TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:10 pm

Hey everyone, I'm in the process of buying new tires for the front of my 65' beetle. I already know that I am going with the Nanking 165/80/15 rear tire size.However, I am deeply confused about what size for the fronts. I am looking into getting 145/15, however I am confused about what ratio size. I have searched a ton through the forum and am still confused. I am looking to be getting a 145/80/15, but it seems that noone sells it? I do not want to get the 145/65/15 conti tires because those are too small. I have found this site: http://www.selecttire.com/NANKANG-Tire-CX668-145R15-77T-SL-BSW-P305C56.aspx

^Are those 145/80/15? I see that it says 145R14, but then also I see it says 77T (IDK what this means :? ) Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Suspension specs:
2' narrowed beam
2.5 inch drop spindles
narrowed tie road
narrowed torsion leaves
stock smoothies

Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:26 pm

Contact them and ask?

Max

Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:55 am

65Bugsmasher wrote:

^Are those 145/80/15? I see that it says 145R14, but then also I see it says 77T (IDK what this means :? ) Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Can't help on the actual aspect ratio, but can tell you that 77T is not related to the aspect ratio

77 is the load rating (908lbs per tire)
T is the speed rating (118mph)

Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:47 am

You may already know this by your search but tire size explanation is thus:
165/80/15
165 is how wide the tire is in millimeters. so if you want a wider/narrower tire this is the # you want to adjust
80 is what is call an aspect ratio. It is how tall the side wall of the tire is relative to the width. So in the above tire size you sidewall is 80% of the 165mm width. so it is 132mm.
The 15 is the diameter of the rim
So you can figure out the height of the tire by adding the 2 sidewall heights (top and bottom)132 + 132, and then add the rim diameter (15 inches = 381mm. So 132+132+381=545mm=21.46inches tall.
If you want shorter than the stock size, just change the aspect ratio accordingly. ex. a 165/70/15 would be the same width as stock, but 33mm or 1.3 inches shorter than stock.
If you state you goal (shorter tire, narrower tire) we could give suggestions. Just realize a real narrow tire is not going to have much to grip the road, consequently it will not handle real well. The reason no one sells a 145/80/15 is that it would be so tall and narrow it would fold over in a corner.

Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:35 am

145R15 or 165R15 are metric sized tires and don't state their ratio. Their ratio is like ~80-83.

145R15 is fine for what you are looking fo.

Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:51 am

Todd66 wrote: You may already know this by your search but tire size explanation is thus:
165/80/15
165 is how wide the tire is in millimeters. so if you want a wider/narrower tire this is the # you want to adjust
80 is what is call an aspect ratio. It is how tall the side wall of the tire is relative to the width. So in the above tire size you sidewall is 80% of the 165mm width. so it is 132mm.
The 15 is the diameter of the rim
So you can figure out the height of the tire by adding the 2 sidewall heights (top and bottom)132 + 132, and then add the rim diameter (15 inches = 381mm. So 132+132+381=545mm=21.46inches tall.
If you want shorter than the stock size, just change the aspect ratio accordingly. ex. a 165/70/15 would be the same width as stock, but 33mm or 1.3 inches shorter than stock.
If you state you goal (shorter tire, narrower tire) we could give suggestions. Just realize a real narrow tire is not going to have much to grip the road, consequently it will not handle real well. The reason no one sells a 145/80/15 is that it would be so tall and narrow it would fold over in a corner.

Thanks for the information about this. I am looking to get a shorter tire, but I feel that 145/65/15 is way to short and too low profile. This is where I become confused with the 145R15 tires then...

Wed Feb 27, 2013 3:12 pm

The aspect ratio for a 165/15, 155/15, 145/15, 135/15, 125/15, is 80 (technically 82), unless its otherwise specified.

And FYI a 165/80/15 (165/15) is approx 25.5 inches tall...
a 145/80/15 (145/15) is approx 24.3 inches tall.

Start punching numbers in http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:22 pm

Try this site on for size.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

It will allow you to punch in tire sizes and get a visual of the differences.