Taller Tires

My speedo is reading about five percent fast with stock 195/60r14’s. What problems, if any, would I run into with 195/70r14’s? Or possibly even 205/70r14’s?
It’s on a 1996 B4V.

I’m assuming the speedometer reads off the front wheels, is that right?

That would make your speedometer closer to accurate. I went to 195/60r15 on saturn rims. With those rims and tires, I am within 1mph of accurate. The downfall with 195/70r14 is that it will not have as sharp handling on corners. Also, the RPMs for any given speed will be lower, making each gear taller. This is good on the highway, but you may have to downshift more often, and at full throttle it won't pull quite as hard.

As far as I know the speedometer sensor is in the transmission, so probably reads the front wheels.

have the same problem, i now run 205/40ZR-17 SUMITOMO HTR Z II with 17x8 Axis OG Europa SDC

the issue did not go away, i would say that putting a larger tire on will not fix your issue as its an issue with the sensor in the trans or the cluster.

mustangmarty said:

My speedo is reading about five percent fast with stock 195/60r14’s. What problems, if any, would I run into with 195/70r14’s? Or possibly even 205/70r14’s?
It’s on a 1996 B4V.

I’m assuming the speedometer reads off the front wheels, is that right?

Click to expand...

Please note what your odometer accuracy is. Think you will find the odometer is accurate with your current 195/60x14 tires.

I run 195/65 x 15 tires on my B4V and the speedometer is just about dead on. But the odometer is off by about 7%.

Most car makers build in a fast speedometer to avoid getting blamed for speeding related accidents.

I run 185/60-15s and my speedometer is still about 2 MPH high, but I like that as it's the same as my MKIV cars. I don't know if the odometer is off, but it probably isn't by much.

I've pretty much given up on 14" tires for my B4. There just are two few options available.

I'm running 195/70-14 right now...according to GPS my speedo is just about dead on now...

I ran a set of 205/75-14s that I had sitting around (older tires but barely used)...they "fit" but the fronts would rub every time I hit a dip or good size bump...I think the rubbing caused a couple blowouts way too early in the tires life...

Well, I had a set of Michelin Defender 195/70r14’s installed today and the speedometer now matches my gps. I haven’t had a chance to check the odometer yet. But even if it is off, I can always do the percentage math to figure out my trip mileage whenever I want to. When choosing between an accurate odometer vs an accurate speedometer, I’ll choose the speedo every time.

mustangmarty said:

Well, I had a set of Michelin Defender 195/70r14’s installed today and the speedometer now matches my gps. I haven’t had a chance to check the odometer yet. But even if it is off, I can always do the percentage math to figure out my trip mileage whenever I want to. When choosing between an accurate odometer vs an accurate speedometer, I’ll choose the speedo every time.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I did a couple of years ago!

See this post:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4931262&postcount=44