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Eskamobob1 Samba Member
Joined: August 08, 2016 Posts: 541 Location: South OC SoCal
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:22 pm Post subject: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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Hey guys,
So I am actualy have a real hard time with this one. I am admittedly new to tires, but everything I have been finding about different performance tires seems to be race compound or not even made for 15" wheels. I was hoping to get some recommendations for performance street tires that are 24-25" tall and fit 5.5x15 wheels. Since I honestly have 0 idea what is out there, recommendations I can look into in a range of prices would be amazing if possible.
Also, what other information do I need to know to even properly pick the tires? I am reading as much as possible, but most articles are referencing tire models that i cant even use _________________ '74 - front disks/lots more work to do |
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andk5591 Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 16758 Location: State College, PA
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 3:30 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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First you need to nail down what actual size you want to use as far as width goes. Front and rear may be different depending on if the car is lowered and how much. Also, is this a super, a standard, ball joint, swing axle?
And then what do you mean by performance tire? How is the car to be driven? What I have on my wifes 61 Cal Look is totally different than what I am going to put on a 66 that I may autocross.
Some place like tirerack.com has all kind of brands and models in all kinds of sizes. And there are lots of reviews. _________________ D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them... |
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Eskamobob1 Samba Member
Joined: August 08, 2016 Posts: 541 Location: South OC SoCal
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:40 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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andk5591 wrote: |
First you need to nail down what actual size you want to use as far as width goes. Front and rear may be different depending on if the car is lowered and how much. Also, is this a super, a standard, ball joint, swing axle?
And then what do you mean by performance tire? How is the car to be driven? What I have on my wifes 61 Cal Look is totally different than what I am going to put on a 66 that I may autocross.
Some place like tirerack.com has all kind of brands and models in all kinds of sizes. And there are lots of reviews. |
wow. I am so sorry. I have no idea why I blanked on including all of these. It is a 74 std with a stock width BJ beam and (currently) stock height (Im seriously torn about lowering). I would like to keep as much of my steering range as I can, but if I realistically need to loose a dash it isnt a crisis. As for usage, this will purely be for street use, and the majority of my diving is freeway cruising, but on late nights (about 3 times a week) and road trips I tend to drive far more spiritedly than I should on curvy roads.
As far as width goes, I was planning on a square setup, but maybe I should change that idea. I think the sizes I have been seeing most commonly in the more "performance" tires are 195/60, 195/65, 205/55, but tbh, I have 0 idea on the fitment of any of those
Honestly, with wheel and Tire choices I still dont even know what all I have to consider _________________ '74 - front disks/lots more work to do |
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andk5591 Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 16758 Location: State College, PA
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:24 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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OK - here is a quick and dirty education. Wheels have various offsets and backspacings. Aftermarket 5.5" wheels have 3", 3 7/8, 4" 4 1/4" and others backspacing ...This determines how far out the outside of the rim is relative to the brake drum. There are better and more detailed explainations on the web.
So, depending on what wheel you choose will impact how much tire you can use without rubbing the fender or inner fender. And then you can go with shorter or taller tires.
Its very common for folks to run a shorter front tire to help clear a lowered front end. I am planning to use a 205 on the autocross car with possibly a wider rear. I have seen a car a a show that ran 205s all around on a late bug and they seemed to clear pretty well. I have not tried 205s on the front it yet myself, I would wait and get some more input. _________________ D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them... |
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Eskamobob1 Samba Member
Joined: August 08, 2016 Posts: 541 Location: South OC SoCal
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:48 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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andk5591 wrote: |
OK - here is a quick and dirty education. Wheels have various offsets and backspacings. Aftermarket 5.5" wheels have 3", 3 7/8, 4" 4 1/4" and others backspacing ...This determines how far out the outside of the rim is relative to the brake drum. There are better and more detailed explainations on the web.
So, depending on what wheel you choose will impact how much tire you can use without rubbing the fender or inner fender. And then you can go with shorter or taller tires.
Its very common for folks to run a shorter front tire to help clear a lowered front end. I am planning to use a 205 on the autocross car with possibly a wider rear. I have seen a car a a show that ran 205s all around on a late bug and they seemed to clear pretty well. I have not tried 205s on the front it yet myself, I would wait and get some more input. |
Sorry, once again something I forgot to include. I am looking at porsche wheels (currently leaning towards cosmics) which are all 6j15 ET55.2 or 5.5j15 ET32.5 (5.5 and 4.5 backspacing respectively). Sorry, for some reason I had seperated tire choice and wheel fitment in my mind, so i completely forgot to post that _________________ '74 - front disks/lots more work to do |
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ALB Samba Member
Joined: August 05, 2008 Posts: 3483 Location: beautiful suburban Wet Coast of Canada
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:43 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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If you're going to lower the car a little bit then something like a 175/60, 185/60 (both only available in all seasons) or even a 195/55 (which is a little short at 23 1/4", but Yokohama still makes in a summer performance tire) would work well in front. A 205/60 is a good size for the back, being 24 3/4" tall; the only thing is there are no summer performance tires in that size any more. Yokohama does make a 205/55 (summer perf.- S Drive they call it- the 195/55-15 is available in the same line) and it's 24" tall, so that would work on the back as well (although it is a little shorter than stock).
