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curse of the 15" wheel


brian in buddina

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curse of the 15 inch wheel

 
I've been reading the "aged tyre" thread and reckon my tyres are onto their use by date. I have a 1988 944S with the dreaded 7J x 15" wheels. teladials
the spec offset should be 52.3 but my wheels have the pre 1986 offset of 23.3!!! The intended use is for weekend drives on curvy roads. No track use. 
 
Porsche's recommended tyre for this car/wheel combination is the Pirelli P6000. It is out of stock in Australia and is waiting to be manufactured. According to Bruce Buchanan this tyre is pretty average and just good enough for a 6 cylinder Merc of 1980's vintage.
 
It seems difficult if not impossible to find a good 15" tyre which is not a pretty average passenger car tyre. If someone knows of a good grippy road tyre let me know. 
 
The first alternative would be to get new, or used, 16" rims which opens up the availability for better rubber. Going 7J x 16" would mean the least detriment to the existing suspension, odometer reading & ABS. It would be nice to keep close to an 'in period' look of the wheels. Does anyone have some  16" wheels for sale? 
 
Another alternative is to pick up some used 17" cup wheels. Looking on the Rennlist forum their is a positive comment about 993 cup wheels  fitting the 944. Does this mess up the suspension,odometer or ABS? Has anyone here done this?
 
I'm sure this has all been discussed & resolved before, any help would be most appreciated.
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Hey Brian

Are you sure re the 23mm offset?  23mm offset wheels on a late offset vehicle like yours will stick out like dog's b@lls.  I haven't noticed this when looking at your car...

Cheers

Rob

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Try having 15" wheels in a different size for front and rear! .... talk about hard to find tyres ... :PissedOff:

I use Falken ZE912's on my 911 and have no complaints with them .... when they were new, they stuck like glue.

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I use Falken ZE912's on my 911 and have no complaints with them .... when they were new, they stuck like glue.

I put these tyres on a 1986 944 and i didn't like them, couldn't stop them from squealing on a spirited drive and in the wet they were terrible, be careful what you buy.

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I put these tyres on a 1986 944 and i didn't like them, couldn't stop them from squealing on a spirited drive and in the wet they were terrible, be careful what you buy.

I can't really comment on their performance in the wet weather as I don't drive it in the rain ....  :)

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Brian, I've got a set of Cup 2s you might like to try for fit...

what size are they Rob? 16 or 17 or??? are the front & rears a different width. What vehicle did they come off of? 

A Rennlist thread they would fit, onthe 944, but on studying up on them they came in different sizes. So I'm not sure if they will all fit or only some. 

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What width and ratio are you after? 215/60?

Peter

these are Porsche's recommended wheel/tyre size, dated 08/2012

 
7J x15 ET 23.3 215/60R15 this is what I have but is the spec for the pre 86 model year, mine is a 1988 model year
 
7J x16 ET52.3/55 205/55 ZR16 This is what I should have.
 
8J x 16 ET52.3/55 225/50 ZR16 This is for the S2 model
 
7.5J x17 ET 65 225/45 ZR17 This will require changes to the wheel alignment, And I would think effect the speedo & maybe ABS???  

@Peter M

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what size are they Rob? 16 or 17 or??? are the front & rears a different width. What vehicle did they come off of? 

A Rennlist thread they would fit, onthe 944, but on studying up on them they came in different sizes. So I'm not sure if they will all fit or only some. 

They came off my Turbo (not originals), they are 17" diameter, 7.5" 225/45 front and 9" 255/40 rear.  I'm not trying to sell them, just letting you experience some decent rubber if you are so inclined.  You'll find that the overall rolling circumference will be close to that of the original wheels fitted to your car.  The ABS won't be affected.

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I can't complain about my tyres (Bruce recommended them to me) Toyo T1R's (mine are in 16inch though).  I've certainly not gone crazy in them but I give them a spank now & then & I have driven them in the wet & they've not come unstuck yet.

If they'd fit why dont you talk to OzJustin.  He has a set of 16 inch D90s with new Pirellis Pilot Sport that he wants to sell.  They've recently been refurbed...........

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I can't complain about my tyres (Bruce recommended them to me) Toyo T1R's (mine are in 16inch though).  I've certainly not gone crazy in them but I give them a spank now & then & I have driven them in the wet & they've not come unstuck yet.

