Replacing Tires

[shoggard3]

I had a 1999 Grand AM SE. Fortunately, I took the tires and wheels off before the rest of the car was scrapped. I also took the spoiler, which has sentimental value for me (my friends had signed it at one time but the rain washed off the ink, even though the ink was supposed to be permanent).

Now I have a 1997 Grand AM. One or two of the tires have had problems over the past year and so we had to replace them a few times. Now I have another tire that keeps going flat, and we can't find another tire to replace it at this time. The local used tire store keeps saying they will have a replacement in soon but it seems they never get one.

I have asked my mother's boyfriend if I could put the old tires from the first car on the second car. The second car's tires are "14", while the first car's tires were "15". I saw that the wheel's five holes are in the same pattern and position, so I thought it would be possible. However, he says that the tires are almost too large and that I would have steering issues.

I would think that an extra inch wouldn't be so bad... But I'd rather get advice from experts (Pontiac experts). What's your suggestion? I'd like to save as much money as possible.

 

[melsg5]

You keep interchanging the words tires and wheels so I'm not 100% sure what you are trying to do. You can put the 15" tire/wheel assembly on the 97 but you have to place all 4 on or at the very least have two of the same size on the same end of the car. If the outside diameter of the 15" tire/wheel assembly is different than the outside diameter of the 14" tire/wheel assembly your speedometer will not be accurate and the cars computer may misjudge vehicle speed. It would be more informative if you told us what is the tire size of the 15" tire and what is the tire size of the 14", in other words 205/60 R14 or something to that effect

 

[shoggard3]

Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to cause any confusion. I meant the full wheel, rim and tire included.

The tires for the '99 Pontiac Grand AM SE, that I want to put on my current car, is P205/70R15.

The tires I have on the current car right now, the '97 Grand AM, is 195/70R14.

 

[melsg5]

the 15" assembly is about 1 1/2" larger in diameter. I would place them on the car and drive it cautiously at first to check for an interference issue. The car was available with 15" wheels but used a smaller diameter tire. The speedometer will read a little higher than the actual speed.

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[Zimgxp]

With a bigger tire won't the spedo read slower? A larger tire would turn slower.

 

[melsg5]

sorry, yes speedometer reads slower