oversize tires on a '98 Century?

[Guest]

I have an extra set of tires size 215/70/15 that I want to put on a '98 Century, which takes 205/70/15's. I know these are a bit taller, but does anyone know if they will fit? If not, I'll sell them- they are General radials and only have 5,000 miles on them- not sure which Buicks they will fit. Any info appreciated-Thanks-David

[Guest Shaffer]

Not sure if they will fit or not, but remember it will throw your speedometer off as well as give your car an inaccurate odometer reading.

[NTX5467]

I don't think there would be any problems putting them under there. The closest clearance item would be the front struts, as I recall.<P>As for the speedometer error, you can go into <A HREF="http://www.tirerack.com" TARGET=_blank>www.tirerack.com</A> and look up a similar General tire to get the "revs/mile" specs for both sizes and then see how fast you'll really be going with the speedometer reads 60mph, for example.<P>I'm not sure what the procedure would be using a different tire size and recalibrating the vehicle's ECM so the speedometer would read correctly. Putting non-stock tire sizes on modern computer controlled vehicles is not what it previously was.<P>Those 215/70-15s would be a great size for a '70s Skylark with factory chrome wheels. The cosmetics would approximate what it would be with the similar 14" factory chrome wheels yet be a 15x7 wheel size.<P>If the "revs/mile" spec for the 215/70-15 size approximates that of the 225/60-16 size that is so common on lots of GM and other brands of cars, then you could use that for the spec to recalibrate the ECM.<P>Just some thoughts . . .<BR>NTX5467

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips!

[Guest]

do the math on the speedo error - calculate the 2 wheel/tire diameters from the nominal tire sizes. It's only 2%