TR4/4A Tires and Wheels on a TR4--A follow Up

[KVH]

Still thinking about new wheels and tires for a trip:

Assuming a 5.5" wheel width, 15 inch wheel, like on the 8 spoke Panasport or the Minilite style, what tire would people prefer:

a) 195-70-15; or

b) 195-65-15; or

c) 185-70-15

All three are recommended on the Moss links page, but the one that the Moss literature seems to recommend most is "b" which surprises me a bit, since that tire is more than 1/2 smaller in diameter than the original 165SR15.

To me, tire "c" is the closest to stock that takes a 5.5 inch wheel, but doesn't give more than about .75" of extra width. Maybe no big deal?

[Going to a 5.5 splined knock off wheel from a splined wire wheel shouldn't require upgraded axles from all I've read. Any reason to consider doing that anyway?]

 

[tinman58]

Go with B) 195-65-15 I think that the lower profile and wider tire will look and handel better.

 

[TR3driver]

And if handling is more important to you than looks (or speedometer accuracy), you might consider 205/55-15. They are even shorter than the 195/65, but effectively lowering the car also improves handling.

Tire composition also plays a huge role in how well they grip, and the taller profiles are simply not available in "ultra high performance" tires.

 

[TR4nut]

For what its worth, I have 195-65 15's on my 5.5 KN wheels. Kumhos, with ride and wear very nice so far for about 3 years. But when I replace them, I think I will try to find option C, 185-70's to go with slightly less tread width. The change will be solely to get more of a narrower tire look on the car - right now the 195's are right on the edge of the fenders, and possibly stick out slightly - I doubt I'll notice a performance difference, unless I pick a bad tire brand.

Randy

 

[TRMark]

I am running 195/65 kumho ecsta on my tr4, mounted on steel tr6 wheel. I would like option C also when I replace these. I made a quick search, the only place I can find the 185/70 is at Coker at over $400. each. Ouch!

 

[martx-5]

I made a quick search, the only place I can find the 185/70 is at Coker at over $400. each. Ouch!

I bought 185/70-15 Vredesteins from Hendrix Wire Wheel for $170 each for my TR3. The Vredesteins are very popular with the vintage Ferrari crowd. They like the look, the performance and quality...good enough for me.

 

[KVH]

I just noticed something:

Another good size would be 185-65-15

What about those. They are narrower than the 195s.

 

[Guest]

Jedi mentions 195s. I have a little input here for the TR3 crowd. 195s are <span style="font-weight: bold">TOO BIG</span> - they will not fit into the spare tire compartment. The PPO who did all the work restoring my car added 195s for a better ride, but that puts us without a spare. I will probably replace these next year, and will get 165s, so that I can have a spare. The treads on these tires are excellent, but the tires are now 6 years old (the magic age when we are supposed to monitor them closely).

<span style="font-style: italic">(Which is interesting: the folks who tell us to automatically replace our tires at 6 years (regardless of shelf life or road life) just happen to be the tire manufacturers.)
</span>
As of now, I am trying to find a 15-inch, 60-spoke wheel for my spare. I don't care whether it is painted or chromed. If anyone has one for sale, I am very interested. Per all of your recommendations, I am also going to go with Vredstein, at $105 per tire. Then again, add $20 for each tube and a roll of PVC tape.

 

[KVH]

Darn! That's right.

Will the 185-65-15 fit?

If not, I suppose you could keep a spare at 165SR15, but that spare tire would then be about 1.2 inches larger/taller than the three other 185s. That could be strange; and maybe dangerous even for a temporary spare?

Thoughts on that?

 

[TR3driver]

George, even 165s are too big for my spare tire compartment! (It was enlarged at TS60000.)

I use a 'compact spare' tire mounted to a stock TR3 wheel for a spare, plus a blanket stuffed in to take up the extra space.

There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on how old is "too old". Some say 6, some say 7, some say 10. In my personal opinion, how heavily the tire is loaded in service also plays a role; that is, the tire loses load-carrying ability as it ages but can still be run at, say, 1/2 rated load for longer than at full rated load.

But I do believe the problem is real. I've had several tires where the carcass failed even though there was plenty of tread left; and I believe it was due to old age. First time it happened to me was over 30 years ago, the tire just suddenly went egg-shaped while driving down the freeway (80 mph on a hot day with 4 big men in the car). Felt like a flat tire, but wasn't flat, just out of round by maybe 1/2" or so.

There have been others. On the Stag, the belts turned into a giant version of those things you put in your drill to remove paint; which removed not just the paint but part of the fender before I could pull over. Don't have a photo of that, but here's what happened to the Sports 6 while it was being towed home.