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Big Fat
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Joined: July 28, 2004
Posts: 153
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 Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:11 am Post subject: What size tires to buy? |
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Right now I've got 185/65R15s on my '67 Square, I'm not sure how many notches it's been lowered, but I'd like to go down a bit further.
The backs seem fine for clearance and the fronts are super close - they rub when you turn though.
I'm wondering what the best compromise would be in size - I don't want to lose too much driving ability, but I want to be able to drop it down a bit more and retain the ability to turn.
So... 165s? 155s?
Thanks!
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Critter1
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Joined: August 04, 2004
Posts: 1579
Location: Sacramento
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:01 am Post subject: |
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My fastback is lowered two notches up front with 145's. No rubbing and it drives fine. I have also seen 195/50/15's on a lot of Type 3's (up front), but that is with 5.5" wide rims. My rims are stock 4.5 so the 195/50's are to wide for the rim.
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Air-Cooled Head
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Joined: October 15, 2002
Posts: 4070
Location: Chicago Suburbs
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:54 am Post subject: |
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Try some 185/55s up front. That's a pretty short tire and will bring it down some. I'm down at least 3 in front, and 185/55s just clear.
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Big Fat
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Joined: July 28, 2004
Posts: 153
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:57 am Post subject: |
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| Air-Cooled Head wrote: |
| Try some 185/55s up front. That's a pretty short tire and will bring it down some. I'm down at least 3 in front, and 185/55s just clear. |
Are you speaking of going to that size to visually lower the car or to counter the rubbing problem? As it is my setup only rubs on turns - but I'd like to go a tad lower without rubbing. Would the 55s let me do this?
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Air-Cooled Head
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Joined: October 15, 2002
Posts: 4070
Location: Chicago Suburbs
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Big Fat wrote: |
| Air-Cooled Head wrote: |
| Try some 185/55s up front. That's a pretty short tire and will bring it down some. I'm down at least 3 in front, and 185/55s just clear. |
Are you speaking of going to that size to visually lower the car or to counter the rubbing problem? |
Both! My car was slammed when I bought it, with 135's up front. Even with the 135s, I'd still get some rub on turns. I mounted 2 liter rims w/ 165s, and could not turn, at all.  I mounted 185/55s on the 2 liters, and no rub! 
And it looks even lower too!
Now that you made me do the math, we're talking roughly 1.25" diff in height, between 185/65 & 185/55. Will 1-1/4 inch resolve your rub?
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1500 russell
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Joined: August 20, 2002
Posts: 24
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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I run 195/ 65 on the rear and 135's up front .
The hot new tire to run up front is 175 /55 I think
low pro and wider then 135's |
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Big Fat
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Joined: July 28, 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Air-Cooled Head wrote: |
Both! My car was slammed when I bought it, with 135's up front. Even with the 135s, I'd still get some rub on turns. I mounted 2 liter rims w/ 165s, and could not turn, at all. I mounted 185/55s on the 2 liters, and no rub!
And it looks even lower too!
Now that you made me do the math, we're talking roughly 1.25" diff in height, between 185/65 & 185/55. Will 1-1/4 inch resolve your rub? |
Hmm, that I'll have to check, maybe I could take some pictures or something - but it sounds like it might work. I'd like to lose as little width as possible, so perhaps this is the best option. For what it's worth, I've got EMPI wide-5 5 spoke wheels - any chance this is part of the potential problem? I've heard their offset can be a bit of an issue.
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Air-Cooled Head
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| Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Big Fat wrote: |
| I've got EMPI wide-5 5 spoke wheels - any chance this is part of the potential problem? I've heard their offset can be a bit of an issue. |
I haven't heard that, (since I've got 4 lug, I wasn't listening) but I don't know what the offset is. There's a guy over on VWType3.Org, John J, that runs those wheels. Maybe you can contact him for advice.
So I came home and took some pics.  They suck from my home PC, so I'll post some better Wed.
But here you can see, it's down but I still can turn 
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Big Fat
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| Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:15 am Post subject: |
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| Air-Cooled Head wrote: |
I haven't heard that, (since I've got 4 lug, I wasn't listening) but I don't know what the offset is. There's a guy over on VWType3.Org, John J, that runs those wheels. Maybe you can contact him for advice.
