RRRandy

Just searched the forum and found very little on 16” tire sizes. I have a 1986 951 with factory 16” turbo rims. The PO was not real scrupulous and had various tire brands all around(3 of 4)…even different sizes!! What is everyone running for tire sizes, front and rear, on 16” rims?

Zeff

I'll check tomorrow morning. I think it is 205/55 in the front and 225/50 in the back.

aeronautica86

thats what I have, but it will depend on the width of your wheels front and rear

formerGMguy

I'm running (er...was running) 225/50-16 front, and 245/45-16 rears. If your just looking for some good summer rubber I'd recomend Yokohama AVS ES100's. There priced at about $100/per tire and are a wonderful street tire with decent track performance (not bad in the wet either).

LFA951

Forget the Yoko's, they're old news, get the Hankook Ventus RS-2 Z212, I bought a set of four 3 months ago for a 16" 225/245 f/r and they are awesome!! They cost me $376 for all four, mounted and balanced. They are relatively new, but Tirerack and Car and Driver put them up against ten of the ten best tires in the country and it came in fifth place overall just after the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS D3, Continental ContiSportContact 2, Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 and the Michelin Pilot sport PS2, which cost more than twice as much!! Check out the six major name brands it beat!! Download full report:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y_f1_gs_d3.jsp

Zeff

Just checked, with the stock sewer lids in 16x7 and 16x8 they are 205/55 front 225/50 back

RRRandy

LFA951 and FromerGMGuy, what is the difference in the 225/50-front and 245/45-rear from the from stock(205/55-front and 225/55-rear)…is it width, height…I just don’t know what the number means. I assume you are running a different size from stock for a reason too? I’m all for making things better. I have the Fuchs 16x7 in front and 16x8s in the rear

Thanks for the recommendations on specific tires…I will check out the Yokos and the Hankooks. Anyone else have a recommendation/review?

rhesus

They're a bit wider, I believe the outside circumference is still the same.

LFA951

[QUOTE=RRRandy]LFA951 and FromerGMGuy, what is the difference in the 225/50-front and 245/45-rear from the from stock(205/55-front and 225/55-rear)…is it width, height…I just don’t know what the number means. I assume you are running a different size from stock for a reason too? I’m all for making things better. I have the Fuchs 16x7 in front and 16x8s in the rear

I have BW Kinesis 5 spoke same size as your 16x7's and 8's, but I went wider. They will fit your wheels fine, just a little wider and not much taller, it works out well, better traction and handling....

formerGMguy

The larger number is the width of the tire in millimeters. The second number is the aspect ratio of the sidewall height to treadwidth. The final number is the inside diameter of the wheel. Stock turbo's have 205's up front with a 16x7" wheel and 225's rear on a 16x8" wheel, the sport package added 245's in the rear on an 16x9" rim.

It seems pretty popular to go with 225's up front and 245's in the rear on stock rims. The most important thing in selecting wider tires is to make sure the overall circumference of the tires is close to stock, secondly the tire has to fit the rim.

Laust Pedersen

TireRack and other companies have a range of suggested rim widths for a given tire listed. Those tables obviously work backwards as well in choosing a tire width for a given rim width.

A wide tire on a narrow rim will make the handling a little unstable. If you have that combination, try to push your car sideways (while standing still) and notice how it rolls on the tires.

A narrow tire on a wide rim will provide a very stable handling and direct steering and can be seen to the extreme on open wheel race cars. On the streets it has the disadvantage of exposing the rims to curb rash.

My preference for a given rim is to choose a tire that is just wide enough to slightly protect the rim, which happens to be in line with Porsches tire / rim width recommendations.