240 wheels

theinnerwestie

Just picked up my first Volvo and already looking to change things! A sign of things to come probably.
It's an '85 240 wagon and I'm initially looking for some new wheels - not 100% about what size I want so I'm open to suggestions. If anyone has some pics of their setups I'd love to see them.
What have you got stashed away in the back of the garage?
Cheers,
Matt

ramrod

I would leave it alone. The smaller the wheel diameter, the better quality the ride

Not to mention protection from our convenient Sydney (shitsville) potholes

goodenough

Nice one mate! I went from 14” 185/65/14 to Virgos (in picture) 15” 205/65/15 and it was a huge improvement in comfort and handling. I personally wouldn’t go any bigger than 15” and Volvo has a heap of different style wheels for rear wheel drive Volvo in 15”.. Also because 16” Volvo wheels are hard to find

goodenough

Volvo Virgo 242GT15" alloy wheels set of four 240 242 244 245 260 262 264 265 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com.au%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113228721956

ramrod

Should be 195/60/15 if you want an accurate odometer

timbo

@theinnerwestie maybe post some pics of some 240s that you like the look of and we can advise from there.
Definitely heaps of better options than the boring factory wheels

These guys have some good 5x108 options available
https://www.chrisnealewheels.com.au/
Their formula mesh wheels are my favourite available in 15" or 17" widths from 7" to 10"

ljk346

Lots of awesome wheel options that people have made work. I personally like the deep white steelies ??

tony93

Ive got 17inch drift teks on mine and I wouldn’t say it’s a harsh ride in the slightest
14” to 17” Made no difference to my tacho either it’s always 10kms out ?

Ugh that rear defuser on that red 242 ?

jamesinc

@theinnerwestie welcome to the forums! Volvo did produce a pretty vast array of option alloys for the RWD cars, but many of them are hard to come by these days, and when you do, they normally require refurbishing, and as a result it's often cheaper to buy modern aftermarket wheels.

If it were me, I would go for a 16" 5-spoke with very simple lines, as it suits the look of the car. Wider spokes tend to look better on 240s than narrow spokes. 240s also reliably look great with dished wheels, but I find the modern flat-faced wheel look is hard to get right.

If you select a 17" or 18" wheel with a narrow sidewall tyre, expect an increase in ride harshness (if you are living in Sydney's inner west, this is definitely something to be mindful of :tongue:)

tony93

I should have a set Draco’s if I can fit my stock 240 wheels on the 740

theinnerwestie

Thanks for the welcome and the helpful advice - I do live in the inner west and I also ride a Ducati so I'm used to feeling every grain of asphalt. :p
@vo940 - thanks for the link to those wheels. Do you think they are they the same as on the yellow 2 door Levi posted. I would paint them black (or dark gunmetal) as well.

goodenough

theinnerwestie;c-145386 wroteThanks for the welcome and the helpful advice - I do live in the inner west and I also ride a Ducati so I'm used to feeling every grain of asphalt. :p
@vo940 - thanks for the link to those wheels. Do you think they are they the same as on the yellow 2 door Levi posted. I would paint them black (or dark gunmetal) as well.

That’s correct they are the same as that yellow car and they look really good a darker tone of grey. A bloke on here has done that to his Virgos 15x6.. The ones on eBay seem to be a reasonable price if the tyres are good and have all the centre caps. Also another type of Volvo wheel is the multi x which are 15x7 and look great on 240s

Edit: what James said some of these Volvo wheels are hard to find. The Virgo wheels on the yellow car are quite common however and look good.

Keep your eyes out for any 5x108 bolt pattern wheels and do some searching on gumtree, eBay and Facebook market place

theinnerwestie

vo940;c-145389 wroteThe ones on eBay seem to be a reasonable price if the tyres are good and have all the centre caps. Also another type of Volvo wheel is the multi x which are 15x7 and look great on 240s

Tyres need replacing as per the ad.

ljk346

These are the ones I got custom made by that guy in QLD

By the way 17x8 is to thicc for the front of 240s with stock struts. Should have got a 17x7.5 + 10 or something for the front.

morch_66479

17" BBS RS
9.5J rear & 8.5J front
I'd need to work out ET, i messed up big time and ended up running massive adapters to make them fit :/

heavy_dd

I have Virgos I'd sell

carnut222

The OE Volvo Polaris (difficult to find) suits 240s quite well - OE was 17 inch but replica ones are available (Eiker E1 - link here: https://www.bneshop.com/products/eiker-classic-e1) in 17 and 18 inch I believe. No spacers required. Pic below is our car with the Polaris ones on it (I bought them years ago and had them refurbished).

carnut222

Also ipd used to offer some replicas of the OE Volvo Pegasus wheel, but with offset to suit the RWD cars. Mark Richardson at VP Tuning may still have a set of black ones in stock? Not sure. Here's what they look like on a 240. Note both sets I have are 17 inch but I think they might have been available in 18 as well. ipd no longer sells them. Pics below are of our 91 240 with both the silver ("hyper silver") and black Pegasus replicas in 17 inch. As @jamesinc said the deeper dish wheels like the Polaris probably look better on the 240s but you take what you can get sometimes! :)

theinnerwestie

Thanks @carnut222, the pic with the black ones is exact;y what I'm looking for.

carnut222

With respect to the Virgos, which were common on the GLEs here in AUS (or GLTs or Turbos elsewhere in the world) they definitely suit 240s but as stated most will need refinishing. I have a set of Virgo replicas that I bought from ipd decades ago (no longer available) that I recently had powder coated in Dulux gunmetal kinetic pearl satin. I have yet to put them on a car, but likely will go on a yellow 245. Image below to give you an idea of what the Virgos look like in a darker colour. Note these ipd replicas have less of a deep dish than the original Virgos where the spokes meet the rim - in fact the general shape of these is closer to the common 740 wheel "Draco" but made to look like a Virgo. Trivia for you! :)