| Author |
Message |
dave1
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2003
Posts: 557
Location: United Kingdom, London
|
 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:26 pm Post subject: 356 drum brake tyre sizes |
 |
|
Hi all,
On my 56 ghia, I'm going to be fitting in the future 356 porsche drum brakes, along with replica 356 steel wheels. Front 15's x 4.5 & rear 15's x 5.5.
My question. I would like to fit a 205 width tyre on the rear. Will they fit without rubbing?
If anyone has this sort of set up, I would appreciate some input
Thanks Dave
Last edited by dave1 on Wed Jan 07, 2026 7:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Teeroy 
Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2003
Posts: 3913
Location: Eastern WA
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 11:47 pm Post subject: Re: 356 drum brake tyre sizes |
|
|
I had 215 65 15 tires with real Porsche 356 5.5 wheels on the rear of my 61 Beetle with short axles and tubes, everything cleared fine, even liwered 2 splines
_________________
Pres. Rivercity VW Club www.rcvwclub.org
Founder Derr Wheat Panzers (DWP)
ARR #3
www.autosportsnorthwest.org |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lind
Samba Member
Joined: November 06, 2000
Posts: 10285
Location: idaho
|
| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 9:29 pm Post subject: Re: 356 drum brake tyre sizes |
|
|
| dave1 wrote: |
Hi all,
On my 56 ghia, I'm going to be fitting in the future 356 porsche drum brakes, along with replica 356 steel wheels. Front 15's x 4.5 & rear 15's x 5.5.
My question. I would like to fit a 205 width tyre on the rear. Will they fit without rubbing?
If anyone has this sort of set up, I would appreciate some input
Thanks Dave |
I am running 356 brakes with 356 rims on my '56 ghia. I went through all of my rims, and measured the inset/offset on all of them. Stock 356 4.5" rims are exactly 1/4" wider on either side from a stock VW rim. I also found some aftermarket Lemmerz 356 style rims that were dated 1972 which are 5.5" wide. They are exactly 3/4" wider on either side from a stock VW rim. I am running Vredestein sprint tires front and back. 155R15 up front, and 185/70/15 in the rear. (the aspect ratio on the fronts should be 82). The tires are close to the same height overall. The staggered tire size certainly helps balance out the oversteer a bit. The car handles quite well.
I have a bunch of various sets of aftermarket 356 rims, and the inset/offset is all over the place. The only set that I had that were evenly spaced were the aforementioned original period 356 4.5" rims and the aftermarket 5.5" Lemmerz rims. None of the other aftermarket ones were centered with respect to original VW rims. 205 tires would probably fit with my setup, but if the rims were even 1/2" towards the outside, they might rub. I don't know how close they come to the spring plates, but they don't rub. Sometimes you have to just fit it up and see if it works.
_________________
.
Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dave1
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2003
Posts: 557
Location: United Kingdom, London
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2026 5:24 pm Post subject: Re: 356 drum brake tyre sizes |
|
|
Hi Lind,
Thank you for the detail. I'm thinking that I'll need to see how it goes as your suggesting on the set up with the 356 brakes & trial the repro wheels & go from there. I'm also thought that I could always band the rear rims if there's enough room with touching the inner arch.
Fronts definitely 15 x 4.5 & trial 15 x 5.5 or wider if possible
Thanks again Dave |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
