I knew my tires (205/65-15) looked a little big, but not until I took it to the autocross track last weekend did I have a problem. My front driver side tire contacted the fender pushing it out and shredding the tire a bit. The rears are close too, but not rubbing. Here are my questions:

1. has anyone rolled fenders on these cars? The autocross club has a roller, and a guy offered to help me do it. How does it work/look?

2. I am now looking for smaller tires. From other posts, it sounds like 205/50-15 is the way to go (p.s. I have a SBC 5.7 in it). This tire size would be very close to stock diameter. Would 195/60 15 be too skinny? There’s a couple out there in my price range. Dunlop Direzza DZ101 (tire rack)? Nitto Neo Gen (ebay)? Both are about $350 to my door and about 300 tread wear. Any suggestions would be great.

3. also, theres a difference in clearance from the front tire to the front of the fender. The driver side is the close one with the mangled fender. The fenders look good otherwise, and the wheel base is the same on both sides. Anybody see this?

Thanks for reading all this.

I have Michelin Pilot AS 205/65x15 on all 4 corners of my 73, and they are almost the exact diameter of the original 165/15. Have a rub inside when lock to lock, but nowhere close on the finders, but tires are mounted on the original 5 1/2" wheels. I discovered that my front fenders were rolled at the top as delivered from the factory, and am considering spacers if only I could find some 4 lug x about 20mm.

That fender looks a little pushed back. I have 205 65/15 on stock 4 lug Pedrini's and no clearance issues on the front what so ever. The rear fenders are tight but no problems yet. My fenders are not rolled but the rears have about 1/4" shaved off the inside lip of the wheel well at the top. I can barely fit the tip of my finger between the tire and the wheel well and they work fine.

If you want to autox get 205/50/15

After my tire slashing last Friday, I am going with 195/65/15 Bridgstone Potenza 960 A/S. I'll post some pics and comments on that tire once I get them on. If I was racing I would get the Dunlop Direzza. Tire Rack has the 195/55/15 on closeout for 101.00. The 205/50/15 will give you a little more width, but shorter height.

Is that the star spec?

I have those same Bridgestone tires on my car and have been happy with them so far. I only have a couple hundred on them maybe so no long term review. It seem the speedo runs a little fast with these tires. I'm guessing but I bet it's 5-8 mph too high.

I thought 195/65x15s were fairly close to stock 165x15s, no?

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the tire size calculator to work for me since the site came back up, but try for yourself: http://www.914world.com/specs/tirecalc.php

60's are a much better fit, the 65 is to tall if you are having fit issues.

For AutoX, using 205/50/15 tires gives you a much better final drive gear ratio without having to touch your transmission.

What I mean is you can shift sooner and stay in 3rd gear at a slower speed...so less shifting and more driving at an autox.
A shift takes 1 second...so less shifting is better for your times.

The 205/50 profile will also make you rev higher on the highway..so if you do alot of highway driving between events you may want two sets of tires...or try it to see if its what you want.

I run 205 50 tires for both street tires and autox tires...they work fine.
They also give you a quicker launch due to the overall diamter.

If you are tire shopping (again) start with the stock tire and look up the overall diamter of the stock size tire.
Then as you look at other tires, never go larger than the stock diameter, always lean towards a smaller diameter tire.

All tires are not the same and if you look at the specifications page of the tire, the overall diameter is there.
Use the stock size as your rule of thumb and go from there.

rich

Thanks, that's the info I needed. You are right about the autocross track. 2nd was too low, and 3rd too high.

I have those same Bridgestone tires on my car and have been happy with them so far. I only have a couple hundred miles on them so no long term review. It seem the speedo runs a little fast with these tires. I'm guessing but I bet it's 5-8 mph too high.

I like my 65s, at least for commuting. I'd go lower for track but I'm not gonna do that as my car is a DD.