7.5" rims...

Frank B · 02-01-2003, 10:35 AM

What is the widest tire I can have installed on a 7.5" rim?..

I have 215/60/R15 all around.... for somereason I have been able to get sideways wet or dry.. wet is way easier.. should I go low/pro in the front and stay at 60 for height in the rear?.. someone with experience please advise, this is critical.

Frank B

scottmandue · 02-01-2003, 11:00 AM

Anyone know the width of stock cookie cutters on a 1984? That's what I got.

Frank, I am running 215's front 225's back and if I had to do it again I would go 225's all around. I would be able to rotate the tires and the front squeels a little when I charge into a corner hard but the back stays put unless I do something stupid.

Haveing said all that... I dream of 16" or 17" wheels with 225's front and 245's back.

So many dreams, so little money...

Frank B · 02-01-2003, 11:14 AM

wow, scott your a regular Rembrandt with the words.
THanks for the Advice..

THe 215's I'm running now are sucky. They SUCK in the snow and they suck even more in the rain. Dry isn't so bad but it should have wider tires on it. The suggested tire, "inside of fuel intake says 215/50 R15... that size sucks..

very~worn~944 · very~worn~944's Garage

Hey, my stock cookie cutters on my 83 have 225 pirrelis all around. I liked that setup alot. My new 951 has 17" beautiful rims with 235's in front, and 255's in rear. They are HUGE! Also the car is a bit lower than stock. Lets just say that I am running an interferance fender...like the engine both parts try to occupy the same spot. They don't rub unless i try and make em...but some fender rolling is in order. Sorry...not much help.

Frank B · 02-03-2003, 08:15 PM

My bad, it says 215/60/R15

I'm a doofus

Frank B · 02-03-2003, 08:18 PM

255's?.. whew.. wide babies eh?... I'd love to go wide in the rear and at least 225 in the front. I do drive aggressively, and defensively as well, but, I do enjoy driving the car in a way that excites me. So, I' was wondering how wide I could actually go with the 7.5" rims...

Frank B

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Frank, on my car, I have 16x7's front, 16x8's rear. On the front, I fit 225/50/16's no problem. On the rear, I have 245/45/16's and still no problem.
On a 7.5, you can probably go up to a 235 width wheel. But that's just my guess.

Best bet is to call some tire places and see what they offer.

rob83944 · 02-04-2003, 05:42 AM

Original Cookie Cutter rims are 7X15. I have been refinishing mine without tires mounted and double checked the width.

ilikemy944 · 02-05-2003, 08:32 AM

I have 15x7 wheels, and used to have the 215/50 15s installed.
Last time I needed tires, I went as wide as possible

The tires I'm running now are 225/50 15 Toyo Proxes. They are a little smaller in diameter and throw the speedo off a few mph, but they are definately much better than any of the 215/60 15s I have tried.

Frank B · 02-05-2003, 07:31 PM

Hmm...
Zman, I have spoken with several Tire gurus, all have different opinions. I'm thinkin that a 225 is a good starting point, but a 225/60 wuold be too high, how much would a 225/50 affect the speedo?.. maybe 2 3 mph at most?....I've looked into what would be available and some of the sizes don't quite match up. So, I think I may go 225/50 front and 235 50 rear... that should be a close match up to a 215/60. And I've checked the rims (phone dials) they are 7.5" outside to outside so inside would be a about a 7" rim.. so a 235 should work... any other advice would be greatly appreciated..

Frank B

ilikemy944 · 02-05-2003, 07:37 PM

I personally think a 235 would be too big, I had the tire shop debate over the 225 fitting or not.
I think it affected the speedo about 3 or 4 mph, not much, just know the difference is there.
If you want me to take a pic of the wheel with the 225 installed I will, so you can see the way it sticks out over the wheel...

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Frank: If the rims you have are Porsche rims, they should have numbers stamped on them. So you should see something like this: 15x7.5 ET23.2 (15 inch diameter, 7.5 inches wide, with an offset of 23.2 mm)

IF it says 15x7, then a 225/50 15 tire should fit no problem, but you won't be able to fit anything bigger than that. On my 944S2, I went from a 205/55 16 front tire to a 225/50 16, and it helped tame the understeer our cars exhibit.

If your wheel says 15x7.5, then like I said, I'm guessing that a 235/45 tire would probably fit. But I'm not sure. Call Eurotire in NJ: 800-631-0080: they know what will fit.

Hope that clears things up what I said before,
-Zoltan.

Frank B · 02-07-2003, 08:35 AM

where is this stamping z-man... and yes I have phone dials.. they measure 7.5 using the rim measuring tool..but where is this stamped designation?..

Frank B · 02-07-2003, 08:36 AM

ILIKEMY944 yeah post a pic I wanna see what the dif is.... thanks....

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank B
where is this stamping z-man... and yes I have phone dials.. they measure 7.5 using the rim measuring tool..but where is this stamped designation?..

Not sure where they are on the phone dials, but one the 968 wheels I have, they are on the outside edge between two of the rims. Same on my D-90's. I know on the 951 Cup wheels, they are on the back (inside) of one of the spokes.
-Zoltan.

JRMock · 02-07-2003, 10:07 AM

Most of the ladies and gentlemen running the 944Cup had 225/45-15 Hoosier's, and the rest of us had 225/50-15 Goodyear's or Khumo's. These are DOT racing tires mounted on the cookie cutter wheels.

A bulge in the sidewall is not noticable with the 225/50 tires, but is a little noticable with the 225/45 tires.

You should be able to find a wide varity of high performance tires in the 225/50 15 size.

Good Luck

Roger Hall · 02-07-2003, 07:47 PM

Did they make 14 inch cookie cutters?

Eduardo Castrejón Elbjorn · 02-08-2003, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Did they make 14 inch cookie cutters?

I not completely sure, but my answer is no

About the wheel sizes

205 correct size for 7", can handles the 215 but 225 is to much

If we have 7" wheels and we use the car for street and daily driver, my choice will be 205-60-15
I recently bought wheels for my 7" wheels, I use to have pirelli 215-60-15 but this tire need more wheel, then 225 thats is for 8" wheels will be too much for the 7"

I believe that if you want more wheel for more grip or only by the look, the best that you can do is buy wider wheels and use the correct size. and a reason to go to 16" (better tires designs)

the new tires are better than the desing of 17 years ago.
The 944 handling is great, I believe that for na with 4 7" wheels with good quality tires will be more than enough and in good hands, wow. But if you race is another story

note if you will buy wheels of more than 8" goes to 16", I have a lot of problems for my fuchs of 9x15, the tires are very expensive and only bridgestone and goodrich make the tire.