So I came home and took some pics. They suck from my home PC, so I'll post some better Wed.
But here you can see, it's down but I still can turn |
Wow, looks good... nice Notch! Your setup looks a LOT different than mine - the 55 series tires seem to make a world of difference. I posted on the list to get a second opinion but it looks like I'll probably be going with this size.
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Air-Cooled Head
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Joined: October 15, 2002
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| Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:51 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the compliment. I posted some more pictures.
My Squareback is down 2 clicks, and I can still turn w/ 165s, so I'd say the Notch is down at least 3, maybe 4.
Now that I'm looking at it, I wonder if a full tank of gas will cause it to rub? 
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Big Fat
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| Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:23 am Post subject: |
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| Air-Cooled Head wrote: |
Thanks for the compliment. I posted some more pictures.
My Squareback is down 2 clicks, and I can still turn w/ 165s, so I'd say the Notch is down at least 3, maybe 4.
Now that I'm looking at it, I wonder if a full tank of gas will cause it to rub? |
Wow, again... really nice cars. 
Your Squareback looks to be about the same height as mine - so with your tires being 165 it's obvious why mine is rubbing.
I just noticed you run "stock 165s" on the back of your Notch - is it ok to run larger (width) tires upfront? I'd realistically like to run the same size all around, and if 185/55s will fit up front, I'd guess they'll fit out back too.
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Air-Cooled Head
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| Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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That's a nice Square! Is that "Ice Blue"? It looks silver in the pics.
Actually, the 165s were on the rims when I bought them, so I just put 'em on the car. I had the 185s left over from another car, so I mounted 2 of them on the 2 liter rims, just to see how they fit. I've only driven around the neighborhood with the set-up you see now, and it feels no different. I plan on getting 185 or 195/60s or so for the rear.
Good luck w/ your tires, and let us know how it turns out.
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lister
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Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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I just want to piggy back ride on this wheel issue for one more question: I recently changed my set up too, got the stock rims and tires off I went w/ 195'a in the back and 145's up front.... I noticed a change in handeling and power?/???// am I nuts? or is this typical? 
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Air-Cooled Head
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| Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:12 am Post subject: |
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Personally, I don't like 135s or 145s; just too skinny for my taste.  And in the rain,
Depending on the aspect ratio (the second number in the tire size) the tire could be shorter (or even taller) than stock, which would affect speedo reading/engine RPM relationship.
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seans67
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Joined: October 06, 2004
Posts: 453
Location: End of the Road, Alaska
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:04 pm Post subject: All weather tires |
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Bumbing this thread cause there's some good info in here and it's nice to keep it all in one place.
I need to get tires for my 71 square with stock 15" steel rims. This car will be going to Alaska with me and driven most of the year. So I need a good all around tire that can handle the rain, mud, snow but be a good cruiser as well.
My local tire guy recommended Hancock (sp) 165/15 which is stock size right.
What do ya think?
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'71 Squareback '71 Porsche 914 ‘80 Camper '87 Syncro Weekender 1.8T '87 Wolfsburg Weekender '97 Toyota Land Cruiser ‘03 Audi A6 Quattro 3.0 ‘04 Audi A4 Avant Quattro 1.8T ‘05 Audi A4 Quattro 3.0
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Russ Wolfe
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Joined: October 08, 2004
Posts: 25186
Location: Central Iowa
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:21 pm Post subject: Re: All weather tires |
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| seans67 wrote: |
I need to get tires for my 71 square with stock 15" steel rims. This car will be going to Alaska with me and driven most of the year. So I need a good all around tire that can handle the rain, mud, snow but be a good cruiser as well.
My local tire guy recommended Hancock (sp) 165/15 which is stock size right.
What do ya think? |
I live in the upper mid-west in the snow belt. I drive a lot of gravel roads, which are hard on tires. I am running Cooper's 165R/15 SportMaster GLT M+S.
I run them year round, on road and off road, and have never had a problems with them. They are 4 years old, and still look almost new.
They are pretty quiet on the highway.
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localboy
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Joined: December 06, 2003
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Location: "Mainland", PNW
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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Did you try a search? there are numerous posting re: rim/tire size, offset etc. Rim offset can have a major effect on rubbing or not. Don't know much about wide 5 wheels as my '65s were modified to either 4 or Porsche pattern respectively...good luck.
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