New tires/wheels mounted with 4 in lift.

[Brett San Diego]

I completed a 4 in lift on my 2002 XC70 (or V70 XC) last month.

https://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showt...-lift-complete

Today, I finally got around to getting new wheels and tires mounted. Pics attached.

I dropped down to 15 in wheels to give more sidewall for off-roadability. The wheels are 6.5x15 ET43 original Volvo wheels from the salvage yard off of a 1998 S70 and 2000 V70. I cleaned them up and had them mounted this morning with Kumho Road Venture AT51 all-terrains, 30x9.5x15. So 30" tires, which are 3" over stock. And then, I put a crappy paint job on them with black Plasti-Dip. It really was a bad job. I think I put the coats on too heavy causing later coats to dissolve through the underlying coats causing hundreds of tiny pinhole craters. Looks fine from 10 ft, though LOL. These wheels originally were fitted to hubs with M12 lug bolts, so you may wonder about fitment since the XC70 has M14 lug bolts. I'm also running Cross Country Performance 1.25" wheel spacers which actually convert the M14 lug bolts to M12 studs. So running wheels for M12 lugs is not a problem. I checked, and M14 lug bolts actually do fit through the holes in the wheels, so it seems like you could use M14 lug bolts on these wheels without drilling them out if you wanted to.

Using these wheels was the best option in my opinion. There just isn't an aftermarket for 15" wheels with the Volvo bolt pattern (5x108 mm), at least that I could find. After I bought the Cross Country Performance spacers, I saw a youtube video of an XC70 build where the owner had custom spacers made by a company that does that kind of thing that changed the bolt pattern to fit Jeep wheels. That's a really good alternative, but I didn't know about it at the time. I just wanted to run 15" wheels, and these old Volvo originals make it possible.

Up front, I do get a little bit of contact between the front tires and the rear of the fender well liners. It's not severe contact, and it's only when the wheels are turned close to full lock, so I don't think I'm going to do anything about it. In the rear, there is only about 1/4" between the rear tire and the front of the wheel well liner. These tires would not fit without cutting out the wheel liners if I hadn't lengthened the rear trailing arms.

Brett

[Xfingers]

That's a baaaad, mean-looking machine from the sideview. I also really like your car's color. Any plans for the cladding and the rear bumper?

[gibbons]

That also lifted your gear ratios 10%, and lowered your braking efficiency by 10%. Can you feel the difference driving?

[Brett San Diego]

That's a baaaad, mean-looking machine from the sideview. I also really like your car's color. Any plans for the cladding and the rear bumper?

I was thinking about spraying the whole car with bedliner. But, any cosmetic stuff like that is way down the line, and the car will probably self destruct before I get around to it. The rear bumper is off as I was fabricating a swing away spare tire carrier. That got put on hold as I tackled other projects, and I need to get back on it.

Brett

[Brett San Diego]

That also lifted your gear ratios 10%, and lowered your braking efficiency by 10%. Can you feel the difference driving?

The wheel/tire combination is also heavier, so it's a double whammy. I do feel the braking difference. No doubt there is a loss in acceleration performance, but if you care about that when you're driving a family wagon, you're driving the wrong car in my opinion.

Brett

[gibbons]

That Chevelle in my avatar pic has a zz502 with a 5 speed and 4:11 gears. It balances my universe, I don't care how fast the XC is. As long as major items don't break too far from home!

[Brett San Diego]

That Chevelle in my avatar pic has a zz502 with a 5 speed and 4:11 gears. It balances my universe, I don't care how fast the XC is. As long as major items don't break too far from home!

Nice. Undoubtedly, stuff on my XC is going to break earlier than usual. Likewise, I hope it doesn't happen too far from home, but I definitely am upping the probability of that.
Brett

[Astro14]

The wheel/tire combination is also heavier, so it's a double whammy. I do feel the braking difference. No doubt there is a loss in acceleration performance, but if you care about that when you're driving a family wagon, you're driving the wrong car in my opinion.

Brett

I do care about that, so does my son. My wife does not.

She gets the XC and my son's T5 has a few mods to make it a relatively entertaining car. Downpipe, R-model exhaust manifold, IPD swaybars, bigger brakes. My daughter's T5 was once mine, so she has all that, too, and you know what? In the mountains of Utah, a turbo car with flat cornering and big brakes is a lot of fun to drive...