Alpina 14x7 tyre size

GRKOALA

GRKOALA

Peter K
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Can anyone enlighten me on tyre sizes? I have Alpina 14x7’s and I can’t seem to find an answer for the largest size tyre for fitting inside my unrolled guards.
I have read that 225x60x14 work on all 4 wheels for rolled guards.
Do 215x60x14 work front and back on unrolled guards?
Thanks
 
GRKOALA said:
Can anyone enlighten me on tyre sizes? I have Alpina 14x7’s and I can’t seem to find an answer for the largest size tyre for fitting inside my unrolled guards.
I have read that 225x60x14 work on all 4 wheels for rolled guards.
Do 215x60x14 work front and back on unrolled guards?
Thanks
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205/70 VR 14, no rolling
 

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I have 205/70/14's on Apinas with lowered suspension and neg camber plates. Front fenders should be rolled if lowered. Better safe than sorry.
 
Stevehose said:
Better safe than sorry.
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I'm really not trying to beat a dead horse here but I just have to chime in. I'm not a huge fan of rolled fenders. I'll roll mine if I need to, but only after testing. My career is focused on supporting data driven decision making so I am quite the fan of testing and using data when it is appropriately available.

Better safe than sorry on a CSL means *not rolling the fenders if you don't need to. It is very easy to roll a fender and very difficult to "unroll" one. It costs what - $15 to $20 to mount (and balance) a tire? Go to your tire store and have them mount a 225 tire. Install the wheel and articulate the suspension. It's pretty easy for the rear, if you have room on the outside when sitting, you should have room when compressing the suspension. That is because the trailing arm will arc upwards away from the fender lip.

The movement applies to the front, however you are adding in the movement of the wheel. Articulate the suspension with the wheel at partial and full lock. If you have a lift, you can do this with a block of wood under the tire. If you don't have a lift, stick a floor jack under the tire, or a bottle jack on the trailing arm.
 
Once a tire is mounted on a wheel the dealer can not return it to the wholesaler, been there done that. Something to consider.
 
HB Chris said:
Once a tire is mounted on a wheel the dealer can not return it to the wholesaler, been there done that. Something to consider.
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I suppose this could be relevant in the US for an obscure 14” tire but discount carries just about every size imaginable. Not sure what the UK equivalent is but they also have many more small cars with small tires.

Edit: Discount tire will/may charge you a restocking fee.
 
Last edited:
Hi Peter,

You can also measure the rears yourself easily if you have a string, a washer and a measuring tape. Tie the washer to a string. Drop the string from the inside of your wheel arch. Measure the distance from the string to the widest part of your tire. If you are going from a 185mm tire to a 225mm tire, that is 40mm overall and 20mm on each side of the wheel. That means you need to get a measurement proud of 20mm to know that the rear will clear the tire.

This assumes your car is level and that the current wheels are receiving the new tires.
 
Case in point. I just snapped a pic on my way in with a lanyard. This is an 8” ET20 with 235’s. The math is: an ET20 wheel is 9mm further towards the shock, but an 8” wheel is 12.7mm wider (half inch). Plus the tire is 10mm wider tire than a 225. So... 12.7-9mm+10mm. My 235’s on an 8” is almost 14mm wider than a 225 on a 7” wheel and it clears the fender lip at the widest point. I can’t imagine that CSL arches extend inward 14mm past the fender lip.

This is why I suggest that you measure before taking advice that rolling is required or advised. As mentioned in the BBS thread, the rear in particular has gobs of space.

One disclaimer is that the pic below is deceiving. the ribbon is only a few mm away from the tire.
DD2BD9A2-9D52-43A6-A7A8-BB2D8A0505C4.jpeg
 
I've experienced the sorry part, in my case the fenders are not pinched shut, just rolled maybe 50% closed from the 10 - 2 o'clock position and could easily be unrolled for the anal retentive buyer. The sight of a wheel well pulled outward by a tire hitting it is ghastly and worth the effort to prevent it whether it's a CSL or not imho.

Markos said:
Better safe than sorry on a CSL means *not rolling the fenders if you don't need to. .
Click to expand...
 
Stevehose said:
I've experienced the sorry part, in my case the fenders are not pinched shut, just rolled maybe 50% closed from the 10 - 2 o'clock position and could easily be unrolled for the anal retentive buyer. The sight of a wheel well pulled outward by a tire hitting it is ghastly and worth the effort to prevent it whether it's a CSL or not imho.
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I agree. My only point is to measure first. I won’t run an extra thick head gasket to keep my pistons from hitting the valves when I know it can’t happen.
 
I understand measuring, but can this take into account the momentum of the moving vehicle?
 
Stevehose said:
I understand measuring, but can this take into account the momentum of the moving vehicle?
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I think that depends greatly on the style of driving and the amount of clearance you have. If you have plenty of clearance and you have with the proposed setup, why roll? If you plan on pulling your sidewalls around corners and have little clearance the roll the fenders. Cycling the suspension (especially the rear) won’t change from static testing to real driving.

There isn’t much else to be said. Although I am curious to know how many folks went through a process before rolling or if they took anecdotal advice from the last person who recommended rolling the fenders. There are far less reversible mods that get heavily critiqued on this site.
 
dave v. in nc said:
One of the truly profound last sentence posts ever. DV
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Well it didn’t come out right. Whar I mean to say is more trivial modifications that are easy to undo get criticized (I don’t mean by Steve or anyone in this particular thread). You know what I mean...
 
I found that tire cutting happens mostly during turns into driveways and such as the tire compresses into the fender. Measuring statically with tire straight ahead doesn’t capture this.
 
HB Chris said:
I found that tire cutting happens mostly during turns into driveways and such as the tire compresses into the fender. Measuring statically with tire straight ahead doesn’t capture this.
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Yeah the front is another ball of wax. You can still cycle the suspension with the wheel turned though.
 
I remember a spirited drive during which Kwygibo was heading down a hill and turning, resulting in a dramatic swath of meat being cut off his front tire. Happily no fender damage. After seeing that I had my fender lips rolled
 
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