One for the tyre gurus

[Smart-Al]

I am thinking about changing wheel and tyre combo and have found lots of interesting deals. I want to stay with 3 stud 15” wheels. Most of the options I have seen are 195x50x15 on 6” rims R – 195x45x15 on 5” or 5.5” rims F with some of them suggesting using the old rear tyres on the front so 175x55x15F.
My question is can I run 195x50x15 front and rear?

[Evilution]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

I can't see a reason why not, I am running 205 at the back and 195 on the front on 16"s. As long as the offset of the alloy is correct.

[Smart-Al]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

Thanks Evilution,
I have looked into this further and have found that most supplier’s 16” wheel and tyre combos have the same front and rear width and profile. So unless I am missing something, as you suggest, it would not be a problem.
My main reason for wanting to fit 195x50x15 all round was mainly supply there is far more choice than in 195x45x15 and they are cheaper. Once again thanks for your reply.
Smart-Al

[BabyBug]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

evilution would that work on 15's

[RacingSnake]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

195/50/15 is standard fitment on the rears of the corelines/strikelines.
you'd need to watch the spacing onthe front arch if you wanted those tyres on the front too. but you should be okay.

[munk]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

be careful is my advice. I ran 195/50/15's on rear steelies all around and got major scrubage on the front even with a lifted and spaced out front pannel. I had to trim the lip out of the arches and raise the front pannel an inch or so, and even then I got scrubage in everyday driving.

I stupidly got the 195's whereas Ian from BIG had advised me against it. I should have gone for 185/50/15's. Wheel wise I would recomend ronell evo's as they are the widest 15's availiable, but even with 195/50's I was still scrubbing.




The above pics show my 195/50/15 Toyo proxes, as you can see its a squeeze. In these pics the front pannel was lifted up so that the mounts behind the gril were used to sit the front pannel on- rather than slotting in and screwing in. I got an extra inch of clearance that way, plus an extra half inch or so lateral space after the insides of the arches were trimmed- even then I still got scrubbing on bumps and uneven roads in and around leeds.

Also I found something quite worrying about the wheel/tyre combo- 195's bow out on steelies and to an extent on my old rondells- causing less rubber to be in useful contact with the road so the handeling was never that impressive really. I didn't really notice a vast difference when i went back to the standard bicycle wheels in the couple of months before i sold it. I'm sure its different in a lot of cases, but I just thought i'd give you my own experince.

to fit wider wheels to the front you will need to space out the front pannel (where it clips in under the car right at the front) with an old number plate placed horrisontaly in between the pannel clips and the mounts- just use self tapping screws to pus it forwards. You may also be as well to use a heat gun to soften up the front pannle and bend it forwards to give a proper degree of clearance.

Hope this helps. Any problems PM me.

[ZorroReturns]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

here my ex-fortwo with 195/45/15 tyres all round........mind you its on 8J rear alloys & 7J fronts

[munk]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

I think that the profile makes all the difference here! Zorros 195's look heaps clearer than my 195/50's.

So in answer to the question of can you run 195/50/15's all around there are two answers. Yes with an if, and no with a but! lol

Yes 195/50/15's will fit if you don't mind chopping your arches and messing about to get them to clear. No 195/50/15's are not the best option, but if you are stuck between a rock and a hard place 195/50/15's are do-able and safe to run IMHO as a long term prospect with a little work. 195/45/15's would be much better if you can stretch to them at Ł52.49 per corner Yokohama A539's- my choice of what was availiable at www.blackcircles.com .

Hope this all helps to clear up.

[BabyBug]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

im running 195/40/15 F195/45/15R

[Smart-Al]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

Thanks to everyone for their replies.
The pictures from Munk and ZorroReturns highlight the possible rubbing issues.
I feel that i will go with 195x50x15R on 6J and 195x45 x15 on 5J.
Any one got an opinion on Rial Le Man

[digi-roadster]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

I feel that i will go with 195x50x15R on 6J and 195x45 x15 on 5J.
Any one got an opinion on Rial Le Man

Hi,

In terms of tyre width to wheel size I think the 195/50/15s on 6J will be fine but I would be very worried about the handling of the 195/45/15s on 5Js - 195/45/15s will fit between 6.5J and 8J wheel widths - running these tyres on 5J wheels will allow the tyre to distort excessively sideways under fast cornering - pretty much as Munk has described with his set-up.

[Squeezer]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

I stupidly got the 195's whereas Ian from BIG had advised me against it. I should have gone for 185/50/15's. .

I have also heard that 185's should be the widest tyre on the front wheels. I have a set of corelines and will be changing tyres soon and would like to go to this size.

Can you get a 185/50/15 tyres because I cant find anyone that does them?

[munk]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

I have also heard that 185's should be the widest tyre on the front wheels. I have a set of corelines and will be changing tyres soon and would like to go to this size.

Can you get a 185/50/15 tyres because I cant find anyone that does them?

Yeah... dave made a screw up... should have been 185/50/16's it was about 3 years ago though! lol. Ian reccomeneded those but was under the impression that i was running 16s... you can get 185/50/16's but not 185/50/15's sorry for the mis-information.

I do however agree with digi roadster's point- it did feel like i was driving on a matress with the excessivly wide & tall tyres as I assume they distorted nicely everytime i chucked it into a corner- not really a safety issue but i might as welll have stayed with the standard wheels and tyres as there really was very little difference.

Have been doing some research and toyo now do R888 Semi slicks as fitted to massives car. The perfect size would be 165/50/VR15 as you stick with pretty much the same rolling diameter and keep the rubber on the tarmac- granted they are thiner than ever the original eco conti's that smart use as standard, but the compound and tread pattern and increased performance and grip willl make up for it. You'll have no problems at all with scrubage as they only work out to be 1.39% or 7.5mm bigger than standard with a diameter of 546mm and a cicumfrence of 1715.31mm versus 538.5mm & 1691.75 (respectively) of standard tyres. Thus when you reading 70mph on the speedo you'll be doing 70.97mph with these rather than 74.87mph with 195/50/15's.

Check here: http://www.toyo.co.uk/tyresales.php and also here for a handy tyre swap calculator here: http://www.rochfordtyres.co.uk/tyrecalc.asp. This should give you a fair idea of how you'll be affected in real world terms.

[Smart-Al]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

Thanks to all for even more usefull information.
I have had a look at some tyre manufacturers data and can concur with digi-roadster that 195/45/15s need a recomended minimum width of between 6" and 6.5" depending on the tyre.
This then begs the question why are suppliers offering Rial Le Mans with 195x45x15 on a 5" rim.
I did not intend opening a can of worms when I started this thread.

[munk]

Re: One for the tyre gurus

This then begs the question why are suppliers offering Rial Le Mans with 195x45x15 on a 5" rim.

Cheap and abundant for budget tyres? Thats still over tyring the rim with 195's on a 5" rim, not dangerous but joe public won't question it... I suspect the ideology behind it in the public veiw is "wider is better", it may also be down to the fact that 4-2's don't require the same sort of tyre pressures as for instance my clio which needs around 30-32psi on a 165/65/14. But then again I wouldn't place money on it.