seen the difference in size. The possible problem is contact with strut and turning issues, plus other issues for which I am all ears.

The reason I ask is I went to swap tires this AM and tire shop gave me the no-go.

I like the idea of the 205 because the car has IPD sways and Bilstein shocks, and I like the 65 because it will fill the wheel well a bit more plus offer a little bit of extra between the potholes and the rim. And, the other reason, is that I picked up this set of half worn Michelin MXV4's for $50.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I have basically the same car (GLE not GL) and I run 205/65/15 on 6" stock rims. Works fine (and helps correct my speedo error) but they will indeed rub the struts on full lock.

Bill

Thanks for all input.

garlandw, what sort of MPG loss, if any, did you experience?
(assuming you changed from stock size, but maybe not)

Bought the car with 315,000 km on it in 2001 and changed from the stock size in late 2003. I keep gas consumption records for the heck of it and from what I can tell there is far more seasonal and city / highway variation than anything else. I did not notice any change due to the tire switch. I suspect that if the change in tire size puts the revs at a more efficient point at the speeds that you do the bulk of your driving at, then you should gain. At highway speeds I suspect that the extra tire width does add to air friction and the extra ride height will change the underbody air flow but I have no idea as to the size or direction of that effect. At any rate you can take some comfort in the fact that the change in tire size does not have a big effect one way or the other. I personally think the car looks better with the taller tires and I prefer the higher ride height. See some pics at
http://www.nuceng.ca/bill/volvo/image_db/forsale/slides/PICT1140.html

I averaged about 9 litres/100km averaged over 200,000 km. The car has the 16 valve engine and is a manual.
(10 l/100km = 28.2 UK mpg = 23.5 US mpg)

Good stuff, thanks.
Looks like tomorrow I'll tell the tire shop the 780 alloy wheels belong to a Camry, throw on the tires, and see how it goes...

225/50 16 front, 225/55 16 rear currently. Smaller wheels go on when towing a heavy weight. These are the swept 5-spoke alloy wheels, turbo motor.

If it's any reassurance, I run 205/55-15 tires on Virgo rims on my wife's 240, and 205/55-16 tires on Hydra rims on my own 240. I think that any 700, meant to have 15 (or 16, on later cars) inch tires, can better cope with your chosen size than on 240s that were meant (turbo, excepted) to run 14 inch tires.

Thanks for the input.
I guess the question I have is: will the 65's be likely to touch stuff in bounces and turns.

According to IPD plus sizing for the 740s can be from 195-60-15 up to 215-45-17