Is there a problem with putting 195/65/15s on a 544?
TIA, Fran

Another source for 165x15 tyres is:

http://www.tiresunlimited.com/default.htm

They carry Vredestein tires. I use 185x15 Vredesteins on my P210 with wheels widened to 5 1/2". I did not use this source, but bought them locally several years back. They seem to hold up well.

Bob

On old cars there is a tendency to put on tires which are much too wide for the rims, 165 is really too wide for the stock wheels on a 544, I had 165 on 5 inch rims on a PV and that worked beautifully, I have had 185's on 5.5inch rims which was fine, for a 195 you really need a six inch rim, I had 205/65-14 on the back of the PV at one stage on Ford rims I think about 6.5 inchs they fitted ok, slowed the car down though.
Hans

Yes, on my 544 these tires look ridiculously wrong....and I believe they are on the original rims! The speedometer is goofy cuz of them too, I doubt the car goes over 55 with them. And it seems to suck up the gas, as well.
Fran

that would be a very appropriate size in diameter... but a bit on the wide side for stock 4" wide wheels... Ideally for a 195 width, you'd want 5.5" width, or at least 5"...

I honestly wouldn't do it on stock wheels, but I know it's been done.

--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Isn't the stock size 165/65/15s? I can't find them available in my area (N. AZ)...what are others using? Right now there are 205/65/15s on her and they need to be replaced. I hate the feel of floating on those wide things.
TIA, Fran

If you're stuck using tires that are a little too wide for your wheels, try to get tires with a heavier sidewall, so they will not flex so much and give you that "driving on grease" feeling. At one time you could get tires that actually had a 'stepped' sidewall. They were designed for racing applications, but worked great on the street.

I'm currently using Michelin X-One All Season tires in 195/65R15 on stock PV544 rims. They look good and the speedometer is spot on (when it works!)

Although these are technically 'mud & snow' tires, the tread isn't aggressive enough to be noisy on pavement.

Recently I tried to buy a matching tire for a spare, only to be told that Michelin no longer makes this particular tire, and a 'nearly-the-same' replacement would be $154.00 each. OUCH! That's about twice what they should cost!

For now I'll keep my slightly-worn spare, thank you!

Stock size is 165/15... any tire without the sidwall aspect ratio can be considered to have that at 80... so, stock would essentially be 165/80-15.

You'd probably like the handling better though if you got wider wheels and went with the 195/65-15... they really are a good size for these old Volvos is you got the right wheels.

--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

It surprises me when folks can't find 165/15's. Don't these tire shops get to re-shoe an old VW Beetle weekly at least?
Tell 'em you have VW bug and let them look up the tire size (165/15).
Best,
Shayne.

I just talked to a guy at PepBoys in PHX...they do not keep the Futura Euro Metric in stock any longer but can still order them for $31ea. Even he was surprised that they didn't keep these in stock for the VW people.
Thanks!

22 million Beetles can't be denied!
--
I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

Strangely enough, when I came out from grocery shopping this afternoon, I had a 1963 vintage VW Bug parked next to me....The 72 year old man who belonged to it walked up as I was getting in "my other car", not the Volvo, and I had already checked out his tires. They were made in Brazil... Hallmark Euro Metric 165R15s! They looked pretty good so I asked him where he had found them. He proceeded to tell me the story of a garage in Prescott Valley, AZ that had a dirt floor and carried these tires in stock, of course, this was back in 1992 and they had since closed! So, I told him he could special order them outta PepBoys in PHX. He said, that made his day!
So, many thanks to all today!!!!
Fran

165R15 ... Pep Boys euro metric, or order a set of Kumho Powerstar 758 from Tirerack.com - search 165/80/15.

-- Kane
--

While I would never deliberately mislead anyone, take into consideration that any information and advice provided was at no cost to you.

In spite of the numbers there is a wide range of sizes between brands.
If you could find some "smaller" 195s they would certainly be better than
the 205s.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

185's are the widest I'd try to squeeze onto stock 4 inch rims. 165R15 (I think that signifies the 'classic' sidewall ratio of something like 83?) tires are/were used by VW beetles, so are tending to linger on in production longer than they would if just old Volvo's used them. I have two sets of Firestone F-560's in 165R15 - one on the PV's steel wheels and one on the 1800. Nice enough tires - decent traction, although you aren't going to win any autocrosses on them. But without suspension work too much tire doesn't feel right on an old Volvo anyhow.
--
I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

There seems to be some confusion over what the numbers in a tire size signify. It's actually easy to break down, and with a little math you can translate the whole thing into numbers that mean something to us consumers!

As an example, let's work with 165/90/R15. The 'R15' means it's a Radial tire on a 15-inch rim. Pretty simple so far.

The '165' means the tire is 165 millimeters wide, or about 6-1/2 inches.

The '90' refers to the ratio of the height of the sidewall as compared to the width of the tire, or 90% of 165 mm. 165 ÷ 90% (or 165 X .9) = 148.5 mm, or about 5-15/16 inches high.

The lower the ratio number, the lower the sidewall: a 165/50R15 tire would have a sidewall height of only about 3-3/8 inches!

You can also calculate the circumference of the tire in order to figure out what size will keep you within reason on your odometer:

Figure the radius of the wheel and tire assembly by taking half the wheel size (15 ÷ 2 = 7.5 inches) and adding the tire height (6.5 inches in our example). You now know this tire will have a radius of 14 inches.