Tires: Will these tires work?, snow tires, saturn sl2

Question
QUESTION: I have a 1999 saturn sl2, its tires are 185/65 R15...I have a set of snow tires from another car whose size is 195/65 R14.  I was wondering if I could put these snow tires on my Saturn without damaging anything?

Thanks,
Scott

ANSWER: Scott,

First 14" tires do not fit on 15" rims.  That would mean you would need to change rims.

Second, this would be going down in load carrying capacity and that icreases the risk of an overloaded tire failure - which sometimes has tragic results.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sorry I forgot to mention that I already have the rims...with the snow tires...and they seem to be universal bolt holes in the rims...

how much difference in load carrying capacity would there be?  if this was your choice (and money was tight) what would you do?  The car is mainly used for in town driving..but it is my wifes so I don't want anything to happen to her...obviously.

Answer
Scott,

I really can't tell you to worsen the risk your wife would be taking.  There's already a risk just getting in the car - and even though the risk of using the 14" tires is relatively low - I can not in good conscience tell to to make it worse.

But I can tell you that you can reduce the risk by paying extra careful attention to inflation and rub the tread surface of the tires about once a month.  you would be looking for a bulge.