Hmm, nice fox alloys but what about the tyres?

[b1ondie86]

So, I picked up my second hand Fox Racing alloys today and...



What d'ya reckon? I know they might need a bit of a refurb etc. but I lurve the 5 spokesness.

However...

I need to buy a couple of new tyres and I'm thinking - these tyres look a bit humungous. The size of the tyres at the moment is 205/60/15. If I wanted to get "thinner" looking tyres (but not too thin), what size would I need to look for? Sorry, I AM SUCH A NOOB! Any help is muchly appreciated in advance!

[K.I.T.T.]

195/55/15 are the tyres that are on my stock wheels. Not the best pic, but you get the idea...



Ash

[Alex_White_Gti]

Nice wheels mate

Deffonatly a gloss black refurb though

[blazeguarder]

Yeah, you're going to need new tyres or else your speedometer will read wrong. Here's a link to a tyre size calculator that I find pretty useful: Tyre Size Calculator.

I've got 15" alloys as well, running 195/50/15 on them.

[b1ondie86]

So, am I correct in thinking that if the tyres are 205/60/15 at the moment...That you can look for different numbers on the tyres apart from the 15(I know that is the size of the alloys). Sooo, for example, I could buy 195/55/15 and they would fit onto these alloys no problem?

@ Ash - Dood, I don't think I have ever seen a polo in that colour, it's beautiful! Like a fine wine...Ahem, back to the topic, the size you have on seems pretty decent to me. When I picked these up I was like "****, they are huuuge!"

Nice wheels mate

Deffonatly a gloss black refurb though

Lol, do you think gloss black would go with my blue? I wasn't so sure, but was defo thinking some kind of shininess.

@ Blazeguarder - That is a really good link! When I do mine at the tyre sizes you've mentioned, it tells me that my speedometer will be 3.1% too slow. "At 60mph you will actually be going 61.9mph" - Is this too much of a difference?

Thanks guys for all the help, you dudes are godsends! If it wasn't for this site, I would still be driving round a totally unmodded polo wishing I could tweak little bits to how I imagine.

[K.I.T.T.]

What size tyres do you have at the moment Jen? I'd put those details in the link blazeguarder posted and then compare them against 195/55/15 and 195/50/15.

I'm still a bit confused over the tyres required for 15" wheels - From the factory, I had 195/55/15 and have seen several other Polos with the same, but then again, I've also seen the same alloys I've got being sold by VW for the Polo with 195/50/15

FWIW, 16" wheels on the Polo use 205/45/16 and 17" wheels use 205/45/17. If you plug those two into the calculator, you'll see the overall rolling radius of the 16" wheels is smaller. Having said that, +/-1.5% should be okay...

Ash

[b1ondie86]

My stock tyres that I have on at the moment are 165/70/14 - this is what the link tells me with the different sized tyres that you spoke of :

From stock to 195/55/15 the speedometer would be 1.5% too slow (so at 60mph reading I am actually doing 60.9mph - no big E)

From stock to 195/50/15 the speedometer would be 1.8% too fast! (so at 60mph reading I am actually doing 58.9mph)

So it looks like I would be best off buying the 195/55/15 tyres - that also got me thinking, are alloys different widths? Or are they all the same and then you buy different width tyres? Sorry, the noobness is reappearing in force today.

Oo, oo, and I think I'm going to try and refurb these myself (not 100% sure yet) - I'm pretty arty farty and it looks like something I'll enjoy doing (I'm one of those people who don't mind spending ageeeeeees on something to make it look slightly pertier - sad,eh?). Any tips would be nice, although I do have quite a nice guide on it.

[b1ondie86]

Sorry to bring this thread back up again, but I've just been cleaning the alloys and on the back (under all the muck) it says 7j. Now, I now it means something, but don't know what? If anyone could explain...And if it does mean something important, can I still order 195/55/15 tyres to go on them as I was planning on doing? Or does it change things? Thanks in advance! Jen.

[BennoGTi]

Sorry to bring this thread back up again, but I've just been cleaning the alloys and on the back (under all the muck) it says 7j. Now, I now it means something, but don't know what? If anyone could explain...And if it does mean something important, can I still order 195/55/15 tyres to go on them as I was planning on doing? Or does it change things? Thanks in advance! Jen.

7 stands for 7 inch wheel width

The J is talking about the flange height, J rim has 0.68 inch high flange

The flange is the difference between the outer edge of the alloy and the inner alloy bit where the tyre would sit

[b1ondie86]

Ahh! Thanks for that dude, the diagram helps too. I'm guessing there must be a width which is too wide for a polo? I don't want it to rub on the arches.

[K.I.T.T.]

Any idea what the ET is? Having said that, 7J will be fine unless the ET is stupidly low, which it won't.

Ash

[b1ondie86]

Lol, again, after removing aload of muck, it says the ET is 35. I'm *super paranoid* these aren't going to fit on my polo! That's why every number I see I keep having to check it with you guys!

[K.I.T.T.]

They'll fit fine. They should sit rather nicely too

Ash

[b1ondie86]

Excellent! Thanks for putting my mind at rest, Ash. When they are painted and fitted, I'll post a picture up!