Quote:
Originally Posted by foggyjames
What you may run into here is simply that putting 18s on a 240 (and maintaining decent suspension travel, and making all fit and drive normally) isn't trivial - it's a 60s design, essentially, and the arches aren't huge, etc. You're slightly better off with a 7/900, but even they have significant limitations unless you start hacking at them - much above 225-wide rubber and fitment gets "interesting".
cheers
James
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Quote:
Originally Posted by classicswede
The ET6 wheels are by far the most common option but in my opinion they do not fit. The ET16 option is a much better fit and allows you to fit sensible size tyres. For a 8.5 inch wide rim a 225 width tyre is as narrow as you should really go but due to wrong offset you get forced into a very narrow 205 tyre
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They were both interesting comments chaps - and rather corroborate my thoughts to JJ in the above. I remember having some misgivings about fitting an 8.5" wheel and 10" wide tyres when JJ was thinking of using some banded (16" I think) wheels some months ago. I have not tried fitting larger wheels, but just looking at the space in the arches of the RB (a 244) made me wonder whether anything much larger would fit.
Perhaps foggyjames is right and the only real solution to this problem (if JJ wants to fit 8.5Jx18 wheels and lower the motor car) will be to flare the wheel arches. I have read stories about Americans doing that on the Turbobricks website, but that avenue is more part of custom car culture in the USA. I don't know whether JJ wants to take his project that far.
I'm tending to agree with classicswede that 225 section tyres will be just too big to fit with a 6mm offset. Trying an ET16 wheel might be an expensive gamble because there isn't all that much clearance to the suspension strut at the front (I can just get a finger in that gap on the RB with 195/65 section tyres.). You are right in that a 205 section tyre is really too narrow for a 8.5J rim, but then I notice they were the only option offered by the (Swedish) vendor of the Ocean wheels I quoted in the above. I rather suspect that vendor has realised 205 width is the absolute maximum on RWD Volvos (without cutting into the body). I'm not in favour of stretching tyres - I don't think they are safe and the rims will get damaged very easily indeed - but JJ mentioned it previously (in the context of banding steel wheels) and doesn't mind it.
JJ seems a very tenacious chap, so I suspect he will find a solution that allows him to keep the 8.5Jx18 Ocean wheels he likes. I have a feeling that will involve both stretching 205 section tyres and jacking up the rear suspension (at least to the standard height); it will be genuinely fascinating to see what he comes up with.
Let's wish JJ good fortune, this is a really interesting thread that is breaking some new ground in our sleepy 200 series hollow.
:-)
Alan
PS. There is no shame in trying something new and realising it will not work - I did the same with the ZZ Top wheels I bought (very cheaply) to try on GAM (a 1963 Amazon). I realised they were wrong straight away and put my hand up (this is well documented in the GAM thread). Fortunately there is a good market for second hand alloy wheels and I was able to sell them on to a young chap for his V6 Lexus (for which they were perfect) - and at a profit! :-)