I would appreciate it if folks who have 14-inch Fuchs wheels could share photos of them on the car along with their tire size.

Our 1970 914-6 has what appear to be authentic Fuchs 5 1/2 J 14. I believe these were an original factory option. Trying to decide on tires. The manual and sticker on the car only indicates "185 HR 14". So no sidewall height is indicated.

I know there are lots of tire threads. I've been poking around the forum and I've seen listed everything from "185/70/14 was the OEM size" to "82 if they were measured like today's tires".

Vredestein Sprint Classic would seem like an easy choice, but they are out of stock everywhere I have looked.

Ultimately I guess I'm going to be stuck with what's available today and making an aesthetic choice. It will be spirited street driving in California, so I don't need to worry about all-weather or track demands. What's on the car now is 195/70R14 90R - Riken Radial 70 Steel Belted. Not a great photo as it's on a lift and the engine is out. I would normally run with a bit higher air pressure.

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Best thing I did to MySix, was 15x6 Fuchs in 1978..

I’d be looking at 185/60/r14 which was a common tire for the 1st gen, North American miata.

Miatas of that era were on 5.5” rims

Used to be lots of good choices but not sure how it is in 2023. Offered plenty of grip and footprint for a 2000 lb car without the disadvantage of going to larger rims and adding rotational inertia and unsprung mass.

I don't have Fuchs, but I just purchased some 14 inch wheels that I am going to put on my 914. I don't have pics of them on the car because I need to refinish them first, but I am going with Falken Azenis RT615K+. 195/60/14

They are performance tires, but that doesn't seem to be an issue based on what you've said. I bought these because they have been around awhile and have pretty decent ratings.....I also like the way the tire looks. Here's a link:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...romCompare1=yes

I just took a quick look and there are still some decent options for 14” but a whole lot less than there used to be. Options still range from high mileage all seasons that are going to lack grip to high grip Toyo Proxies for auto crossing that will sand blast your rocker panels because they pick up so much road debris.

Modern cars have moved to clown size wheels and tires. That may be great for 2 1/2 ton lead sleds that needed big brakes and have plenty of HP and torque courtesy of modern powerplants. However, large wheels and tires just sap acceleration and drive up spring rates, and damping which degrade ride quality.

I’ve long been a fan of 14” and 15” wheels which seem to me to be the sweet spot for 914s. I think you are wise to stay with the 14” Fuchs - not many of those floating around anymore. Cool original wheels that often got dumped in the rush to American’s bigger is better fixation.

The beauty of a 14 inch Fuchs is that the car was designed around that tire
It has the second best offsets of all of the Porsche wheels for a 914
(Closest offset to a 7R wheel)

So you can fit a slightly wider tire

I have a set with 215/14 tires mounted
That fit under stock fenders
Although I use them for trailer wheels now
To get the ride height needed for loading the car in/out of the trailer

Thanks for the link. They seem reasonably priced, well rated tires. I wonder how well a 60 profile would look in the 914 wheel well. Thus my request for photos.

To my surprise, the difference in 60 vs 80 profile throws off the speedometer about 7 mph?!

If speedometer accuracy is a concern at all then you need to compare the tread diameter. This page from the service manual neglects the 15” alloy rim that also was optional, that ran 185/70 15 tires with a diameter of 25.2.

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You’ll need to go with a tall profile if you want speedometer accuracy
Or recalibrate the speedometer

I have Riken 185-60-14’s on my car.
Don’t know if they still make them..
Used them on an early 911 mostly.

This tire is under inflated and the ride height
is wrong so this may not be a good picture to compare..??


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Very helpful. The framing in the wheel well is noticeable different to me. Not bad. Just different. Thank you!

Thank you for pointing that out. I had overlooked this table. The Coker website will let you filter on radial width among other things.

I have these on an Alfa and can confirm that they are an excellent tire - they are also just about the right OD for your 914:

https://lucasclassictires.com/185-70VR14-PI...-1857014Pir.htm

These are Dunlop 195/60

I had never even heard of this place or seen that tire. Thanks for the link!

That does look interesting.

Maybe it was obvious to others, but I was fishing for the aspect ratio of the side wall for the original tires. Thanks to the table from @zoomCat and a tire size calculator factoring in the wheel size, I think the closest modern day equivalent is:
185/80R14.
This lands you at: Tire Height: 25.66'' (652 mm)
Click to view attachment
Anyone got that combo they can share a photo of? It is about 1/2" difference in sidewall height from what we have now.

I wonder how wide you can safely go on those rims. It read somewhere that 165 - 195 works?

How unique is the "J" wheel collar (i.e. tire bead) profile? Does that become a special tire choice?

These will get you to 25.6" diameter:

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/185hr14-michelin-mxv-p.html

Correct. Back then they didn't put an aspect ratio and as others have mentioned, its close to an 80 series tire.

our 914/6 has been in the family since new, with 5.5x14 Fuchs the whole time (and occasionally 6x15 cookie cutters). In period (1970-1990s) - Michelin XWX tires!

185/14s
185/70 14
195/70 14
205/70-14 - a little balloonish, but they fit in period with some rolled fenderlips

Period 15" wheels (15 inch steel was standard.. 5.5x15 that is, or, 6x15 911 fuchs) have run over the years 165/80-15, 185/70-15 and for autocross, 195/50 and, 195/60)

I've been running the Falken Azenis 615s in 195/60-14 since 2016 on a warm weather use car (often at Autocross) on my 5.5x14s. They wear well, they grip well and are also a quiet tire.

I'd upload pics but, it never works for me. They are a little "short" compared to a 70 series tire, but that's ok with me.

Speedometer? who cares.. its a 50 year old car with 110hp.. its not powerful enough to get caught speeding I can do math quickly.. and figure 7-10% high. I know others out here are caught out by these transgressions

Nowadays it comes down to what is available... and for 14" wheels, the choices are pretty slim, especially if you want some "performance".

A couple of recent BAT auctions served up a direct comparison on nearly identical cars.

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notice the 80 profile.....

Below is six pages of opinionated opinions on the Pirelli CN36, and some on the Michelin:

https://www.early911sregistry.org/forums/sh...er-disappointed