Rear tire size

[911pickup]

I'm in the process of looking for new tires for my buggy.

I'm pretty sure I'll buy 205/60-15 BF Goodrich Radial TAs for the front (can't find 195/60s anywhere in Canada), but I'm not sure what size tire to put on the back.
Presently, I'm leaning towards a Radial TA 235/70-15. The upside is the tire's 28" diameter will help fill the space between the tire and the rear fender, but the downside is the 28" tire combined with a stock 1600 engine may result in a really gutless buggy.
Another option is to go with a Radial TA 245/60-15, which has a 26.6" diameter. This tire won't 'fill the wheel well' like a 235/70-15 tire would, but the smaller diameter may be better suited to the stock 1600's hp output.
One thing I do want to do is run the same brand of tire front and rear.

What tire combos are you guys using on your buggies?

[Dale M.]

I'm running P255/60R15 on rears and it fills rear wheel/fender area really well, But am pushing buggy with estimated 100/110 HP at the wheels...

Running P225/60R14 on front's... Difference in wheel size is because that is what was on buggy when I bought it and I chose to restore wheels vs, new wheels when I restored buggy...

Dale
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[VOLKSWAGNUT]

I use 205/60/15's front.. 275/60/15's hangin' out back.. stock single port 1600 with an IRS 4.13 R/P gear. Does run out of steam at 60.. but will go 72ish..max..
Perfect around towns and up to 55..
I wanted the look.. not the top speed... that's all I needed/wanted... for this one..

(Wanted 195's for the front.. but BFG.. stopped producing that size.. )

.
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[Q-Dog]

Front: 205/60/15 - 6" wheel. Rear: 245/60/15 - 8.5" wheel. Stock 1600 will eventually hit 80 mph. I'm going taller on the rear when I wear these out. But I may have to build a bigger engine to push them.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[germanx]

I m runnng 255 Avons on the back. They fit nicely with the car and are a good compromise between meaty looks and low weight. I calculatd the dynamic weight benefit to a 275 size tyre and it would have the same effect than adding about 70 kg to the car. That is a lot.

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'73 Beach Buggy
'66 T1 Deluxe

[911pickup]

Great photos, guys!
255/60-15 seems to be the sweet spot.
If I can, I'd like to keep my front and rear tires under the fenders. I don't think that will be a problem in the rear, as I'm mounting the tires on a 15x7 rim, with a 40mm offset. If anything, I'll have to add a wheel spacer to clear the suspension bits.

I may end up going with something narrower in the front. Maybe a 185/55-15. That will mean mixing tire manufacturers, which is something I'm hesitant in doing. Then-again, with such a big difference in tire size between the fronts and the rears I wonder if it would matter.
So far I've found the following tires that come in a 185/55-15 size:
Kumho ESCTA PA31
Toyo PROXES T1R
Yokohama S. DRIVE

[wythac]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/search.php?search_keywords=Rear+tire+size&search_forum=38

This might help. Well traveled topic here. About as many opinions as there are threads.

I'm sure you know this, but rim size, backspace and offset have a significant influence on what fits and how it looks...poke around on some of those threads on that search, then....see what is still available....lots of these tire sizes going out of production as the vehicles they fit get scrapped.

[911pickup]

When I ordered my disc brake kits from Cip1 I asked for blank rotors. I had the rotors drilled for a 4x100 pattern and also had the machine shop press in extra long studs, in case I need to use spacers.
With the 4x100 bolt pattern there are a ton of wheel choices in both 15" and 17" diameters. I've considered going with a 17" wheel, but I haven't come across a photo of a buggy with 17" wheels (yet), to see how they would look.

[gtrplyr]

This is a photo of 17" wheels on my Lithia.

[911pickup]

Do you have a side shot?

[clonebug]

I run 275/60-15 TA's and love them on my turbo 1679cc.
They are 28 inches tall and give me what I think is the perfect gear ratio for my buggy. I like cruising at 3100 rpm at 70 mph.

I did run my Brother's worn out 295/50-15 TA's on the back when I first got the buggy running with a single port 1500 and Dual Kadrons. They are around 26 inches in diameter. It was pretty good but would run out of steam at around 80 mph. It would go faster but the time it took seemed like there wasn't enough road to get there......

I also ran the 275/60-15's on the buggy with a DP 1600 and Kadrons and it would do ok.
I just really like the gearing of the bigger tires.

With the extra power of the turbo they are perfect.

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[oprn]

BF Goodrich came on this buggy.
P245/60R14 on the rear,
P195/60SR14 on the front.

The resulting gearing seems to match the 1600DP pretty well, tops out at 90mph and runs 3400rpm at 65mph.

[BIGMIKEY]

[JiI]

165R15 fronts and 235/60/15 rears. Probably a little small but good on the gearing. Now if I could just get a VW engine to run....
Jeff

[gtrplyr]

The fronts are 17x7 with 235/45/17s. The rears are 17x10 with 275/40/17s. The rears appear to be too small but that was the size on it when I purchased the buggy.

[joescoolcustoms]

Some of the combinations I have run over the years.

215 75 15 front, 275 60 15 rear.

215 75 15 front, 235 75 15 rear.

195 85 15 front, 235 75 15 rear

215 75 15 front, 265 75 15 rear

165 65 15 front, 275 60 15 rear

165 80 15 front, 245 70 15 rear

205 60 15 front, 295 50 15 rear

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[911pickup]

gtrplyr, that rear tire definitely looks too small (diameter wise), compared to the fronts.
Joescoolcustoms, that's a great collection of different tire sizes. Thanks.

[911pickup]

Just for interests sake I plugged in some numbers into a tire size/gear calculator and came up with these cruising speeds at 3000 rpm:
R&P 3.88
RPM 3000
FINAL GEAR .89

stock 155-15 (24.8") 60.4 mph

215/65-15 (26") 63.3 mph
245/70-15 (26.6") 64.8 mph
255/60-15 (27.1") 70.1 mph
235/70-15 (28") 72.4 mph
275/60-15 (28") 72.4 mph

If you have a 4.12 R & P it lowers the cruising speed by approximately 4 mph.

Cruising at 60 mph with a 28" diameter tire the engine revs would be 2500. I wonder how that would impact the cylinder head cooling.

[gtrplyr]

911pickup, I agree, but it came with those and I hate to go any taller on the rear. I just bought new tires and didn't want to change the height too much. My yellow buggy has 31.5s on the back and that's a lot of tire to pull with a stock motor!

[clonebug]

I have 4.12 gearing with the 28 inch rear tire and have never had trouble with cooling at 60 mph or any speed. Usually I can't get the engine warm enough.
I cruise 3100 rpm at 70 mph.