If you're looking for tires that ride nicely and actually handle decently then stay away from 135 and 145-15's for the front; there's just not enough footprint on the road. Also, I haven't included a host of sizes below 23" tall, as the car needs to be dropped in front quite a bit for any thing really short to look right.
Performance 15" tires are disappearing from the market, unfortunately.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/sizes/results.jsp?diameter=15
click on any size to see what's available.
Hope this helps. Al _________________ On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!! |
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ps2375 Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2014 Posts: 2471 Location: Meridian,ID
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 7:13 am Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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Right now I run a 185/65 in front, and a 205/65 in the rear (both on a 5.5X15 wheel). And you are correct, there isn't much to get out there for a more performance oriented tire. I think the Firestones I have are designated as a "High Performance All-season" tire. And they autocross like it, lots of noise and lacking grip. But they do fairly well on the street, for street driving.
You'll either need to go wider in the 15" size, which won't fit well on your narrow rim or go up a size to a 16" rim for a better selection. 15" is the new 13", meaning they don't make much for it. There are a couple of narrower 15" tires out there made for the Smart cars, they could work but will be slightly shorter on overall height. |
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andk5591 Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 16758 Location: State College, PA
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 6:17 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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Have General Altimax on several of our cars. Decent size selection. Been very happy for a good performing all season. Not a real serious performance tire but a good tire. _________________ D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them... |
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ach60 Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2001 Posts: 4139 Location: Santa Maria
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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:51 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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From a Jetta 195-65-15
I run 195-65-15 in the rear, lowered front with 145SR15(Total garbage).
go to www.tirerack.com look for the highest performance tire in 195-65-15
Any performance tire you put 10X better than whatever off brand 165SR15 that is on the car now.
Good Tires Performance tires are not cheap tires. _________________ Good Luck
Al |
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Glenn Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001 Posts: 76935 Location: Sneaking up behind you
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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 7:12 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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BF Goodrich g-Force195/55VR-15 front and 205/60VR-15 rear.
Front is lowered 3" and rear 1". Wheels are Porsche/Pedrini 5.5x15 ET42. Front beam is stock width.
Car is a 74 Standard.
_________________ Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare |
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carlos_magnum Samba Member
Joined: April 21, 2009 Posts: 591
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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Had a set of g-Force Sport Comp-2 and I was very pleased with their performance. Great for highway/street driving and cornering. Wet grip isn't bad. I like everything about these bfgoodrich tires except their tread life. |
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BIGMIKEY Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2007 Posts: 1105 Location: North East Pennsylvania
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r6kid Samba Member
Joined: June 20, 2006 Posts: 103 Location: Calvert County, MD
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:20 pm Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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Glenn wrote: |
BF Goodrich g-Force195/55VR-15 front and 205/60VR-15 rear.
Front is lowered 3" and rear 1". Wheels are Porsche/Pedrini 5.5x15 ET42. Front beam is stock width.
Car is a 74 Standard.
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Hey Glenn, I just started surfing the forums since I just purchased a 72 Super Beetle the other day and I'm looking into my build options. What you have going on pertaining to this particular thread is about what I'm looking for. The current wheels (garbage and need to go) are sporting pretty much the same size tires you are running front and rear. I'm only looking to drop the front an inch at best and not messing with the beam width. I wanted to go with a slightly wider tire all around but all I'm seeing in the wheels I am interested in (EMPI GT-8, 8 spoke) is 5.5" and I think I saw a 6" somewhere but can't remember. Is 205 about as wide as can go on a 5.5" wheel? |
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slalombuggy Samba Member
Joined: July 17, 2010 Posts: 9147 Location: Canada
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:11 am Post subject: Re: performance street tires for 5.5x15 wheels? |
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Several hundred of us land speed racers are boycotting BFG as they thought it would be a good idea to equip 2 Crown Victoria's with raptor engines and 33 inch mud tires and go tear up the Bonneville salt flats as part of an online promotional campaign.
Just saying.
I always raced on Yokohama for auto cross before I went to slicks and then I went to Riken when i moved up to 15" wheels.
brad |
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