New member question, Tires Options

[elbean]

Howdy everyone.
I recently purchased an original 1974 914 2.0. My first Porsche was a 1970 914 back in 1974 and from then to now have had many Pcars. I've forgotten how fun these cars can be.
Are tires in the 180 range(michelin) or 185 (Vred) to large ? The car now sits on 165/80/15 mounted to Fuchs and I want to fill in the wheel wells a little.
Thanks in advance, I'm enjoying this site.
Mark

[wonkipop]

out of curiosity i did a bit of an internet price compare.
more to convince myself i continue to live in a very expensive country than anything else.

looked up cokers, american classic tyre specialist?

they sell dunlop sport classics for about the same amount as michelin XAS (NO approved "porsche approved blah" - higher speed rating basically).

which is surprising to me. so i might have given you a bum steer when it comes to yank prices.

XAS

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/brands/mich...ial-n-code.html

Dunlop

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/dunlop-spor...-80r15-87h.html

i had to wince and pay $400AUD For XAS down here (fitted and balanced).
or USD $300 odd.
but i could have fitted dunlops for a tad over AUD$200 (fitted and balanced).
9 months ago.

you definitely get a way better deal on XAS and probably Pirellis, but thats not such a good price on the Dunlops. they make them in the size you are talking about which is 185 70 R15, virtually identical rolling diam to 165 80 R15. its a tricky size to get these days outside of the classic tyre suppliers.

we have limited outlets for these tyres down here.
only two players in town and their prices are virtually identical on the lines they both run.

a small aside, its a bit of a shock to run older style tyres in another respect we don't often think about, which is tyre noise.
modern tyres have tread patterns to suppress tyre noise, though a lot of the lower profile tyres do produce dull roar noise. the XAS produce a weird turbine bearing like sound once you get up and rolling a bit. first time i went out i thought the gearbox was giving a signal that maybe it was on the way out, or was it the diff, or was it a wheel bearing, or could it be the alternator. then i figured it out because i remembered what the semperits used to sound like on the vw half a life ago. those old tread patterns. i think if someone did have the misfortune to run a set of SP57s again they would be shocked at how noisy they were.