Tyres??

Penguin · Post by **Penguin** » 07 Oct 2009, 18:43

Chaps

I am in need of a new tyre. I went onto the National Tyres website and entered my Reg no and it correctly came back with the make/model/year and stated that the tyres are 185/65 R15 H. If I enter the same information on Kwik Fit I get the same.

Now the tyres on my car are 185/65 R14 H. So, am I in the wrong here and what are the consequences if I am?

Cheers

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 07 Oct 2009, 18:46

well the wheel diametre on your car is 14" so the 15" tyres being advised by the tyre companies obviously wouldn't fit !

Penguin · Post by **Penguin** » 07 Oct 2009, 19:17

Cheers. I wonder why they are both wrong? Doesn't help the poor consumer much does it?

I'll stick to the 14s then!

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 07 Oct 2009, 19:25

Have a look at the wheel / tyre options in your owners manual to determine original fitment. Could be that the wheels have been changed in the past perhaps ? Anyway , as your car is definitely fitted with 14" wheels you need 14" tyres.
You could also ask a dealer to check your VIN number to see what size wheel the car was supplied with from the factory.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 07 Oct 2009, 19:39

Pretty sure early Xantias were fitted with 14" wheels, before they all went to 15"

petercook44 · Post by **petercook44** » 07 Oct 2009, 20:54

I had a 96 1.9 td with 185/65/15 tyres now have a 97 1.8i 16v which has 185/65/14 tyres. So it seems Citroen fitted different sizes to various models. Appears 14's are correct for my model but unsure on TD models. BOL's states to check data plate on o/s door opening for correct original specs

Post by **Paul-R** » 08 Oct 2009, 10:26

If someone has done a complete wheel swap in the past then your speedo will be out. You won't be braking the law unintentionally if the change was from 15" to 14" but it might be an idea to check your speedo against another known good car or time it on the motorway.

Occasionally in my area the local council leave a tethered radar detector with display showing vehgicles' speeds on a stretch of road. Worth seeking out if you know of one.

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 08 Oct 2009, 10:34

Or a sat nav will do if you have one.

Penguin · Post by **Penguin** » 08 Oct 2009, 10:40

HDI wrote:Or a sat nav will do if you have one.

This is currently the only way I know how fast I am going as most of the time my speedo doesn't work. Can't be arsed to take the dash out to resolder it! Before its problems I calibrated my speedo to my sat nav and it was 'reasonably' accurate.

Presumably if the car was set up on 15s and all changed to 14s the speedo would read high anyway as the circumference of the tyre is smaller and therefore you would travel less distance per wheel revolution. So no problems with Mr Plod should ensue anyway.

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 08 Oct 2009, 10:46

My Xantia reads around 5 mph high anyway ! Annoying actually , I was going to check if I could adjust it.

Post by **Paul-R** » 08 Oct 2009, 11:53

HDI wrote:My Xantia reads around 5 mph high anyway ! Annoying actually , I was going to check if I could adjust it.

On my C5 you can use a Lexia to change the tyre size stored so that the ECU "knows" how fast you're going for each revolution of a wheel.

I doubt if that was available on the Xantia though.

davetherave · Post by **davetherave** » 08 Oct 2009, 14:27

According to my sat nav the xantias spedo reads too slow, with the difference increasing exponentially with increased speed. only about about 5mph out at 65.

I think that makes sense!

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 08 Oct 2009, 15:14

Early Xantias did have 14" wheels, they had the wheel trims with quite a few holes in. Later Xantias got 15" wheels, those have the flat looking 5 spoke wheel trims.

Some slightly later petrol Xantias still had 14" wheels, diesels had 15" after a certain date.

Yours being a 95 car with certainly have 14" wheels. All S2 Xantias had 15" wheels, no matter what engine or spec.

Its best to change tyres in pairs, especially if they are to be used on the front.

If you just need one id be tempeted to put the rears on the front if they are a pair of same make and tread.

Chris.