Tires for 15" wheels?

[B.Green]

Didn't give enough importance to wheel size when buying an 88 3.2 and ended up with a nice car with 15" Fuchs.

Tires (205/60/R15 Pirelli P6000) have long since given up their youth to the ozone. Any suggestions for 15's? Very few apparent options (would like to go to 225's). Pirelli and BFG G-Force offerings don't seem to get many good reviews as performance summer tires. Most ratings seem to come from small SUV and light truck owners.

I have searched this forum's in-depth tire threads but haven't come up with any 15 recommendations - probably because they are not... The recommendations I will likely get are to get a set of 16's...

Any help appreciated as I try and cut back on expenditures (new wheels) for now.

Thanks.

[giovanni86]

toyo?

[combatic]

B.Green it would be helpful if you post how you intend to use the tires and in what setting. For example, do you want a tire for commuting, high mileage, all season, track use, aggressive street use and are is your tire choice cost no object or are you on a budget? Do you want to maintain the original look and fitment or are you OK with lower profile tires and wider widths?

I will be curious to see what people say b/c 15" fuchs are getting harder and harder to put rubber on especially if want something high performance (aggressive street/track and at a reasonable price)

[CharlesJones]

I had the same problem trying to find tyres for the 15 inch wheels on my 3.2. I wanted to stay with the stock sizes of 195/65 front and 215/60 rear, and also have a matching brand/model of tyre all round. After researching it I only found 3 options with a speed rating of V or higher, which were:

Pirelli P6000
Goodyear Eagle NCT
Hankook Option K415

I went for the Hankooks but found they aren't very good for a 911. They grip the road well but the sidewalls are just too soft, and they feel too bouncy on hard cornering. What's worse is that they give a vague floaty sensation if you change direction quickly, which I think is the tyre walls bending.

I think next time I will try the P6000s. Not exactly the state of the art, but probably the best tyre available in stock sizes. If you go for different profiles to the stock sizes you will probably have more options. I didn't want to do that because I think 50's or 55's on 15 inch wheels look too small on a road car.

Sadly to get the choice of the best performance tyres it looks like the only option is to upgrade to 16 or 17 inch wheels. It's a real pain, since the price of original 16 inch fuchs is getting rediculous nowadays.

[racer]

ANY 60+ series tire will feel "floaty".. Thats the point of the 60+ series.. to smooth out the ride. Porsche made the 16" wheels (and the 50 series tires) optional because they are the "performance" tire upgrade.


I've been looking for 15" for my 944. The 944 runs 215/60 all around so I don't worry about stagger, but doesn't Continental or Michelin make tires that also fit in the sizes you need?

16's aren't the answer either, given the limited supply of choices (205-55, 225-50 or, 245-45. Skipping to 17's works, but that also means "heavy" aftermarket wheels or expensive 17" modern "fuch" wheels.

Back when I tracked my SC, on 15's, I ran 205-50 front and 225-50 rear. Yes they were "short", but overall they didn't ride that bad and also aided acceleration (lower circumference). You can also get 225-45's these days as well.

[Porchcar guy]

225/50/15 Kumho on tire rack @ $69.00 per. I have had Kumho's on 3 different performance vehicles and got great wear, sticky and quiet use.

[db_cooper]

For a DD..

Yokohama Avid H4

P215/60 R15 rear
P195/65 R15 front

Not a real choice for track..very good for over the road tires.

Overall dimensions very close to OEM fit.

[B.Green]

Thanks for all of the replies. Be assured I will look into all of the suggestions - more the better as others will benefit from searching this thread for 15"

combatic, sorry I didn't give better details. Prefer the best street / limited track performance I can get and would pay for a premium tire to avoid the outlay for 16" wheels + tires. High mileage not a requirement as the car will be driven. Prefer wider than stock. Would decide on overall diameter - my desires for a more performance tire may be inconsistent with moderate long distance road trips.

CharlesJones, thanks for your input. I certainly am not happy with the Pirelli P6000 on the car but I am not sure that is fair based on their age (not tread wear). I would probably lean this direction if it weren't for so much negative feedback I have seen on sites like Tire Rack.

racer, thanks to you too. I belive I saw Cont and Michelin offerings but they were under heading of "All Weather/Utility" if I recall. I will look again.

porchcar guy and db_cooper, will look at your suggestions. THANKS

[aualexa2]

B.green, I've got a set of 7 and 8 x 15" as well, and I'm also looking for tires. You mention that BFG g-force sports don't get good reviews, but I think I've seen some pretty positive ones when I was searching the old posts. I think I'll prob. be going with the BFGs 205/55/15 front and 225/50/15 rear.

[OttawaDave]

For 15", the pickings are definitely slim. I opted for Toyo T1Rs, and I'm pretty happy with them so far. I drive my car mostly on the street, but have about 6 or 7 autocrosses on the tires, plus one lapping day (over the course of the last 2 summers). The tires don't have the stiffest sidewalls, so I'm finding that autocross is pretty hard on the shoulder treads. I'll likely replace them next spring/summer, which is about what I expected. Tread-wear rating is 280 on these tires.

I thought about trying to stick with the original sizes, but was unhappy with the selection of matching 195/65; 215/60 rubber. The sizes I went with on the T1Rs were 205/55 and 225/50. The shorter tire makes for shorter gearing, which is slightly annoying on a long highway trip where I'm turning 3400 rpm doing 120 km/h, but for autocross, it is helpful. The 55/50 stagger makes for matching front and rear rolling circumference and looks decent in my opinion. Some say that 205/50 on the front looks just too short. Lastly, the smaller size introduces a speedo error - I'm about 10 km/h slower than indicated.

