low profile tires...

[kevinseven]

I've seen 195/50/15's on a 914 and I used to have a '74 that would let me run 205/60/15's...but I'm not sure why you can't run 205/50's. Is there some mystery about wheel offsets or ride quality that keep people from doing this.

As far as rolling circumference goes, does anyone know what happens if you put some 16's or 17's in place of the stock wheels, that is after a 911 suspension upgrade of course.

I'm trying to get a game plan on a wheel/tire/brakes/suspension upgrade.

[MJHanna]

I run 205/50/15 on factory Fuchs with no problems, However, each car is a little different in the rear. The front is never the problem it’s the rear that might give you a problem

[mike mueller]

I've seen the 205/50-15 on the 914's.
In fact Dave D might be running that size on his 74 on factory 4-bolt fuchs.
The 205's should ride a tad bit better than the 195's due to an increase in sidewall height. I've heard that on some 914's running the riverera's (sp) the offset is such that it moves the rim/tires closer to the fenders and 205's might be too wide and you'll have rubbing.

Rolling circum. all depends on the tires and the aspect ratio. It really has nothing to do with the size of the rim, to a certain degree.
I was running 205/60-15's on my old mahles and I liked the overall gearing I had so when I switched to 16" rims I looked for tires that where close to the same O.D.
205/55/16(f) and 225/50/16(r). Since the dia. are almost the same, my gearing is the same, I just have less sidewall flex due to the lower profile tires.

------------------
Mike Mueller
Antioch, CA
1970 1.8

[oredith]

Dave's running on 195/50 r15's like i am.. it's got more jump than the stock radius, but driving on the freeway at 4 grand gets old (or at least at my speed, it's 4k) 205/50's should fit fine, i've seen plenty of them with that, but it *might* be because they've got a 1-2 degree camber in the back.. my car wasn't cambered at all, and i couldn't fit anything bigger than 165's on a set of rivieras.

good luck with your choice..

ps. i'm going to be getting rid of my set of Mahle's with 195/50's on them.. LOTS of thread left still..

Jeff

[7391417]

To fit 205's you need to have a 5.5" wide wheel, the 4-lug fuchs and the mahles are this while steel wheels and Rivieras are only 5" wide. The problem with Rivieras is that they are definately a VW wheel, while the bolt patterns may be the same the 914 and Bug have different offsets. So you cant fit a 205 on a Riviera because the wheel is not wide enough and the offset is wrong. I know a lot of people like their Rivieras and I have seen some nice ones, but personaly I would invest in some used 4-lug (2.0L) fuchs with 205 wide rubber hugging the ground, but to each their own right (The important thing is that YOU! like the way your car looks!)

-Brent

[Baloo914]

Tire sizing explained....

195/60/15...
195=millimeter width of tread
60=percentage of width that the tire is tall
15=15 inch rims...

so a 205/50/15 is 102.5 mm from bead to tread.. while a 195/60/15 is 117 mm tall... you get the by multiplying the width by the series... 205 x .50 = 102.5

To go to the next size rim would mean that you would need a tire that is one inch shorter (about 25 mm)... so by dropping one series of tire... from a 195/60/15 to a 195/50/16 you would be within 5 mm... not noticable to the eye, but will skew the speedometer a little bit...

As always, this is to the best of my understanding, and is not to be considered fact or by any means permissable in a court of law... :-)

Later

[iustasail]

going up an inch in wheel size increases the radius by 1/2 an inch or(12.5 mm) right?, so 195*.60=117mm, 195*.50=97.5mm,117 - 97.5 = 19.5 mm diference in tire hight, 19.5 - 12.5 = 7mm so the 195/50/16 will be 7mm shorter than the 195/60/15. Thus a 195/53.59/16 would have the exact same roll out as an equivalant 195/60/15 right ?

guess you have to settle for a 195/55/16 at 2.75mm taller

or a 195/50/16 at 7mm shorter

[turbo2.0]

I have 195-60-15's mounted on Riviera's on my car. i will soon be replacing them with four bolt fuchs, but my current tires do not rub. Of course, the camber is such that the tires are almost horizontal. BTW I will be letting the rivieras go for a very reasonable price soon. Sorry. It just slipped.

[Germain]

Theres this thing called Static Loaded Radius. If your really concerned about how high the car will sit, or how tall the tire is, this is the only accurate measurement. It is the height from the ground to the center of the rim with weight applied to it. Beleive me, COMP T/A can change from 10.9" to 12" in the same style tire. After you have that measurement, you can then add the other half of the rim and the height of the sidewall to get total height. If you want to get BF Goodrich specs, or see the differance in these tire measurements, goto www.bfgoodrichtires.com.