Tyre size

[FBeing]

Howdy all

Just after some advice on tyre sizes
(forgive me if these sounds stupid but wheels etc aint my forte)

Long story short I am getting some new rims
15 x 7 up front and 15 x 8 at the rear

I am wondering what the highest profile tyre I can fit is?
I would like to get white walls and I think the lowest profile I can get would be 60 series (215/60/15), unless someone can tell me otherwise.

Or the other option would be to get 50 series and put flappers on.

I would prefer to fit proper whitewalls but not sure of clearance issues.

So any ideas as to how high I can go with profile??

Any info much appreciated and if there is anything else I need to consider please let me know...

Stu

[Devilrod]

I think you'll find with rims that wide you're going to have clearance issues. Unless you get the offsets right. Eights on the rear will fit but your offset will need to be set right to maximise guard clearance for both inner and outer. But I think sevens on the front may be tight especially if your car is low. Need to check the overall tyre height of the new tyres with what you have on there now as a starting point.

[FBeing]

Yep DR I am getting custom rims made and the offset/backspace will be spot on.
Currently have 205/60/13 rubber and have no clearance issues.

Just don't want to order tyres and have them useless (pick up wheels next week)

Wonder if just to be safe I should go with 50 series, maybe even a lower profile?

I will do some more measuring...

[Blacky]

This might help - http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

[Devilrod]

Thats a good one Blacky.

[FBeing]

Yep thanks Mr Black...

[Cal]

Just be careful in that a 215/60/15 of one brand may not be the same overall height as the same size from a different brand. When I bought my tyres, I sat 2 different brands of exactly the same size next to each other and they were different in overall height.

[FBeing]

Good point Peter, I'll look closely at specs

[Trev]

I have 215/75/14's on 7" rims and I had to pump out the inner guards so they wouldn't scrape.
If I had to have 8" rims lower profile tyers would would be the go, you could even go wider, as long as the side wall doesn't bulge out wider than the tread, because that is where my tyers scraped.

[FBeing]

Well Trev maybe I can get 225's on the back??
I reckon that would look cool
And if I have to pump the guards then that's what I'll do

[Trev]

Would be really cool.
What rear end are you running? Mine is LJ Torana.

[steved57]

225's suit 7" rims Stu. If you're running 8"s on the back you'll want 245's which, with a 15" diameter, should fit under your car(just) provided your rim offset is OK - and she's not too low. Lowest profile I've seen in whitewalls is 65, but that's with a two inch whitewall. Of course the problem with going too low a profile (if you can find 'em) is you lose the effect of the whitewall. Cheers, Steve

[FBeing]

Would be really cool.
What rear end are you running? Mine is LJ Torana.

No idea
I know it's not stock coz when I snapped an axle I had to get a new one machined

[FBeing]

225's suit 7" rims Stu. If you're running 8"s on the back you'll want 245's which, with a 15" diameter, should fit under your car(just) provided your rim offset is OK - and she's not too low. Lowest profile I've seen in whitewalls is 65, but that's with a two inch whitewall. Of course the problem with going too low a profile (if you can find 'em) is you lose the effect of the whitewall. Cheers, Steve

Thanks Steve, I didn't think 245's would fit. I'll look into that. And yep you're right about the profile and whitewall thing
But with the caps I wanna run I think they might look a bit plain without whitewalls

[FBeing]

Did a quick search and couldn't come up with the answer to this Q
I know the original tyres were 6.40 x 13"

What was the profile of the original tyres?