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Next round of tires I believe I'm going a different route. The chrome wheels I have are nice but I want solid white wheels, no holes, have not decided on 15x5.5 or 15x4.5....

Background info....

I currently have the equivalent of a 165/80-15 on the 356. My Ghia has 185/55-15. Now the Ghia is on air ride front and rear with dropped spindles and a 4" narrowed beam. I can drop it to the ground and not rub until I turn hard. I use the Ghia for reference because the body lines are so close in appearance. I have been planning on 15x5.5 for the 356 but might just entertain 15x4.5. The 356 has an adjustable front beam.

Plans....

I do not plan on going with air ride on the 356. I am going to bring the back down to level out the ride, the rear sits too high for me. Will it need dropped spindles? I dont think it will due to the already adjustable beam (unless it is cranked all the way down) and going to a smaller side wall tire, allowing me to use a 15x4.5 if I chose. I dont need to have the widest rear tire, I'm more looking to reduce the sidewall flex, be more responsive on the steering, bring the 356 down a more respectable height with a more aggressive look, fill the wheel wells with wheel not tire and last keep the performance.

That said.....

I'm looking to do a 15x5.5 or 15x4.5 with a 155/60-15. Dropped spindles? Not sure yet.

I would like to see pics with a description of your suspension, wheel size and tire size. Of course opinions, ideas and conversations are always appreciated. 

 

 

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Original Post

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@Wright Conceptz

I have a 2014 VS with swing-axle with adjustable swing plate. For the stance I was looking for, I adjusted these down just until I reached a slightly negative rear camber. IMG_20141204_121112

I have a single Adjust-A-Lift on the front...IMG_0759

I wanted the car to have an aggressive stance, lowered and widest wheel and rubber I could install within space allowed by the swing-axle, so I got the Empi fake Fuchs 5x130 by 5.5" wide with 4.5" offset....IMG_0260

I had those stripped, polished and repainted to the correct Fuchs scheme. I use 185x60 tires for lower sidewall and wider rubber. I use the black anodized aluminum lug nuts.IMG_0469

With all four wheels having the 4.5" backspace, they fit perfect in the rear wheel wells with about 1/4" clearance on both sides. However, these wheels in the front gave the appearance of a narrowed beam, which I did not want. So I installed 1.75" hub-centric spacers to push the wheels outward . This combined with the 5/8" wider track the 2" drop spindle added to each side gave me the front stance I was after.s-l1000

The 2" drop spindle didn't get the car as low as i wanted so I then lowered the Adjust-A-Lift to level the car to match the rear.

This is the result of all those elements in play.980784_10209215314043841_153670275360784566_oCalendar 2

FYI - the combination of the 4.5" offset, lowered Adjust-A-Lift, 2" drop spindle and 1.75" spacers did noticeably change the steering geometry. The turning radius is much wider and there is understeer on aggressive cornering.

Hope you find this info helpful! 

 

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@sl posted:

@MusbJim Beautiful car! Couldn't help to notice the Porsche crest misalignment in the picture of the re-done Fuchs wheel . Bottom of Porsche crest always points down to the inflation nozzle. https://jalopnik.com/porsche-h...ozzle.&text=That's%20the%20official%20way%20to,as%20they%20can%20help%20it.

What if the inflation nozzle is up? Do I rotate the tire so it's down before installing? Asking for a friend.

"Beautiful car! Couldn't help to notice the Porsche crest misalignment in the picture of the re-done Fuchs wheel."@sl

Thanks for the compliment! In that pic I just got my wheels back from polishing, tires mounted and stuck the cap on for a quick pic. You're absolutely right about the misalignment of the P-crest and tire valve! 

Throughout my entire 25 year PCA membership, I was always doing sh*t like that to piss off the purists. 

In a picture I submitted for one of the SOC calendars, I had the crest / valve in alignment to satisfy the OCD part of my abby normal brain. Musbjim_bw

@Wright Conceptz we're all looking forward to seeing pics of your finished Speedster project! 

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  • Musbjim_bw

Hey @Wright Conceptz, I have a lot of experience with those Contis you listed in your OP as they are OEM on the 451 Smart Fortwo. I've used both the ProContacts and the WinterContacs (as winter tires). I liked them a lot. As much as I liked them, on the recommendation of a fellow Smart owner I replaced them with Vredestein Quadtracs for this winter. As I told him, this added just as much enjoyment to driving it* as ditching the OEM shocks/struts with Bilsteins. 

Youll also find much discussion wrt Vredestein SporTracs on here, as well.  I'm planning on replacing the Walmart Specials I'm running now with Quadtracs next year. I wish I could use the Smart sizes on my Spyder, but without a bunch of suspension mods, I'd be scraping my butt on the pavement.  

 

*On on further reflection, part of my loving the Vredesteins may be due to a softer sidewall, but I've noticed no degradation in handling over the Contis. 

@sl posted:

@MusbJim Beautiful car! Couldn't help to notice the Porsche crest misalignment in the picture of the re-done Fuchs wheel . Bottom of Porsche crest always points down to the inflation nozzle. https://jalopnik.com/porsche-h...ozzle.&text=That's%20the%20official%20way%20to,as%20they%20can%20help%20it.

Who even cares? I'll make sure to mix them all up on purpose, just to piss off these retentive people. I'm going to go out and turn them all to a different position on my Cayman today.

Last edited by DannyP

Danny wrote about his P-Car wheel center caps: "I'll make sure to mix them all up on purpose, just to piss off these retentive people. I'm going to go out and turn them all to a different position on my Cayman today."

I went the opposite route just recently - I had the wheels road force balanced (I highly recommend this for everyone) and had to pop out the center caps anyway (which were pointed all over the place).  When I put them back I lined them up just like the "Sainted P-Car Purists" just to see how many think it's an "original outlaw" with fender flares, Nerf bars and Fuchs.

Yah nevah know.....   A lot of them are pretty gullible.

To add my two penneth to the mix.. As you've no doubt found @Wright Conceptz almost all our cars have a different set up and each element (disc brakes, drop spindles, etc) adds or subtracts width from the overall track. My car is a Chesil Speedster with the usual Beetle front beam and IRS rear and (like yours) has adjustable spring plates at the rear and drop spindles and disc brakes up front, both of which widen the track.

Similar to @MusbJim I've got 15x5.5 fake Fuschs (chromed) but currently I'm running 195/55x15.

tigermoth66_side_front

tigermoth66_side_rear1

The steering is too heavy for me (large scrub radius and wide grippy tires) and the clearance is marginal. And I prefer narrower tires for less grip but with a more controlled breakaway. So I'm going to go 175/65 x15 if the car can handle the extra 7mm of radius difference, or 175/60x15 or even 165/65x15 if not.

Hope this helps..

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