Re: Tire/Rim Sizes on 80/90/Q's (Help)

[John Karasaki <johkar@teleport.com>]

At 07:44 PM 5/9/96 -0700, you wrote:

>Has anyone put anything less than "50's" on their wheels (i.e. 
>225/50ZR-16)?  I know 40 is a pretty low profile, so will there be major 
>BuMpS to be felt with these?  Should I put 45's on and will they fit?

Todd,

I went from 215/50/15s to 225/45/16s on my TQC.  The ride actually got
smoother!  This is because I went from crappy Pirellis to Sumitomos (the
parent company of Dunlop).  I haven't gone thinner, and never plan to.  The
horror stories on this list about 40 series tire blow-outs and of course the
high cost of 40 series tires has convinced me to stay with 45s as a minimum.
Of course, that's what I felt that 50 series tires were my "minimum" height
a couple of years ago.

As to whether or not they will fit, the offest of the wheels are extremely
important.  The 15x8 ronals rubbed with 215 wide rubber; with 16x8 and 225
wide rubber, they don't rub.  This is because BBS got the correct offset.
They fit in the wheelwells perfectly, with no clearance problems.  My
suggestion is to buy your wheels from a reputable source, or write the wheel
manufacturer ahead of time to get some detailed fitment data.

Regards,

John Karasaki

The Karasaki's, proud owners of AUDI automobiles

1981 Coupe
1982 TQC
1984 5000S Wagon
1990 V8