GEZROKET UPDATE #1: Tires and Wheels

As I'm starting a new job this week, I found out that I'd have to go out of town, for some training, a week earlier than I'd previously been told.  The old Discount Tire house brand radial tires on the GEZROKET, my Oldsmobile 98 Regency Elite II sedan, were starting to weather check and crack.  The current tires were installed in May 2014 and had less than 6,000 miles on them.  However the date check on them was March 2012, so they had been in Discount Tire's warehouse for 26 months before Mrs. Blaney had purchased them.  So, it was prudent to change them.  NOW.

I had to make a decision:  Either replace the P-205/70-R-15 tires and use the factory Motor Wheel 15" X 6" mags or upgrade to something slightly larger.    I could replace these with P-205/70-R15 Michelin Defenders which had tall sidewalls and tended to wallow in turn in or step up to the optional "+1" size of 16" x 7" wheels with P-215/60-R16 Michelin Defender radial tires.

With Susan's blessings, I added a used set of factory 16" x 7" wheels from a 1996 Cadillac Sedan de Ville and P-215/60-R16-95T Michelin Defender Tires, to the GEZROKET.  The wheels had been on my long time neighbor's 1996 Sedan de Ville, but after her death, her son purchased a different set of wheels for the car that he'd inherited her car, upon her death.  Two of the wheels have damaged/discolored clear coating that will need to be removed (sanded off) and re-coated.

 With the addition of these wheels, it takes on a slightly different look.  

The Caddy wheels and Michelin Tires are actually .15" smaller in diameter and about .6" wider, but the tire side walls are shorter, giving a little bit stiffer ride, and much better turn in.  The ride is still on the soft side, but it no longer floats down the highway.  My wife noticed this within the first 3 miles of her riding in it, with the new tires and wheels.  Despite tire width of only (just under) 8.5," the fit of the tires in the rear wheel wells is quite tight.  Fortunately, they do not rub, either with passengers in the rear or during quick cornering.