TheSamba.com :: View topic - ORIGINAL Wheel & Tire Size for a 1972 Super Beetle (4-lu

Sat May 12, 2007 5:54 am

Anyone know the ORIGINAL Wheel & Tire Size for a 1972 Super Beetle (4-lug) Radial?

Thanks!
Need to put an original wheel in the trunk....

Bart
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Sat May 12, 2007 5:58 am

The car had a 15x4.5" slotted steel wheel and a 6.00 x 15 bias ply tire. Radials were options on the aftermarket or accessories. A common 165R15 / 165SR15 / 165/80R15 will work fine.

Sat May 12, 2007 6:04 am

The factory wheel and tire size changed mid-year 1972.

Before March 1972:
Wheel size : 4Jx15 40mm offset
Tire Size : 5.60x15 (155SR15 radial)

After March 1972:
Wheel size : 4½Jx15 34mm offset
Tire size : 6.00x15 (165SR15 radial)

Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:38 pm

I own a 1972 Super Beetle built on May 11. 1972 for the German market. It came with 4.5 J X 15 wheels and 560-15 bias ply tires. If you got radial tires they would have been 155-80R15 (155-SR15). The spare in the front is from 1972 and is a 560-15 bias ply tire.

I bought new 5.5 J X 15 wheels from Summit Racing and will likely put 165/80R15 tires on the new steel wheels; speedometer will read about 2.4% slower.

The tires that are on the OEM wheels now are Toyo 155SR15 and are from 2010 installed in 2012 when it came out of a 38 year sleep.

Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:01 am

I just replaced all the tires on my stock 1927 Super Beetle...

It had Nexen and Nankang 165/80R15s on the original 4.5 J X 15 wheels...and a made in 1974 5.60-15 Continental tire on the spare (same wheel) (fit well in the spare tire location).

I took the wheels off to try both the Nexen and Nankang tires in the spare location to see if they fit. Neither did. One of them (I think it was the Nexen) "fit" if I let most of the air out of it, but it was really hard to get back out.

I ended up buying four new Nexen 165/80R15s for the regular wheels and a BF Goodrich 155/80R15 for the spare.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=...ADTARWL2V2

The spare fits perfect.

To my pleasant surprise, the Nexens I received were made in Korea.

Everything was purchased from Discount Tire. They don't show the Nexens on their website, but they were able to order them. Prices were all fair, service was fantastic.

Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:40 pm

An update regarding the wheels I bought from Summit. All of them came in USWheel boxes. Three of the wheels had no hump on the side of the wheel that faces out. The hump is mandated per NHTSA regulations and by the SAE. It is designed to prevent the tire from falling into the center well in the wheel due to hard cornering or when the tire fails. There was none of the mandated information stamped in the rim like size or dimensions of the wheel, country of origin, manufacturing date, serial number, part number, etc.. The fourth wheel was made in China but appeared to meet all of the requirements of the NHTSA, except the run-out was greater than 0.5mm. This is a Volkswagen requirement. I have returned all of the wheels.
So here is a fair warning. Be aware of the requirements for wheels used on cars driven on the highway. There are certain minimum standards and it seems there are many that even if manufactured in the USA, do not meet the standards. Compare the new wheels you purchase to the OEM wheels. The hump on the OEM wheel is very noticeable, so much so that you can see it on the outside as a noticeable groove in the surface of the rim.
I am replacing the tires that are on the car now with 155/80R15 because I want a spare that will fit into the spare wheel well. I considered a compact spare but I couldn't find a compact spare wheel with the correct bolt pattern (4X130).
I am going to have the OEM wheels media blasted and then paint them with catalyzed paint. The side facing out I will paint with the "chrome-like" paint I purchased from Wolfsburg West. My OEM wheels are black every where except for the outward facing part of the wheels. The area under the hub caps is black also.

Sun May 23, 2021 8:14 am

Can you show a picture of the hump that you are talking about on the wheels. I want to get some 8 spokes and want to make sure that they are safe.