Wheel Sizes

[barks944]

The time has come to changes the tyres on my 83 lux, I have measured the wheel widths and they are 8 inch x 15 inch on all four corners. I was expecting a difference between front/rear, the tyres are 195 front and 215 rear. I found this web page:

http://www.cantonia.com/wheel_offset.html

It seems like the lux came with either 7 inch front/rear or 7 inch front and 8 inch rear. Strangely with 7 inch front and 8 inch rear they list the same tyre size.

I think the 195's are a bit small for an 8 inch rim and 215's are pretty rare now. I am thinking of putting 205's front and rear, any thoughts on wether this is a good setup and if the wheels are the correct width for the car?

 

[944 man]

The information in the link above isnt accurate unfortunately. The cars came with 7" rims all round (ATS Cookie Cutters). Fuchs wheels were an option: 16" in diamater but still 7" wide. 185-70-15 was the very early tyre fitment, but this was quickly superceded by 215-60-15. The Fuchs wheels wore 205-55-16s. 195-65-15 is a Porsche approved size (although it was for later cars), but four similar wheels should always carry four similar sizes. 195 fronts and 215 rears isnt an approved fitment and itll upset the cars handling. What wheels do you have?

 

[barks944]

Just got home and measured the wheels and it turns out they are in fact 7" (Cookie cutters). 195 all round it is then! Thanks for the info 944 man.

 

[Hilux]

Where did you measure the wheel width?

 

[Mike_Pollock]

My 83 lux has 7" Cookies and I run Khumo KH15 215/60 v 15 all round

[link]http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy158/A9XXC/IMGP0706.jpg[/link] ]Mike

 

[barks944]

Thanks Hilux, they are deffo 7" rims then. A9xxC how do you find those tyres? Have you tried out any others?

 

[944 man]

You dont need to measure them Paul, itll be written on them, along with the offset - added to which ATS Cookie Cutters were only available in 6" and 7": and the 6"s were only fitted to the front of some poverty spec 1970s 911s, and are now very rare. Id go for 215-60-15s over 195s every time. Toyo and Falken both supply tyres in that size, as well as Khumo and others.

 

[Mike_Pollock]

I looked for tyres on the web - I hadn't found the forum at that stage. The tyres are a major improvement over the 215/55 Goodyears that were fitted and a couple of older tyres I tried. However I'm no expert and my car still needs the alignment sorting! Mike

 

[barks944]

Any issues with the 215 tyres for steering, my car is also has a manual steering rack. Its pretty easy to manouver on 195's.

 

[944 man]

I lost a belt with 235s fitted to the front. It was a little harder doing three point turns but on the road it was little different. Cars without PAS came with 215s from new, so Porsche didnt see it as a major obstacle. I removed a comment Id made about 195s in my first post - which said that they were crap... This opinion was based on a 2.7 which I bought last year, which seemed to drive poorly on 195s. On reflection this could be a combinaton of my moving from a car with 235 fronts, to the 195s on a car which had completely different geo. settings. It felt very light at the front and almost as though it wanted to 'fall' into corners. Casting my mind back a little further I bought a 944 from an OPC on which theyd fitted 4x new Continental 195s, and that drove quite well. 205s certainly provide enough 'tyre', and they handle 280+ bhp in my Impreza perfectly well, so if theres more choice in this size then theres no practical reason why you shouldnt fit them. Toyo T1-Rs are available in 15" sizes here. I might consider the 225. Itll look quite wide on the 7" rim, but not as wide as a 235 or 245 on a 7.5" Cup wheel: and this is common on the racers. Simon

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: 944 man It felt very light at the front and almost as though it wanted to 'fall' into corners. Simon

Sounds like plenty of toe in.

 

[Mike_Pollock]

I dont have power steering either but dont find it a problem. It is certainly heavy by modern standards but ok. Mike

 

[Pastry]

Dunlop sp fastresponse 195s are pretty good, £55 a corner, ive done 6000 miles on them with no problems. Great wet or dry no scary moments at all. Ive got 16" cup ones (8J rears) with 205/225 on and they were awful so i swapped back until I decide wether to go for new tyres or stick with the teles. The cups look better but the teles handle better. 195s on 7J rims do sit in quite a bit so cosmetically you may want to go fatter.