General 15 inch wheels for Panda

[sabeltandcavia]

I've read on some other Forum that it is impossible to fit 15 inch wheels, without major modifications to the car. And that if you'd try to mount 15 inch wheels on a regular Panda, they would hit the fenders, but I think 15 inch wheels CAN be fit without much of a problem.

Here's the normal situation:
135/70 R13 so the height of the tire is 70% of 135mm= 94.5mm. A 13 inch wheel is 33.02 centimeter high, so the total height of the wheel is (2x9.45cm)+33.02cm=51,92cm

With 15 inch wheels (and low-profile tires!)
195/45 VR15 so here the height of the tire is 45% of 195mm=87.75mm. 15 inch wheels are 38.1cm high, so the wheel is a total of (2x8.775)+38.1=55.56cm

So the difference in diameter is only 55.56-51.92=3.64cm, so the radius of the wheel would only change half of that, 1.82cm. There's plenty of room on either side of the tire to make 'm 1.8 cm bigger (on either side).

So the old wheels were 5x13 inch with an ET of 27mm. 5 inch is 12.7cm, so space from the hub to the inner edge of the wheel is 6.35+0.27=6.62cm

The new wheels would be 7x15, ET will be the same. 7 inch is 17.78cm, so half of that + the ET value = 9.16cm from the hub to the inner edge of the wheel.

The difference is 9.16-6.62=2.54cm (exactly 1 inch) I'm not sure about this, but it seems to me it wouldn't be much of a problem if a wheel was pointed inwards 2 and a half centimeter more.

Am I missing something here, or is this right?

JvE


~~Nulla Tenaci Invia est Via~~

 

[Surrey Sporting]

Here you go;

<font face="Stencil">Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference
135/70-13 3.7in 10.2in 20.4in 64.2in 987 0.0%
185/50-15 3.6in 11.1in 22.3in 70.0in 905 9.0%
165/50-15 3.2in 10.7in 21.5in 67.5in 938 5.2%
165/45-15 2.9in 10.4in 20.8in 65.5in 967 2.0%</font id="Stencil">

Therefore 165/50-15 will be about 5% out (bearable) but yes a near match'll be 195/45-15 ,dunno if yoo can get them (expensive!)

oh yeah - almost forot
195/45-15 3.5in 11.0in 21.9in 68.8in 921 -3.7%

 

[John H]

Hi

I'm interested to know where you got the offset figures from:[?]

Also I thought the 135 tyres are 80 section on 13 inch..

The only wheel info I've got so far is for a Basic (narrow tyre) Panda: they are quoted as 13 X 4B in the (old) Panda drivers handbook.
There is no mention of offsets, or other wheel sizes.


There is an adjacent thread about offsets (to do with wheels off a SEI - will they fit (correctly) a Panda [?] ).

I've looked at

http://www.chris-longhurst.com/carbibles/tyre_bible.html

Which is worth a read, and has a tyre size calculator too which will work out rolling radii, and differences between two wheel/tyre pairs as percentages and speedo error.


Anyway, we're trying to find out the offset on standard wheels for 155x65 x 13 fitment.

Which might well be different wheels, compared with the 135X80 X 13


This weekend there is a _chance_ either I or Paul will find something stamped on the wheels of our respective Pandas.

It's just possible we'll jointly get to the bottom of the wheel issue.


Regards

John H

 

[PandaManPaul]

I remembered! And I've put it in the 'offsets for Panda' thread, which is here

Paul

 

[John H]

My (final?) contribution to this thread is also in the "offsets for Panda" thread.

John H

 

[John H]

Really last contribution

I've finally remembered/found where I'd seen a similar thread before:

http://www.preloved.co.uk/forums/message.cfm?thread=3809&message=13608

The view seems to be 15 inch is/can be a problem on the back. Some of the messages either side are relevant too.


Regards


John H