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Thu Nov 06, 2008 3:21 pm

Lots of great bajas out there.
What size tires are the norm for the street?
Would a 235 75 15 Goodyear wrangler be ok on all 4 corners?
Something a bit taller perhaps on the rear?
My 66 currently has 70 series street radials but I want the ability to go off road when the mood strikes. Just cant do it with cruiser tires.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:37 pm

i run that size on the back with some bfg replica tires and and smoother thread in the front same size though. the back do seem bigger

Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:52 pm

I,m running 7.00's on the front and 31 x 10.50's on the rear. I have allways liked how that combo looks.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:53 pm

Go big or go home!! I'm running 33's!!

Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:00 pm

Mike Walters wrote: Lots of great bajas out there.
What size tires are the norm for the street?
Would a 235 75 15 Goodyear wrangler be ok on all 4 corners?
Something a bit taller perhaps on the rear?
My 66 currently has 70 series street radials but I want the ability to go off road when the mood strikes. Just cant do it with cruiser tires.

Are you lifted at all? Let's see a pic of what you have. Baja's need big tires. It's the law...

Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:05 pm

OK! Forgot about my F/G Buggy...7.00's & 33's.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:44 pm

On the rear of most off-road VWs we mess with,, we keep the tire height at 31 inches....

It's a gearing thing actually. The taller the tire, the higher the overall gearing.

No matter what you do,, (or buy) VW's don't have a lot of torque. If you run too tall of a tire,, you are costing yourself existing torque.

It's like paying credit card interest on your engine ...

On the front,, always do the least necessary to get the job done...

The front tires don't do anything for you on a VW other than turn and steer.

Put a good tire up there,, but not a big one !

If you need big tires on front for ground clearance,, you have the wrong set-up.

If you like big tires up front for appearance,,, well then,,, never mind ...

Thanks
b

Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:48 pm

31's out back and 7's up front.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:14 pm

williamdenson wrote: On the rear of most off-road VWs we mess with,, we keep the tire height at 31 inches....

It's a gearing thing actually. The taller the tire, the higher the overall gearing.

No matter what you do,, (or buy) VW's don't have a lot of torque. If you run too tall of a tire,, you are costing yourself existing torque.

It's like paying credit card interest on your engine ...

On the front,, always do the least necessary to get the job done...

The front tires don't do anything for you on a VW other than turn and steer.

Put a good tire up there,, but not a big one !

If you need big tires on front for ground clearance,, you have the wrong set-up.

If you like big tires up front for appearance,,, well then,,, never mind ...

Thanks
b

I'm not sure I understand you. Do you mean wide or tall when you say big? A tall tire will offer more ground clearance. I say take all you can.

In dirt and rock I'd go tall. In sand I'd go wide.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:18 pm

215-70's on the front, 30x9.50 on the back. Running a stock 1600 dp, so when I went to the taller tires on the back it cost me some get up and go. I've also noticed the bigger fronts make the car drift a little at speed. Just my .02 worth.....

Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:25 pm

notsofastEddie wrote: 215-70's on the front, 30x9.50 on the back. Running a stock 1600 dp, so when I went to the taller tires on the back it cost me some get up and go. I've also noticed the bigger fronts make the car drift a little at speed. Just my .02 worth.....

I'm running 30x9.5's on the back with a stock 1600dp too. I can still do 70-75mph down the freeway. Many say that going to 31's kill it, but I may try them next. I have 7.00x15's up front. They are tall, not wide and do fine on the freeway and in the dirt.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:37 pm

Mike Walters wrote: Just cant do it with cruiser tires.

Why not? I do, with BFG Traction T/A's on all four corners. So do plenty of SCCA Rallycross drivers. For some reason, I still can't get the rear end to spin out in the dirt when I want it to...

That aside, I agree with the tall, narrow fronts and wide grippy rear tires. It sounds like you just want an occasional offroader, so I would go for something cheaper and harder compound, like BFG All Terrain's.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:44 pm

i run 31-11.50 on rear and dont have a problem spiining in the dirt at will. Maybe it is the 2387 i run for power lol.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:14 pm

Lotrat wrote:

I'm running 30x9.5's on the back with a stock 1600dp too. .

X3, but I have a single port and redux boxes. My next set will be bigger. :twisted:

Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:43 pm

235/75/15 on the back. The taller tire really helps to use the bug's low torque peak. On the front I got 205/70/14 but I have 15 rims to get it up. Probably some 215s. We have a rail at work with them upfront and 31/11.5 on the back and it looks great plus rides great on the road and beach.

Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:44 am

Lotrat wrote: notsofastEddie wrote: 215-70's on the front, 30x9.50 on the back. Running a stock 1600 dp, so when I went to the taller tires on the back it cost me some get up and go. I've also noticed the bigger fronts make the car drift a little at speed. Just my .02 worth.....

I'm running 30x9.5's on the back with a stock 1600dp too. I can still do 70-75mph down the freeway. Many say that going to 31's kill it, but I may try them next. I have 7.00x15's up front. They are tall, not wide and do fine on the freeway and in the dirt.

Are the 7.00-15 Bias or radial? I'm having trouble finding them locally!
Thanks

Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:35 am

How can you tell, without a picture, which tires are mud-hole types and which are just all terrain LT tires? I search for some used muddersand get alot of used suv weather tires....

Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:42 am

KJMac
All of the 700 15 tires I have seen are bias ply construction.

xirxious
If the tire is a LT with a metric size (235, 75) then it most likely is a SUV, all weather style tire. The tires that go by the old system (30, 9.50) have a better chance of being a mud/sand tire.

Ebay is a great place to look up tire photos on if you have a name or size. Sometimes you can find used tires on ebay at a fir price.

Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:52 pm

I just got some BF goodrich At's 30 x 9.5 for the rear which i like. Interesting that they are about 1.5 inches taller than my Armstrong Nordtstoms 30.5 were.
any way i have some 215/75's Primewelts (i guess thats the brand name) on the front. When i went to get fronts seemed the only thing local, were tires like this made typically for small suv's. I cant remember my original front tires but i do know they were a true 6 ply sidewall where i was told that now all most places sell are 4 ply rated at 6 ply?? Anyway these front tire sidewalls are definitely not as stiff as i would like or should i say they dont seem to be stiff on the sides at all. I think i might change to the BF's at some point on the front. or the 7.00 15's i see advertised in the magazines that look closer to the kind of tire in had in the front originally
heres the old

and the new

by the way my original fronts showed absolutely no wear after 50K miles
i replaced them only cause after sitting unused for about 15 years they were cracking.

Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:12 pm

I poured over tons of posts to figure out what I wanted. Everyone likes to post what they are running, not much help unless we have the same setup. Everyone's ride is different. Ball Joint, Link, longer beams, longer trailing arms, IRS, swing, stock height, cut&turn, re-indexed rear, lifted spindles, 2x2's, 3x3's, body lifts, baja fenders, full fenders, and rim sizes all need to be taken into account when picking a tire.

I got pretty close to what I wanted. Glad I bought used tires and rims to try out the sizes. Next tire purchase will be a better fit.