How wide are my Panasports then how much tire for Miata?

I've had these 15" Panasport rims for about 15 years and I bought them used.
It is time for new Autox rubber and I am not sure how wide these really are.
Can you tell from these markings?

At the 8 o'clock position in the photo above there is a 15.
At the 1 o'clock position in the photo below there is T7.
Are my suspicions correct that these are 15x7 ?

The rims currently have 195/50/15 old Kuhmos (with a date code of 1501)
The current tires don't look too stretched like they would with a wider rim which also make me believe they are 15x7.

Believe you're right, those look like 15x7s.

195/50 or 205/50 should be fine.

if they in fact are 7" … then you can run the 195's with zero problems .. and probably run 205's, again without any problems … if you are planning on running R-Comps, then 225's and even bigger should be ok

a former national champion in what, was then, D-Stock, ran 275 Hoosiers on OEM 6" rims on an Integra

I dunno the way those 195's fit I'd guess it's a 15x6.

I have those exact wheels on my daily, 15x7, I run 205/50R15s on them and feel that I could go a touch wider.

The next topic is tire choice and fitment of both rim and car.

I drive this car about 2k miles per year and only in summer weather. I intend to get back into some stock autox with it so I think the only tires I will run for both street and autox will be some aggressive 200 tread wear tires.

I like the Hanook RS3 v2's and ran a set on the Q45 Challenger. They are priced to be a value.
The size options are 195/50/15 or 225/45/15. I like to think more is better but that leaves me wondering will 225/45/15's fit on my NA which is running stock ride height?
Hankook says the 45's fit on rims of 7"-8.5"
Hankook says the 50's fit on rims of 5.5"-7"

Another option at nearly the same price is BFG g-Force Rival S in 205/50/15
These are for rims of 5.5"-7.5"

Or, spend more and get BFG Rival S is 245/45/15 for 7"-8.5"

Oh, what to do?

there are a couple of threads about this … but to re-cap

the "fastest" of the new 200 TW tires seem to be the Bridgestone RE71R's and the Rival S

after that (and slower by quite a bit) are the new versions of the Hankook and the Toyo .. the unknown is for the Kumho V720 .. not much testing has been done on them …

last months issue of GRM had a street tire test

My panasports have the same markings and measure 15x6.

In years past, I had 205/50/15's on these rims.
I very much liked that size for street driving. These 195/50/15's were left from my MR2 SC that I sold in 2004 which is about when they got placed onto the Miata.

In reply to wbjones:

For 15's the RE71R's only come in 205/50/15.
Maybe this is the answer?
Not as wide as the 45'er Hanooks but maybe stickier?

205 is the widest I would go for a 7" rim with a street tire.

John,
I just measured a 7x15 rim, mounted with a Kuhmo Ecsta AST 195-50-15 tire. Laid flat on the floor, with a straight edge across the top it's just over 8.25 inches wide. It looks to have more stretch than your photo. My guess is your Panasports are 6" wide. Measure one like I did to compare.

Those are 6"

I will be going with the 205/50/15's
They call for rims 5.5"-7.5"
This way I am covered for 6" or 7"

I trust Chandler knows what he is talking about.

My Miata does not have power steering, I bet the 45'ers become quite a battle at low speed turning.

JohnRW1621 wrote: In reply to wbjones: For 15's the RE71R's only come in 205/50/15. Maybe this is the answer? Not as wide as the 45'er Hanooks but maybe stickier?

and the 205's are killing the Hankook 45's … as are the Rival S's (not sure what size … 195,205,225)

JohnRW1621 wrote: I will be going with the 205/50/15's They call for rims 5.5"-7.5" This way I am covered for 6" or 7" I trust Chandler knows what he is talking about. My Miata does not have power steering, I bet the 45'ers become quite a battle at low speed turning.

on track I run 225/13's (R-Comps) … and yeah they are a PITA to do something like parallel park (as if anyone does that anymore :) ) … but at 5 mph and up, no problem … and being FWD all the weight is up front

You can always dismount a tire and measure the rim with a yardstick.

iceracer wrote: You can always dismount a tire and measure the rim with a yardstick.

there you go being all logical and stuff ….

Harvey wrote: 205 is the widest I would go for a 7" rim with a street tire.

225s work fine on a 15x7. They won't be as fast as they would be on a 15x8 or 15x9, but they'll be faster than using 205s of the same tire on that same 15x7.

Those wheels are definitely 6". A 195 will not bulge out like that on a 7".