Hey All,

I'm hoping someone can advise me once and for all on the following as, despite searching the Forum and reading various posts, I am still unsure what to do. Long story short, I took delivery of a 1985 340DL last week and immediately stripped off the ropey looking steel wheels, replacing them with a set of decent 480GT alloys I had been using on previous 440/480 cars. The alloys are in good condition, and the tyres that are fitted (195/55 R15) are essentially brand new - problem is, although they sit well at the rear, the fronts are touching the springs, making steering incredibly difficult and, most probably, dangerous. I really like the look of the wheels on the car, so would be reluctant to change them, so my query is really what should I do? Wheel spacers were my first thought, but the alloys are already wide enough on the car (not to mention concerns I would have with hub stud length) - next obvious solution would be tyres, but what size would give me sufficient clearance, and are there any issues running different front profiles to the rear tyres?

Appreciate this has kinda been discussed many times, but I'm really struggling to get my head around it (never had this issue with any of my 400 series cars!).

Apologies and thanks

Roge1

You need 195/50/15 at the front, I ran with them at the front (with spacer rings I think) and 205/55/15 at the back for a while no problems. Only thing with bigger wheels is more wear on the wheel bearings (allows faster cornering ) and it will alter gearing and speedo slightly.

Thanks, appreciate that. Will look into spacers AND tyres, and see how I get on.

Regards

Roge1

I think it depends of what wheels you have for the spacers. Mine are old Vauhall Calibre/cavalier GSI wheels, as far as I remember they caused the tyre to touch the strut at the back as well as the bottom of the spring cup.