Manx Club

Greetings fellow buggiers!It's been a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNG time since i've had time for the buggy,(or time to corrospond here),but I am finally getting,"back to it".My question is what width rear wheels are you running?If memory serves me,the general concensis was 28" as far as prefered rear tire (height) goes.I have been told that 235/75/15's are the same (height)dimensions.Could someone verify that? I also forgot what front tire size was reccomended to match the offroad rears,(I use 195/60/15's on road,on the front).I'm looking for a good "general purpose" offroad tire that will be used onroad mostly and see sand and sandy soil offroad! I wanted to use a set of vintage 60's dunebuggy rims that I used,(& LOVED),on a 67 baja I had(with both 31/10.5/15's and 32/10.5/15's in the rear) but I can't find a 28" tire that will come anywhere near mounting,(properly) on the 8" wide rear wheels.So I'm ready to break down and buy some "classic style"spun aluminum Centerlines.(I've liked them since before I liked girls)! I know you could all come up with 3000 factors to effect my decision,(engine size,brakes,gearing etc).The car currently has a 1200 and I have parts to build a 1950,(or so),I will likely stick with the 1200 for some time,(given gas prices and my current situation).NOT that I expect gas prices to change in our favor,(but my current situation will)! I will likely run disc brakes in the future but the car currently has 4 wheel drums,(new EVERYTHING,all around),with type 3 rear brakes and 68 beetle rear wheel cylanders in the front,(with all other brake parts being standard early 60's stuff).I understand that solid wheels will effect my brake cooling,(especially after switching to disc brakes).I also know that with a 40 horse engine I wouldn't need the discs.Is anyone running disc brakes and having a brake issue using "non-vented"wheels? Any ifo would be greatly appreciated! Thank,"Dunebubby" #2501

Here is a Bridgestone Dueler 235/75/15 on a 8.5" centerline wheel. They come in a touch over 28". I wanted 265's and the guy didn't want to put them on. Something about PA laws and tires sticking out, blah, blah. I'm happy with them and I know it's the for the best with my current gearing.

Depending on what gearing you have in the transmission you are going to have a hard time or harder trying to pull a 28in tire with a 1200cc engine. A stock VW tire is about 25in tall stay close to that unless you decide to change to close ratio 3rd and 4th gears.

Here is a 275-60R15 BFG Radial T/A on an 8" Centerline. It's 28" tall also.

Depends how wide you like. I have 295 50 15, on an 8" Centerline. It`s a nice wide tread but not too tall of profile. I believe they`re 26 1/2" tall.

Here's a site that compares tires for you http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

I Misspoke in my previous post. I guess it happens when you have more then one buggy. This buggy has 195-60R15's on 4" wide Centerlines on the front and 295-50R15 on8" wide Centerlines on the rear. This one has 195-60R15's on 6" wide wheels on the front and 275-60R15 on 8" wide wheels on the rear.

This one has P235/75R15 on 6" wide Centerlines on the back, and P205/75R15 on 5" wide Centerlines up front. I really like the rear tire size / wheel combination, and I think it's perfect for a buggy with a stock engine, stock suspension, and no body lift. Like Joesph said, you will hate the 28" tires with the 1200cc engine. I am not entirely happy even with a dual port 1600! Your 1.9l engine should have no trouble at all even with a 31" tire, so don't change your gearing if you will be going to the larger engine. I like the above picture because it shows how close the front tires come to the fenders. The tire isn't normally this close, but it happened to be up on a berm at the time. My wheels have a 2-3/8" backspacing, so the tires stick out just a little bit: Right now I have had to limit the amount of travel the front suspension has because the right front tire will rub on the fender whenever you hit a bump. Only the right one rubs, because the right front fender is almost an inch lower than the left one (welcome to the world of FG!). I will most likely go to a smaller diameter front tire soon, because everyone else seems to be having good luck with them and I would like to have all of my travel back!

Hey Lee! I'm glad you added that in your post... My buggy has the same ailment too. I was going crazy trying to figure out if I made the mistake when I installed the cheapy framehead on the pan. I KNOW I welded it perfectly straight and level, taking all kinds of measurements in the process, and triple checked everything with the body on. Trouble is, all that effort was done before the front wheels and tires were finally installed! I guess our cars may have been born from the same mold. BTW, does your right rear tire stick out more that the left rear tire? Mine does about 1 1/8 inches. The body is centered exactly on the pan too. Sigh...

John, Looks like our buggies are twins! I was working in the garage today, and I verified that the right rear tire does in fact stick out about an inch further than the left one! So our buggies either came from the same mold, or we both messed up the same things when we mounted the bodies. :laugh1: It's one of those things you never notice until someone points it out to you, then you notice it EVERY time you look at the car. All FG buggies are unique, even the ones that are unique in the exact same way.

figured i would ressurect an old thread instead of doing a new one. just ordered the wheels- 15X10 rear,15x6 front. 275/60 rear, 195/60 front. i am still looking at tire types though. i have seen 'red line' tires. a tire with a red line on it like an old hot wheel. they seem to be on a lot of the street rod type sites. one even says it is the 'correct' color red. so does anyone know where these came from? the corect color statement makes me think this was a fad or something years ago. was thinking it might look cool to have a couple fronts with 'hot wheel' tires on it.

The "Red Line" tires were used on late 60`s muscle cars. These are mostly for the purist restorer who absolutly wants everything correct. They`re probably only available in bias ply.

Do a Google for "Coker Tire". They should have the red line tires. Olli