evozine

I need to replace the front tires on my newly aquired 1984 928. Note that I will be using this car as a commuter car, except when it's wet outside, which is less than a few weeks/year. I believe I am running mid 80's 993 wheels, the fronts show (7 and 55, which I believe is the wheel width, and offset). At the rear, I am running 245/45/16's on a 8-inch wheel... I posted photos of my current wheel, and the calculations that seem to indicate a nominal variance.

Question: Can anyone speak to the differences in the two front wheel tire sizes. According to my calculations these wheels are nearly identical in size.
The manual lists the first as the summer tire, the second a winter tire...

205/55/16

225/50/16





Your help will be appreciated, the fronts are nearly gone..

Al

tommytomaso

the 225 has a wider foot print even if thier close to the same hight.
But 205 should be the winter tire and the 225 the summer.


You all ways want a thinner tire in the snow (to cut threw) not wider!!!!

evozine

Right, There would be a 20 milimeter difference, which I believe is 10 milimeters per side. I think I might go with the narrower tire (205/55), as it looks like it's wider than the wheel already...

Any other comments....?

Al

dr bob

The 7" wheels came with 225/50 on the front of the 928 in both 16" and 17" diameters.. I bought a set of 993 takeoffs with new 205's installed and decided to run them out before replacing them. There's a very significant improvement with the 225's, more than you would suspect just looking at width numbers. I wouldn't even consider the 205's if you have the choice now. The 205's were probably OK on the rear-engined cars, but with the higher polar momemnt and the 50-50 weight distriution on the 928, the 225 is really the minimum you would consider.

jcorenman

In theory the 205/225 number is the section-width and the 225's should be 3/4" wider. I happen to have the specs for the Bridgestone S-03's handy, tread-width for the 205/55-16 is 7.6" (fitted to a 6.5" rim), vs. 8.3" for the 225 (on a 7" rim). So about 3/4" difference in tread-width. Both are 24.9" dia. The 225 certainly seems like the right choice.

Bob, I found myself in the same situation with a set of recently-aquired 993 wheels (17x7.5 et 65 in the front, 17x9 rear), came with S-03's but 205/50-17 in the front. After reading some of your earlier posts I went searching and found a pair of almost-new 225/45 S-03's on craigslist. And now that I (finally!) have all four wheels pointing the same direction maybe they will last, thanks to you and Earl and the other alignment guru's here.

Cheers,

dr bob

Hi Jim,

Glad that stuff is being used. Major kudos go to Earl, who figured this stuff out and shared it with everyone first.

Did you drive the 205's first, enough to get an appreciation for the difference going to 225?

jcorenman

I haven't gotten the 225's mounted yet so I'll have to let you know. The only comparison so far is the 205 S-03's properly aligned on cold pavement vs. 225 Yoko AVS-I's with funky alignment, hardly the basis for good science.

Cheers,

evozine

Thanks guys,

I picked up a new set of Kuhmo ECSA 225/50/16 tires. Since my previous tires were bald, the new ones feel great.

My new setup is:

Front: 225/50/16
Rear: 245/45/16

jaimesy

Hi. Ive also got a 1984 which needs new rubber all around, and hoping y'all can advice on wheel/tire size.
In my case, I have 2 scenarios Im looking at:
STOCK: Stay stock/factory size for summer: Can anyone advice on the QUIETEST tires theyve had? Also, is there anyway of getting even a little wider tire on the rear on the STOCK wheels?

WIDER REARS, summer: Can anyone advice on how much wider I can go for the rear wheels/tire combination? Im thinking of finding a used set on eBay, then just selling the origs I have. Might come up to close if I just buy a new set of tires?

Thanks for your help.

Bill Ball

With my 7" front 996 wheels with 50mm offset, 205s are about the limit. The front would push with the stock 996 Conti Contacts (I was glad when I burned those up quickly), but since I went with the BFG g-Force T/A KDW IIs, the front sticks no matter how hard I push it. With 55 offset (stock 928 offset is 65), if the 225s fit inside the wheel well, great.