Wheel and Tires

What tires are everyone using ?

Hey Cal,

I believe mine were 15" x 5 or 5.5". Since I had a flared fender car I put adapters in there that I think were are about an inch thick to create the five bolt pattern that you already have. Then I think I used 205 width tires maybe they were 205/70s  to fill up the wheel well. I think they looked pretty good. Wheels came from CIP1 and were about $120 each. Musbjim uses them as well I believe.

Re "rides rough": The first thing to check is tire pressures. Most people have way too much air in their tires because they go by the sidewall specs, which give maximum inflation pressure at XXXXX load. That second number—the load—is usually like a pickup truck full of pavers—2200 pounds per wheel or something. The Speedster weighs like an eighth of that, so the air in the tire holding it up needs to be concomitantly less.

With those big wheels and tires, try running radically low pressures. Start at maybe 16 or 18 in the front and reduce from there. I bet 14 or even 12 is about right for a smooth ride and good traction. Most guys on here with 185/60s are running like 22 pounds in the front, 26 in the back. Remember, those big 225s were made to run on the front of Camaros and such. Cars running 500 pounds or more on each front wheel. You've got about half that. Less air.

 

Wow, that's what I love about this site.

Ask a question about ride quality and you could end up with a reply laced with words like 'concomitantly'. Or 'laced', I guess.

Ed's right, though. Cars in the 1960s generally ran much lower tire pressures. VW recommended 18 psi up front. I run 20-22 front, 26 in the back. Try lowering pressure to that range and see if you notice an improvement. Then, fine tune. VW's numbers were for stiffer sidewall bias ply tires. Radials like a bit more.

Also, many of our cars have a front sway bar that interferes with suspension travel. My VS was delivered with one that hit the front bumper brackets after only about an inch of suspension travel. The fix is to rework the bumper brackets for more clearance.

And the shocks on many of our cars leave a lot to be desired. Konis or Bilsteins will help a lot.

But start with the tire pressure. Air's a lot cheaper than new shocks.

 

You guys may be interested to learn that there is a raging (some might say, "withering" ) controversy in my extended household over the proper tire inflation for my car, which has 205 X 50 X 16"s all around.  Way back in something like 2007 my son, Chris, and I went to the Porsche-featured, "Super-Duper-Gathering-of-the-Marque" at Watkins Glen in New York.  There were a LOT of P-Cars there (and Hoss's Suby-Tub, too).  That's me, on the Pole (that 944 didn't have a chance):

So this was when we got out on the old, 7-mile-long road course, followed by 6 laps around the new race track.  Following Ed's sage advice (or somebody else, back then), I had the front tires nicely squishy at about 16 pounds and the rears (I had 225's back there, then) at about 20.  It rode like a veritable Cadillac.

We took off and did the road course with Chris driving and at the very first hard corner he pitches it into the turn and.......Screeeeeeech!  goes the front tires.  Chris gives me a withering look out of the corner of his eye but keeps on going - We were a few cars back from a NY State Police car leading the procession.  He was hitting about 80mph on some of the straight stretches.....That cop was cool.   Anyway, we repeated the screechy tires on the next few turns until Chris asks me, "What tire pressure are you running?" so I told him...  "Unh-Huh!" he says, as he gives me this look like "Yeosmite Sam" saying to me; "You Dumb Ass!"

So, the moral of this story (which I just deleted five more paragraphs from that were hilarious - especially roaring down Main Street in Watkins Glen Village at 70mph) is:  

You can run lower pressure on the fronts, like 14 - 18 pounds, but they're gonna squeel on the corners while they ride like a cloud.  On hard cornering, once you ignore the noise, you'll feel the sidewalls flex out to their limit and then hold you there.  Once you get used to the sidewall flex, you'll be fine.  On the other hand:

What I'm currently running in my 205's is 20 front and 24 rear.  It's a bit stiffer, but Chris doesn't grump at me any more.  Besides, he's got his OWN darn car, now, and it's a lot bigger!

Geez.....  I've gotta get that light fixed - It's starting to bug me in this photo.

Which light do you need fixed?

nice photos and interesting story; I've been running about 32 lbs all the
way around so I may drop it down a bit.... thanks

nice photos and very interesting story...............gee whiz... I've been running about 32 all the way around. Good to know and i'll drop it down a bit to see the difference

 

thanks again

Sacto Mitch posted:

 

Wow, that's what I love about this site.

Ask a question about ride quality and you could end up with a reply laced with words like 'concomitantly'. Or 'laced', I guess.

Ed's right, though. Cars in the 1960s generally ran much lower tire pressures. VW recommended 18 psi up front. I run 20-22 front, 26 in the back. Try lowering pressure to that range and see if you notice an improvement. Then, fine tune. VW's numbers were for stiffer sidewall bias ply tires. Radials like a bit more.

