Right, i've head a search and become very, very confused!

We have a 66 Splitty with a 2in narrowed beam and IRS rear on EMPI 5s. We've currently got 165/50/15 on the front and 165/80/15 on the rear, but we'd like to change all the tyres to some decent load rated ones.

Joey isn't the lowest bus in the world, so we have some room at the front to go for a bigger tyre (which it will have to be to be load rated), but due to space issues we can't go for a wider tyre at the rear because the ones we have are a squeeze to get on as it is! We wouldn't mind going for a smaller tyre on the back as he's quite nose down and we'd like him a little more level. Adjustable spring plates are on the wish list too.

He currently looks like this:


Any suggestions?


I know that you can run car tyres on a Split, and that the majority of people don't have problems with running slam/smart/small tyres, but we don't want to run out bus too close to the floor (we have the Beetle for scraping in) and have enough 'room' to allow for bigger weight rated tyres.

ta

weight rating of 89h would be fine and i asked it garage and that what they use on people carriers

This is all due to the silly offsets of all aftermarket wide 5 alloy wheels. They poke out an inch more than stock. On top of that I presume you've got some sort of IRS setup which adds a few more mm. My 64 runs on BRMs and just gets 185/65s under the rear arches but it runs stock suspension. It certainly wont work with early bay rear suspension.

The load rating of a tyre is pretty much fixed across the different manufacturers for a given size of tyre. The only option being whether they are XL rated which increases the load carrying ability by ~10%.

On the front you should have tyres rated to 950 kg total across the axle and 1150kg across the rear so each front should take 475kg and the rears 575kg. A tyre rated to 475kg will have the number 82 stamped on the side after the dimensions and the 575kg tyres on the rear are stamped 89 as paul states above. The only problem is that 165 wide tyres in 15" wheel diameter are hard to find. 165/50 are 73 rated, 165/65 are 81 rated (462kg) and 165/80 are 87 rated (545kg). I think for now your only option is to run 165/65 on the front and stick with your present rears. They dont quite meet spec but with a little bit of conservative loading and increased tyre pressures they may be okay.

Ultimately I would run 185/65R15 on the rear and 185/55R15 on the front. To do this you'd need to change wheels. I know VWHeritage have re cast their range of wide five alloys to give better offsets (they didn't know on the phone what they were exactly as the bloke in the know was at a show) but I'm sure they could tell you now.

Hiya, yeah he's running on 68 Bay IRS, which, as you say, doesn't help with the clearance!

Would 165/80 fit ok on the fronts at the same kinda height that he is without rubbing etc?


The alloys are a bit of a pain with the offsets etc but they look so pretty!





So much more room on steelies:


Thanks

what would our options be on 14in steels?

Probably 185R14 on the back (i.e. the closest to the book spec) and either the same or poss a bit lower profile on the front? The worlds your oyster with 14" steelies.

We had a look at a lot of Split at Stanford Hall and noticed a lot of them has 185/65/15s on the back - does anyone know what the equivilent is in 14s? As we liked the stance those ones had

185/65R15 has a circumference of 1895mm, which is smaller than the "std" 185R14 (circ = 1990mm).

The closest I can see is 185/70R14 with a circumference of 1880mm.

Your present 165/80R15 has a circumfernce of 1965mm so its almost an exact match, the 185/70R14 will be smaller so your engine will rev 5.5% faster. e.g. whatever speed used to spin the engine at 3000rpm will now spin it at 3165rpm. I never really noticed the change when I went from 185R14 to 185/65R15 though (4.8% higher revs).

Another option may be 195/70R14 with a circ of 1920mm (3.5% higher revs), but it may be a bit of a squeeze on a 5J rim (it is a permitted fit though).

Dont forget that changing the fronts to a lower profile will also throw the speedo out a bit.