What is the largest tire I can put on these rims
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Some height, a little bit lower rpm, more tread on the road and I hope it will correct my issue with the speedo being off by 9MPH a little bit.
My speedo is about 9mph fast. When it reads 65 Im actually only going about 56.
I understand not going too wide but I would love to gain some height.
Ideas for you.
There are tire sizing utilities on the web that will lead you to the good answer. Check this link: Car Bibles : The Wheel and Tyre Bible Page 3 of 4
I recently went through this with my '83 240D and came up with a wider size that fits my newer steel wheels, 6J vs the older ones 5.5 J. Most of these sites show the difference in speedometer readings before and after so they can be very handy at letting you know the potential result of a proposed change.
Be aware that most MB speedometers from that era are about 5 mph slow - I guess to avoid speeding tickets - so you may only need to get rid of a 5 mile per hour error. I hope this helps. Get to know your local Michelin or Pirelli dealer too as they may be of some help. I use the local police radar warning devices to check my speedometer for speed errors and check my odometer over known distance courses.:thumbsup:
There are tire sizing utilities on the web that will lead you to the good answer. Check this link: Car Bibles : The Wheel and Tyre Bible Page 3 of 4
I recently went through this with my '83 240D and came up with a wider size that fits my newer steel wheels, 6J vs the older ones 5.5 J. Most of these sites show the difference in speedometer readings before and after so they can be very handy at letting you know the potential result of a proposed change.
Be aware that most MB speedometers from that era are about 5 mph slow - I guess to avoid speeding tickets - so you may only need to get rid of a 5 mile per hour error. I hope this helps. Get to know your local Michelin or Pirelli dealer too as they may be of some help. I use the local police radar warning devices to check my speedometer for speed errors and check my odometer over known distance courses.:thumbsup:
According to the State Police, City Police and County Sheriff radars, my speedo is off about 5 mph. With all due respect to GPS, I will default to the guys that could be writing tickets as their radar is calibrated regularly and trhey don't use GPS to issue traffic citations. More to the point however, tire size does affect speedometer readings and that was one of the issues being addressed in the "larger tire size" discussion. GPS, by the way, is not perfectly accurate as it is a Department of Defense item and has been intentionally accuracy limited for consumer grade devices.
15" tires are a real fit problem on 14" wheels. check the tire sizing utilities available through a Google search or look at the link that I sent earlier. Your questions will be answered there.
Just to clarify, I presume you mean 205/60/14 ?
I found this quote:
"205/60/15 matches stock size 195/70/14 with minimal differences."
My guess is that would be outside diameter. My concern lies in someone putting a 15" tire on a 14" rim. Even if you were able to seat the bead, that tire would collapse and roll right off the rim on your first turn.
Not trying to be argumentative, just keeping things on the safe side.
Yah, I definitely do not want that... I think the largest tire I have seen available that would fit would be a 205/75/14 on tirerack.com
You can't use a 15" tire on a 14" wheel.
The quote you found only states that the equivalent size of the 15" tire is 205/60 to match the diameter and minimize the speedometer errors from the stock 195/70 14" tires.
I once had a big difference in speedo vs actual speed. Turns out the differential was swapped with a 3.69 on mine (supposed to have 3.07 for both our 83 turbo diesel 300's). It's a long shot, but check your differential ratio.
Bigger tires will only offset the speedometer error minimally.
Your best bet is to get 15" wheels like I did, then play with tire sizes if you want to fill up the wheel well.
The quote you found only states that the equivalent size of the 15" tire is 205/60 to match the diameter and minimize the speedometer errors from the stock 195/70 14" tires.
I once had a big difference in speedo vs actual speed. Turns out the differential was swapped with a 3.69 on mine (supposed to have 3.07 for both our 83 turbo diesel 300's). It's a long shot, but check your differential ratio.
Bigger tires will only offset the speedometer error minimally.
Your best bet is to get 15" wheels like I did, then play with tire sizes if you want to fill up the wheel well.
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