Posted by Eric Stewart on January 10, 1999 at 21:01:35:
In Reply to: tires: buying snow tires posted by Nancy on January 03, 1999 at 21:04:46:
I had a '90 GLI with the same 185/55VR15 rubber that you have. Though they are an odd ball size there are a number of alternate size tires that are an equivalent fitment (ie: cause no speedo error + create no clearance problems) For a direct swap onto your existing rims (probably silver BBS rims, right?) a 195/50 15 tire is recommended. Now *that* was for summer tires.
For winter, a typical recommendation is to go down a size from stock rims to a 14". This will give you the dual benefit of a narrower contact patch and a taller sidewall. The GLI will *not* take a 13" rim as they won't clear the calipers on the GLI's front brakes so don't listen to any recommendations for this size. If you do decide to go to a 14" for your snow tires, buy a set of 4 VW steel rims and put a set of 185/60R14 or 175/65R14 winter tires on them. The difference in winter road handling will be positively astounding. There are a number of tests/testimonials on different snow tire brands/models on this BBS so I won't go into it here.
Eric