Re: 16-inch wheels for 93-95 90q series

[Chris Newbold <cnewbold@eznet.net>]

At 01:37 AM 5/19/97 -0400, you wrote:
>The noise from my six-month old Yokohama SV4s are driving me nuts and
>I'm considering changing tires once more.  Thinking about moving to 16
>inch rims and tires.  What size fits on 90q '93-'95 w/o suspension
>mods?  I know the q has a tight fit.  Has anyone done this?

Recently, I did the tire/wheel thing for my '93 90. It's not a quattro :-(
but it too has a tight fit. Both Discount Tire Direct and the Tire Rack
said the biggest thing that would fit is a 205 on a 7.5" rim. A 225 or
even a 215 would "bulge" too much and would rub.

The other catch with these cars is the relatively rare bolt pattern. At
least the non-Qs have 4x108mm, which many manufactures don't make. (Do the
Qs use 5-bolt hubs?)

So, I ended up with 16"x7.5" TSW Imolas shod with 205/55ZR16 Dunlop D40M2s.
After a ~2500 miles, I'm happy with the combo (except for cleaning all those
spokes) and impressed with the Dunlops.

The wheels are close to stock offset; I'm no expert, but it seems to me
that if you were willing to play with the offset a bit, you could get
a 215 under there, maybe a 225 if you used a really wild offset. The
trouble with the 215s is that it's a rare and expensive size...

(For a non-Q, the stock wheels were 15"x6", with a 37mm offset; the Imolas
have a 34mm offset [I think], which is really going the "wrong" way for
a wider wheel..)

Most TSW wheels are available with the 4x108mm bolt pattern, as were
some Borbet and moda wheels. That was about it.

Good luck.
-Chris