Wheels and Tires Sizes for Flared Car? Options

[Beach914]

What are the recommended sizes for wheels and tires if I put a set of fiberglass flares on my 914?
The car has standard hubs all around with 5 lug adapters.

I have an opportunity to get some 15x 7's and 15 x 8's is this a good idea?

Thanks

[914Sixer]

Yes, the wheels and tires will fit under the flares. With some flares you can go 8" in the front and 9" in the rear. A lot depends on the offset and the spacing used on the wheels. With that said, 15" tires are probably not a good choice because of the limited number of tires out there. 16" are going to be a better choice for tire options. Heck, there are now 17" reproductions that might make even better combinations out there that are yet to be tried. The reproduction wheels are new and not 30 yrs old and will require no refinishing. Something to think about.

[carr914]

Mark is right for the most part.

The 7 & 8"s will fit. There are still some good choices for 15", but the biggest that seem to be available are 225/50/15

16"s are also getting to be a problem for tires

The Repro 17" Fuchs have a wide variety of Quality. I think if I was going to do bigger than 16", I would skip the Repros and do some Fikse's or BBS's

[pcar916]

I have 8's and 9's in both BBS and Fuchs on 16in rims with my fb flares. They're a tight fit. I use 225-50/16 in the front and 245-45/16's on the rear. Different offsets between mfg's so they use different spacers and the negative camber makes it easier as well. That said...

I've had to relieve the inside of all flares though, to fit the tires, but there's plenty of rubber on the road.

[sixaddict]

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Depends on what you are doing with the car. If street only, then repros (of decent quality) are ok. If competition then you have tire decisions. I run 15s to help in the gearing department but if its not used on the track who cares. I had bought 15X 9 Fuchs (for the rear) and couldn't get a good track tire that specified 9" so I sold them. I use 245 45 15 all around so they can be switched although had 225 50 and 245 45 mixed at ome time ...I saw no difference. Good hunting.

[Beach914]

Thanks for all of the advice.

I'm just going to use it on the street. I'm not hard on my stuff.

Repros would be just fine for me. Got a chance to look at a set of 15's for $350 tomorrow but may rethink and look for some 16's.

Dave

[Justinp71]

If your not putting tons of torq in the car I would stick with the 15's. I like the smaller diameter= more accelleration. Also I have 3.0 six and 225's are enough tire, with the weight of the motor above the tires and the fact that most of these motors dont have a huge punch of torq you'll be fine. If you were considering a 3.6 six or a v-8 I might look into 16's.

Also you can get hi performance tires in 225-50-15's, which I have used on the track and they hook great!

[Beach914]

If your not putting tons of torq in the car I would stick with the 15's. I like the smaller diameter= more accelleration. Also I have 3.0 six and 225's are enough tire, with the weight of the motor above the tires and the fact that most of these motors dont have a huge punch of torq you'll be fine. If you were considering a 3.6 six or a v-8 I might look into 16's.

Also you can get hi performance tires in 225-50-15's, which I have used on the track and they hook great!

Yeah I'm looking at the 245/60/15's on my TransAm and I'm thinking thats way to wide!!!!

225's seem just fine for me on the rears.

Do 205's or 215's on the 7" fronts sound okay?

Dave

[underthetire]

I run 205/50's X16 on 7" rims with a narrow body car. Think you'd want a little more tire.

[Beach914]

So, maybe 8's all the way around with 225's on the front and 245's on the back?

[SirAndy]

So, maybe 8's all the way around with 225's on the front and 245's on the back?

For a street car, go with the same wheels and tires front and rear so you can rotate them.

On the street, i run 225x15 on 7" rims front and rear under standard GT flares.
I run small spacers to push the wheels out close to the fender-line. Otherwise, especially in the front, it can look stupid if the gap between the fender and the wheel is too large.

Either way, the 225 tires are enough for most any street 914.

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[jaybird840]

You asked, so for what it's worth, I have 285/30/18's on 10's stuffed under the rears, and 245/40/18's on 8.5" in the front. There isn't enough room for a gnat's a$$ in the rear. I'm going to step down to less wheel/tire in the future. This is under stock 7" and 9" flares.

[jeff9146]

By the way, what do you think about spacers a bitlarger in front than at rear ?

Thanks,
Jeff

So, maybe 8's all the way around with 225's on the front and 245's on the back?

For a street car, go with the same wheels and tires front and rear so you can rotate them.

On the street, i run 225x15 on 7" rims front and rear under standard GT flares.
I run small spacers to push the wheels out close to the fender-line. Otherwise, especially in the front, it can look stupid if the gap between the fender and the wheel is too large.

Either way, the 225 tires are enough for most any street 914.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[SirAndy]

By the way, what do you think about spacers a bitlarger in front than at rear ?

That's what i run.

I forget the exact width, but my front spacers are wider than the rear spacers.
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[jeff9146]

By the way, what do you think about spacers a bitlarger in front than at rear ?

That's what i run.

I forget the exact width, but my front spacers are wider than the rear spacers.
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Thanks SirAndy, if you can let me know the spacers's size, that would help !
My wheels are the standard ones, 5 1/2 - 15 with 205/60/15 contisport,

Jeff

[carr914]

So, maybe 8's all the way around with 225's on the front and 245's on the back?

I like 8"s on the front with 225's, but I don't think you will find any 245/50/15s anywhere except for Hoosier race tires

[Beach914]

This is tough stuff trying to figure out which way to go.

So....I've got a bid on some 16's on ebay right now, so don't nobody interfere....
thx

[Beach914]

So, maybe 8's all the way around with 225's on the front and 245's on the back?

For a street car, go with the same wheels and tires front and rear so you can rotate them.

On the street, i run 225x15 on 7" rims front and rear under standard GT flares.
I run small spacers to push the wheels out close to the fender-line. Otherwise, especially in the front, it can look stupid if the gap between the fender and the wheel is too large.

Either way, the 225 tires are enough for most any street 914.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

So what aspect ratio are you running? 50? 60?

Thanks

[SirAndy]

So what aspect ratio are you running? 50? 60?

50 ...

Lemmy see if i have a pic somewhere ...


Old pic:



More recent pics:

[Beach914]

Yup. I like it very much.

Kuhmo and Falken both have this size and they are not too pricey for V rated rubber.

Looking at your pictures make me curious about the blending in of the front and rear bumpers withe the fenders. No seams? What do you use to bond that to the metal without thermal expansion cracking?

Thx for the pics. It get keep me thinking of the possibilities...

Dave