I have these on my turbo and they haven't put a foot wrong so far, been good in the wet too, twice:)

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They came off my Turbo (not originals), they are 17" diameter, 7.5" 225/45 front and 9" 255/40 rear.  I'm not trying to sell them, just letting you experience some decent rubber if you are so inclined.  You'll find that the overall rolling circumference will be close to that of the original wheels fitted to your car.  The ABS won't be affected.

thanks Rob much appreciated.

I may take you up on this.

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If they'd fit why dont you talk to OzJustin.  He has a set of 16 inch D90s with new Pirellis Pilot Sport that he wants to sell.  They've recently been refurbed...........

Hi Brian. Tried to send you a PM but it wouldn't go through. Send me a message if you'd like some details on my D90s. :) 

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Hey Brian, if you are looking for grippy 205/50r15 tyres that aren't too expensive, I can highly recommend Federal 595 RS-RR. I am running them on my 944, albeit in a  larger size, and they are a great value for money tire. I've taken Mike D'Silva for a spirited ride and he can attest that they are quite grippy :D

 

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Hey Brian, if you are looking for grippy 205/50r15 tyres that aren't too expensive, I can highly recommend Federal 595 RS-RR. I am running them on my 944, albeit in a  larger size, and they are a great value for money tire. I've taken Mike D'Silva for a spirited ride and he can attest that they are quite grippy :D

 

Tim

What size wheels are you running? Any other comments, noise, wet grip, feel approaching the limit???

Hi Brian. Tried to send you a PM but it wouldn't go through. Send me a message if you'd like some details on my D90s. :) 

OzJustin

Mailbox emptied, PM sent.

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Hey Brian, if you are looking for grippy 205/50r15 tyres that aren't too expensive, I can highly recommend Federal 595 RS-RR. I am running them on my 944, albeit in a  larger size, and they are a great value for money tire. I've taken Mike D'Silva for a spirited ride and he can attest that they are quite grippy :D

 

Timm

Just checked with a local Federal re seller.

$145 each, fitted, which seems really reasonable, except the local guy on the phone said they are good for 5000 km???

This is a track tyre which happens to be road legal, would be very sticky. 

Any one have experience to the contrary? 

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Timm

Just checked with a local Federal re seller.

$145 each, fitted, which seems really reasonable, except the local guy on the phone said they are good for 5000 km???

This is a track tyre which happens to be road legal, would be very sticky. 

Any one have experience to the contrary? 

 

Depends how you drive it. I have so far gotten about 8000km out of mine, including 5 track days, and I still have maybe a quarter tread left, so you should be able to get at least 10 to 15 thousand out of them with street driving and a street alignment (no aggressive toe).

 

Tim

What size wheels are you running? Any other comments, noise, wet grip, feel approaching the limit???

 

I run them in 255/35r18 at all four corners, my wheels are 18 x 9.5. They are quite noisy, so if you have a quiet car they could be very annoying...on mine I don't mind because the exhaust drowns out the loud hum that the tyres emit. Wet grip is quite good, I've done a wet sprint at QR and they weren't too bad. Feel approaching the limit is very good, I really quite like driving at the edge with these tyres. All in all I think they are a great tyre for the price. If you have a bit more money to spend, you might also consider the Yokohama AD08R, they also come in 205/50r15 and offer about the same performance as the Federal RS-RR but are longer wearing.

Here are two videos of me on my RS-RRs at lakeside and QR respectively.

 

 

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Timm

Just checked with a local Federal re seller.

$145 each, fitted, which seems really reasonable, except the local guy on the phone said they are good for 5000 km???

This is a track tyre which happens to be road legal, would be very sticky. 

Any one have experience to the contrary? 

Brian,

I think Timm's suggestion to run 205's is a good one and worth considering.  They're still suitable for 7inch rims and there are lots of choices as its a common size for many cars.  The only real disadvantage would be the speedo would read a touch faster.

I reckon Bridgestone RE003 in 205/55 x 15 would suit you fine in all weather conditions as there a quite a few RE003 fanbois on this forum.     

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  • 7 months later...

@SteveF

https://imgur.com/gallery/NFA9u

Replaced the 15" phone dials with 16" cup ish type wheels, actual P car 968 wheels 7" & 8"

all with the correct offset

All the recommended "sport" tyres were out of stock or priced out of this world.

ended up getting Bridgestone Potenza 

front 205/55R16

rear 225/50R16

Probably not high performance, but either am I 

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Thanks Brian for letting me know. I am going through the same process at the moment with my ‘86 944 which has old tyres. I’m still undecided as to which way to go but would prefer to keep the original look. 

The 968 alloys look good.

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