I'm trying to work out what the standard wheel and tyre specs are for my 76 beetle so I can work back try and figure out what I can fit on it when I upgrade......one day.

From what I can figure out standard wheels are 15 x 4.5 inch wheels with 165/75 tyres. Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

Also can anyone enlighten me as to the offset of standard wheels?

72 or 73 was when they went from 4" to 4.5" with bugs

the 4.5" ones were et41 and the early 4" were et38 or et34

Type3s had et46, these are good for that bit extra clearance on lowered cars

Hi

As Joel said your car has 4.5 inch rims standard, the current regulations say that cars built after 1/1/73 with an unladen weight between 801 kgs and 1200 kgs can only go to a 1.5 inch wider wheel, so you can only run 6 inch wheels.

I'm not sure about 76 Beetles but some "factory sports" wheels were wider.

Steve

Hi

There was a sports wheel used on Joels model that was wider to start with, 5.5 inch I believe.

Steve

It's abit of a grey area.
I had a chat with my engineer about it when he certified my car

His opinion was its probably nothing to be too worried about, although had my 18x7.5s still been on then that would be a different story.

Like Steve said the stock sportsbug 1303 rims were 15x5.5, they were optional extras in some countries.....just not Aus,
GT beetles which were standards came with them too

I think even my tyre placard inside the glovebox lid has them listed

I think my tyre placard only has 15x4.5's listed. Sounds like I better find an engineer to speak to before I buy wheels.
If I can only go to a 6 inch wide wheel, looks like I will be stuck with 15x6's.

Hi

There is a real disadvantage for cars made after 1/1/73, previous models had a width specified as per the modified unladen weight, e.g. 801 - 1000 kgs you can use a 7 inch wheel.

All this might change in the future with new RTA laws, who knows.

The 73 Beetle I'm building at the moment is on a 72 pan, the pan determines actual year model, my car should weigh in at over 1001 ks so I can run a 8 inch wheel.

You could change your pan to an earlier one but that is a radical move.

I think the GT Beetles with sports wheels were still only 4.5x15

Steve

yes changing RTA reg's another nightmare. With the hoon laws they are proposing, soon we may all be stuck with factory wheels and bog stock cars.

What we need is a NSW Automotive engineer on here who can answer our questions for us. is there such a person? A sympathetic VW engineer would also be helpful!