Hey guys, I'm running stock Pedrinis with 165SR15 tires. The tires are all leaky, and deflate within days of inflating. so new tires are in order. I want to get the biggest, best tires that I can fit in a stock wheel configuration (no fender roll).

I'm thinking about 195/65HR15s. Will these fit? Do you have any better recommendations? I heard 205's will occassionaly not fit, so I don't want to bother with having to return the tires if they don't fit.

To my naked eye, the wheels seem to have a slight negative camber.


Edit: Oh and by the way, does anyone know what the aspect ratio of the 165SR15 Michelin XZX tires are? So I can calculate speedo accuracy.

I had 205 / 60 x 14 Bridgstones on Fuchs on my 73 914 with no trouble and no mods -

The 195/65-15s should work very well. The original tire "aspect ratio" was somewhere between 78 and 82, depending on which authority you ask. The Tire Rack lists 195/65 as being "nearest equivalent" to the overall rolling diameter of 165R15 tires. Or at least, they did... I can't find that page on their site any more!!!

--DD

Bongo, good news. I ran 205/60's on Pedrini's for 20 years. They rubbed slightly on the inside front when turned all the way, but the only time you will do that is at less than idle speed while tightly manuvering in a parking place. The rears were just fine. The bad news is the leakage problem. Pedrini's are a very soft alloy and bend very easily. After 25 years of smacking curbs on the inside, the Ped's were too crooked to mount tires to and too expensive to have professionally straightened. They are my personal favorite, would love to them put on my 75, but I ain't spending $500 to fix $300 worth of wheels. Maybe someday, when they are worth a grand.

So my leakage problem might be with the wheels and not the tires? How would I check for straightness?

Any large bends should show up by spinning the wheel. A failure to properly balance, or too much weight required to balance will be an indication of bent wheels, but badly bent wheels should be visible with the naked eye. Hold a small pointed object(pencil or such) at the top of the wheel well close to the rim and observe closely while spinning the wheel. There can be both sideways bends and out of rounds. Your leakage could also be just inside of bead on rim being terribly cruddy and dirty.

Good luck, Curt

I took the worst wheel off to check, and on the inside part, there were 2 large bends. No wonder my tires were leaking.

The bends look like I could hammer 'em back into shape...

I did that once to a Ped at the tire store. They couldn't stop it from leaking, but would not take the laibility for the hammer use, so I got the 3 lb shop hammer and they turned their back for a few minutes. Stoped the leak, but didn't do much for the balancing.

How well do 205-55-15s work on 15" stock 4-lug Fuchs?

I noticed that the Kuhmo 711 & 712 seem bargain priced. Are they any good?

great. 205-50's are cool, too, but 55's are probably better for the street (less speedo correction, better for highway speeds, etc)

others can chime in about those tires.

those are the exact kumhos i am curious about; anybody got specific scoop on 'em?

Yeah, they look decent for $50/tire at tirerack.com. The reviews at tirerack look decent - no major complaints.