Also, many of our cars have a front sway bar that interferes with suspension travel. My VS was delivered with one that hit the front bumper brackets after only about an inch of suspension travel. The fix is to rework the bumper brackets for more clearance.

And the shocks on many of our cars leave a lot to be desired. Konis or Bilsteins will help a lot.

But start with the tire pressure. Air's a lot cheaper than new shocks.

 

Thanks and great info.............I'll try and see how it rides

edsnova posted:

Re "rides rough": The first thing to check is tire pressures. Most people have way too much air in their tires because they go by the sidewall specs, which give maximum inflation pressure at XXXXX load. That second number—the load—is usually like a pickup truck full of pavers—2200 pounds per wheel or something. The Speedster weighs like an eighth of that, so the air in the tire holding it up needs to be concomitantly less.

With those big wheels and tires, try running radically low pressures. Start at maybe 16 or 18 in the front and reduce from there. I bet 14 or even 12 is about right for a smooth ride and good traction. Most guys on here with 185/60s are running like 22 pounds in the front, 26 in the back. Remember, those big 225s were made to run on the front of Camaros and such. Cars running 500 pounds or more on each front wheel. You've got about half that. Less air.

nice and thanks, didn't think of that and was going by what the tire stated

TRP posted:

Which light do you need fixed?

Wow, it's like magic!

Oh great.......Now it’s a 1/4 ” high!

Yes...I always put in a few more pounds of air before hitting the track. 

Lowered that tire pressure this evening and will take it for a spin tomorrow to see the difference. 

Hey Gordon, I've got a couple you can have.  I don't think Carey is going to want when he gets the car.

@Coyoteman356, you should have less pressure in the front. I run 18 & 28.

 

Michael McKelvey posted:

@Coyoteman356, you should have less pressure in the front. I run 18 & 28.

 

Ditto.

sounds like a plan to try

The bottom line is (after reading the range of tire pressures on here for, essentially, the same car) - Play with your tire pressures until you find something you're happy with.  The overall range (from this forum) is 14 - 22 front and 18 - 30 rear.  Both ends of those spectrums seem severe, so you might like to compare pressure with that recommended for the slightly heavier VW Sedan and then back off a pound or two til You get where it handles well and has a softer ride.  "Rob and Dave's VW page" is a pretty good reference to start (and maybe end) with:

http://www.vw-resource.com/tires.html

Rob wrote - I have found that for radial tires, 20 psi in the front and 28 psi in the rear gives the best combination of handling and mileage. With 18 psi in front they tend to roll a little in corners and seem to wear just a little more on the outsides.

^^^^^^^ What Rob said!  (He's my "Goobah"...)   

I'd never go below 18 in front, that's mush in a turn and IMHO unsafe.

I'm more 22-25 F, 25-28 R.

It seems like a spyder, with its different weight distribution, would require less front-rear difference.

I agree, but there is a limit of inflation that gets downright dangerous when too low.

Coyoteman356 posted:

Will any Fuchs or replica Fuchs 16” wheel bolt pattern be the same as what I have?

1. There are replica Fuchs made with 5 x 112mm (later VW bus) bolt pattern, so when looking at wheels just keep that in mind. 225's will fit properly on either 7's or 8's so whatever you end up with will work (although 8's will allow you to try 245's at a later date, and everyone will agree it looks badass!). Beetles came from the factory with 25" tall tires, so deviating too much on the rear affects gearing- anything taller than 25 1/2 or 26" will suck the life out of the car's acceleration and may render 4th gear somewhat useless at even slightly elevated highway speeds (go ahead and guess how I know all this). A little shorter on the front will affect the speedo, but VW speedometers aren't terribly accurate so with a little time you'll get used to it. As I said before, 195's or 205's on 6" rims on the front will be more than enough. Al                                                                                             Ps- this tablet (computer smoked the hard drive and we don't get it back till tomorrow) is a PIA!!!                                                        And yeah, there's a definite difference in what works for tire pressure on the street vs the track

I lowered the tire pressure and it felt great until engine lost compression. It’s amazing how the tire pressure made it ride a lot better. Anyway I posted another thread about the engine. 

Al, Mercedes has that same pattern 5 x 112. Lots of Vanagon guys use them when upsizing 14" to 15" or 16".

DannyP posted:

Al, Mercedes has that same pattern 5 x 112. Lots of Vanagon guys use them when upsizing 14" to 15" or 16".

Didn't know that Danny- thanks. And how the heck are you?

ALB posted:

DannyP posted:

Al, Mercedes has that same pattern 5 x 112. Lots of Vanagon guys use them when upsizing 14" to 15" or 16".

Didn't know that Danny- thanks. And how the heck are you?

I did the conversion to 16" MB wheels on  my Vanagon.

@Coyoteman356 DANG, I hope you get your motor sorted out and car back on the road real soon.

Thanks and I appreciate it.