This is a good shot of the tires, but the suspension is fully loaded up front, so it might not give you a good idea of how the front tire fills out the wheel well.


This picture is pretty grainy, but shows both front and rear profiles well, as the car sits.

[msterling]

I also have 7&8x15 Fuchs on my Carrera. I spent forever shopping for a set of tires. I bought Yokohama AVS ES100 in 205/55-15 and 225/50-15. They are great on the street and OK for Autocross. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure that one of those sizes is now NLA. The Goodrich G-Force is about it.

I may be biting the bullet and getting 17" wheels for my next set of tires? There are some nice Fuchs replicas available in 17".

You can get the 195/60-15 in the AVS ES100 but not the 205/55-15. Go figure. Also the Toyo T1R seems to have deleted the 225/50-15 size. Maybe some old ones are in stock somewhere.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by racer

ANY 60+ series tire will feel "floaty".. Thats the point of the 60+ series.. to smooth out the ride. Porsche made the 16" wheels (and the 50 series tires) optional because they are the "performance" tire upgrade.

This is the truth, nailed it.

I had 50 series Yokohama summer tires on for a few years, looked like golf cart tires but they stuck like glue.

Switched to 60 series Goodyear (made in USA) All-Season tires and don't trust the car to do half of the stupid (fun) stuff I used to do. They look pretty, but a definitely downgrade performance wise.

[Techne]

I ran the G-force Goodyears on my 914 daily driver and liked them.

[regency]

I like my G-force Goodyears.

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

[B.Green]

OttawaDave,
Thanks for your input. I have more work to do to investigate all the help, but it looks like my choice is between tall sidewalls/roll and turning another 500 rpm in cruise. Based on the ratio of street/highway to track, I'll admit I am hesitant.

BTW, nice shot of your car. I have white Carrera lust, but my elderly dad's dream (who I blame for this madness) was silver.

It is looking like you are lowered. If you saw my picture, you can see mine looks like an off road ride height. I have to address this too. Care to offer up your hub to fender lip dimensions? Looks right.

What a great site for meeting helpful folks...

[PcarPhil]

I've got a brand new pair of unmounted 225/50R15 Toyo T1R tires with year 2010 date codes available for sale if anyone needs them. Just let me know!

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by racer

ANY 60+ series tire will feel "floaty".. Thats the point of the 60+ series.. to smooth out the ride. Porsche made the 16" wheels (and the 50 series tires) optional because they are the "performance" tire upgrade.


I've been looking for 15" for my 944. The 944 runs 215/60 all around so I don't worry about stagger, but doesn't Continental or Michelin make tires that also fit in the sizes you need?

16's aren't the answer either, given the limited supply of choices (205-55, 225-50 or, 245-45. Skipping to 17's works, but that also means "heavy" aftermarket wheels or expensive 17" modern "fuch" wheels.

Back when I tracked my SC, on 15's, I ran 205-50 front and 225-50 rear. Yes they were "short", but overall they didn't ride that bad and also aided acceleration (lower circumference). You can also get 225-45's these days as well.

Yep, my Carrera has 7&8X15s and with the 60s is a much smoother ride than my 16s & 17s and on my 944, I have run 225/50/15s no problem, try that..

[Drisump]

Originally Posted by aualexa2

B.green, I've got a set of 7 and 8 x 15" as well, and I'm also looking for tires. You mention that BFG g-force sports don't get good reviews, but I think I've seen some pretty positive ones when I was searching the old posts. I think I'll prob. be going with the BFGs 205/55/15 front and 225/50/15 rear.

I've had the G-Force sports on 15's for three seasons now and although the rears are nearing the end, (12k) the performance still seems better than the Dunlops I bought the car with. I have to say that I've been very satisfied with them, I've gone to a few driving events over those seasons and they do well and seem to give you plenty of warning at the adhesion limit. I would've bought a dedicated summer performance tire from more expensive make.....but none were available. Good luck in your search

[FJ40runr]

I'm trying to decide what to do with my car wheel and tire-wise, there seem to be options whether you go with 15s, 16s, or 17s. I think my next set will be 17s with 225/50 fronts and 255/40 rears because I want the extra width (as well as tire flexibility). If I were trying to do 15s I would definitely go with a 205/50 front and 225/45 RS-3 and deal with the fact that they are nearly an inch shorter in radius because they are very good tires, and anything larger in diameter seems to be impossible to come by in a proper tire.

It seems this community often overlooks the fact that there are certain sizes in tires that offer street tires that are heads and shoulders above the avg. street (or even 'performance') tire; basically sizes marketed to autocrossers and track people. One of the greatest upgrades can be going from a normal tire to one of the latest autox tires, totally changes the limits(/fun) of the car.

I like this calc as a quick reference for tire sizes: Tire size calculator

Also, I think it is misleading to say "x" aspect ratio tire is floaty or softer because it's a function of the width of the tire.

[combatic]

OK, so B.Green's your original question of what tires to replace your 205/60R15's with aligns with what I am trying to fit on my 1969T with 15x6 deep Fuchs so instead of sleeping last night I started to compile a spread sheet with info mostly from tire rack. This google doc is editable so if others have 15x6" tire solutions please feel free to add.

Please note- The criteria I used is for summer only street/track use so I only placed tires that fit that criteria. Snow tires, 16"/17"18" tires, DOT R compound, truck tires, and low speed donuts can be compiled on some other list by someone else

Hope this helps out.

Spreadsheet- Tire Options 15x6" Fuchs (1969 911T OEM tire size 185/70R15)