96 850 Turbo Wagon: what other tires can I mount on my 16" alloy rims?

insession · Post by **insession** » 13 Dec 2021, 19:19

Having increasing trouble finding tires I like in my factory default size 205/50/16. Which other sizes can I safely mount on my 16" rims without causing any chafing while turning etc? For instance, I'd love to get the new Nokian ENCOMPASS AW01, but DiscountTire doesn't have it in my factory size.

Thanks!!

Peter

Post by **misha** » 14 Dec 2021, 02:58

You can go with 205/55/16.
Volvo officially changed the 50 profile to a 55 for p80 cars because of customer complaints about bent rims.

insession · Post by **insession** » 14 Dec 2021, 16:08

Thank you misha! The slightly higher/bigger tires won't chafe the wheel well when turning you think?

Post by **scot850** » 14 Dec 2021, 16:46

Nope. Volvo checked this before advising the change. The tire is no wider just slightly taller (about 0.8" diameter difference). I ran these on a V70 and they were ok. Only place there may have been an issue is the height of the tire on the front spring lower seat. This diameter difference still leaves clearance.

At 60mph on the speedo you will be actually at 62mph due to the larger diameter tire.

Neil.

insession · Post by **insession** » 14 Dec 2021, 18:32

Thanks scot850. Yes, higher only, that's what I meant by bigger. thanks for the headsup about the speedo, would have forgotten about that!

Oro · Post by **Oro** » 15 Dec 2021, 00:50

Use this website to get your factory size, then a quick click to get alternate sizes:

wheel-size.com

Alternately, if you know your base desired tire size, you can use their sister site to just get alternate tire and rim sizes:

tire-size.com

I have a 2000 V70 XC. I hated the stock size and used this to figure 215/55-16 as an equal, or 215/50-17 (going on next summer). But the point is those websites will show you equivalents and close equivalents without doing too much math yourself like we used to have to do.

20 years ago I used to have to figure this myself and hunt up alterates. Oh how we love the web!

Also I posted here about the fact, you can easily mod modern Ford wheels to easily fit P80 and P2 volvos. Once you figure this out, your wheel candidates explode:

https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/putt ... rd.647603/

Post by **misha** » 15 Dec 2021, 01:46

insession wrote: 14 Dec 2021, 16:08 Thank you misha! The slightly higher/bigger tires won't chafe the wheel well when turning you think?

I use 205/55/16 for both....summer and winter set.
My 850 came from the factory with 16" wheels.

Post by **BlackBart** » 15 Dec 2021, 11:45

Browse tirerack.com by size and see what's available. That said, they don't carry all brands. My 850T5 has 16's stock as well.

850oldschool · Post by **850oldschool** » 15 Dec 2021, 14:37

If you need an all season tire that's tilted strongly toward winter grip nothing else comes close to Nokian. They were the only all season tires I've ever driven in a Minnesota winter that weren't terrifying.

I ran 55's for a while as my summer tires and they rubbed a little at full lock., not too bad. Picked up a couple MPG's and the speedo was off by a meaningful amount. Girlfriend forgot one time and got a ticket. Had trouble starting on uphill grades with a manual transmission.

I went back to 50's, haven't had trouble with wheel bending. I only run the 16's in the summer and I have Yokohama Advan Fleva's on them. In the winter it's Michelin x-ice on 15's, but like I said, I live in Minnesota.

insession · Post by **insession** » 15 Dec 2021, 19:20

Thanks Oro for those websites. The tire-size.com one looks not so usable

the wheel-size.com one looks great, albeit I confess I am not sure if I have the 2.3T or the 2.3T-5R