S40 Wheel size

[McDowell]

I've just bought a 2006 S40 1.6d with expensive 205/50 17 tyres. The handbook lists 205/55 16 tyres also as standard. Can I fit 16" wheels and go with the cheaper 16" tyres?

[Daim]

Yes, you can. Iirc even the cheapest 195/65 R15 should be possible and is actually possible.

16" should be as 205/55 R16.

I personally (if money is most important and looks less) would look at 15"s as they are more common.

[t5_monkey]

You could also put 215/45 or 225/45 on your 17's

I run 17, 225/45

[Nocomplaints1977]

As Monkey say there are some alternatives with that wheel size and 215/45/17 is a pretty cheap size.
Just had a full set of Falken ZE912's fitted to the 850R in that size for £260. They're a pretty good tyre especially for the price.

[faffi]

I run 15" and would never consider going bigger simply because the smaller wheels offer a lot better comfort and easier, more precise handling at normal road speeds. Other benefits of lesser importance are lower price and - really insignificant for me - slightly better fuel consumption, acceleration and top speed.

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by faffi

I run 15" and would never consider going bigger simply because the smaller wheels offer a lot better comfort and easier, more precise handling at normal road speeds. Other benefits of lesser importance are lower price and - really insignificant for me - slightly better fuel consumption, acceleration and top speed.

Just out of interest, do smaller wheels generally offer better comfort and better acceleration, and if so why do manufacturers tend to put bigger wheels on the higher spec models?

[Daim]

Originally Posted by froggyted

Just out of interest, do smaller wheels generally offer better comfort and better acceleration, and if so why do manufacturers tend to put bigger wheels on the higher spec models?

Well, the difference is really noticeable. I have 15" steel rims for winter and now 19" alloys for summer. The 15"s are really light. With tire etc. I'd say something like 10-12 kg/wheel. They have a smaller circumference and due to the combination of smaller wheel (smaller diameter) and lighter weight, the acceleration is better. At the same time, the unsprung weight is lower so comfort raises too.

The manufacturers put bigger rims on, for optical reasons. In the 80ies 15" alloys were already "huge". Nowadays even mini cars like the Mini, Clio, Panda have 15"s as a standard. A lot of designs are now done around a certain wheel size. The C30 was presented on 19"s. Available are only 18"s (from Volvo) and they even look too small... Like said, the reason is more or less only optical... The "bling bling" effect wouldn't be there...

The only brands, which have larger rims which make sense, are like Morgan (manganese) or other alloys from supersportcars...

[faffi]

Reason number one: Style that people want. Up to a point you do get better grip and more accurate and immediate steering response. Once you drop below 40-45 in profile, however you lose grip because the tyre cannot any longer absorb minor imperfections in the road surface. So it skip instead of grip.

Narrower and taller tyres will eliminate tramling. They also offer good grip on rough roads. And give a comfier ride. They offer better acceleration because they are lighter and they offer higher top speed because they are narrower, reducing friction.

When the Porsche 944 was new, it came with 185/70-15 tyres. German magazine auto und sport tested the car also with 205 and 225 wide tyres (I do not have the article anymore, so I do not remember wheels size and tyre profile) and learned that the car was slowest on the widest tyres around a race track. The 205s gave minutely better lap times, but the car was slower in the slalom test. They concluded that for track use, 205 would be beneficial even if they made car more work to handle, but for the typical owner the stock size worked best.

It's not what people generally want to hear, though. Just as most motorcycle riders doesn't like to hear that they will lap faster if they just use one taller gear all around the track and use the brakes as little as possible

[McDowell]

Thanks for the advice.
I contacted an independent Volvo dealer today who said you can fit 16" wheels if they clear the brake calipers, which as an ex mechanic is something I should have thought of!