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First peek, New Retro 4

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"I've yet to find the "break loose" point" ... see if you can find a safe flat and clean place to do some testing. You'll probably be surprised how well they hold and how quickly the back breaks loose if you suddenly let off the gas (fun times). The sprite is very different (in this regards) than my midget with its half elliptical springs.
 
Trevor Jessie said:
"I've yet to find the "break loose" point" ... see if you can find a safe flat and clean place to do some testing. You'll probably be surprised how well they hold and how quickly the back breaks loose if you suddenly let off the gas (fun times). The sprite is very different (in this regards) than my midget with its half elliptical springs.
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Sounds like a plan to me! Thanks. I'm still a few weeks away from flogging the BE. I'm itching to drive it again.
:driving:

I'm buying a set of Hap's rims for the wife's MGB for her Birthday. I'm still debating the black/shiny choice.
I'll be getting the 14x5.5s.
 
After revisting my thoughts, it may be possible that the 175/70/13's are on their way out. I'm suprised that there are more choices in the 65/14's. That would tell me there is more of a market there and less demand for the 13's (maybe). You may be better off with the 14's. I'm sticking to my 13's though.

Dave, you got enough room for a 195/50/15? that weas a real poppular size at one time. It's an old Mustang GT tire IIRC.
 
FWIW, guys, I pretty sure we are getting some stock in the 14x5.5 in 4x4 bolt pattern, so thats a option.

Trevor get you a set of Hoosier Street TD, or even the Toyo 888, Or Kumho victor racer barely DOT legal tires (Bob Woodman sells them, expect to pay about 6-700 for a set) , probably won't last a 1000 miles, but you'll get all the stick you can handle. I notice that in the 13 and both 14 size, the General Altimax is available, I have set of those on my MGB and I'm really impressed with them, and you can ask David, nobody tosses one in the corner any harder than me :smile:

You guys can also go to the mintylamb website and play with rolling diameters, they also have neat graph for SU needles there too.
 
kellysguy said:
After revisting my thoughts, it may be possible that the 175/70/13's are on their way out. I'm suprised that there are more choices in the 65/14's. That would tell me there is more of a market there and less demand for the 13's (maybe).

..
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I don't think that the 13s will go away all together, just that they've already pretty much quit making performance tires in that size already. I was thinking that the 175/65-14 was a bastard size too until I the selection available. I have to find what other sizes will fit in the 14" before i make my decision. I don't wear out tires fast enough for the cost to be much of a factor. ... Still leaning towards 14s...

hmmmmmmm....
 
There are H rated 13" tires available for Spridget in 13, now mind you not alot of choice, but they do exist, H rated is 129 mph speed rated which is faster than any street Spridget can go and about as fast as the very best Spridget race cars will, then comes S and T rated which are still rated at over 100 mph, so thats plenty performance enough for a street Spridget.

On my MGB, now that I have the 15" wheels, the Alitamx in 195/60/15 came in both H and V rated, V rated was sort of a moot point for even with hot rod MGB.

As long as we don't have to buy tires from somewhere like Coker, then we will be fine.
 
Top speed is not something I'm searching for with my spridgets, so I look more at tread design and compound hardness. I've got some off brand tires on my spridget that were cheap $58 each, but they are sticky. They are wearing fairly quickly and are a little noisy, but I like 'em.
 
Hap Waldrop said:
FWIW, guys, I pretty sure we are getting some stock in the 14x5.5 in 4x4 bolt pattern, so thats a option.

Trevor get you a set of Hoosier Street TD, or even the Toyo 888, Or Kumho victor racer barely DOT legal tires (Bob Woodman sells them, expect to pay about 6-700 for a set) , probably won't last a 1000 miles, but you'll get all the stick you can handle. I notice that in the 13 and both 14 size, the General Altimax is available, I have set of those on my MGB and I'm really impressed with them, and you can ask David, nobody tosses one in the corner any harder than me :smile:

You guys can also go to the mintylamb website and play with rolling diameters, they also have neat graph for SU needles there too.
Click to expand...

Neat website. Bookmarked.
 
I just got back from my tire guy. His recommendation is to go with the 14s. He said basically that no automobile manufacturer has made 13" wheels standard since the mid 1980s and those were all economy cars, so the demand for high performance tires in that diameter is essentially DEAD. There is quite a wide range of choice in the 14" 175/65-14 and his opinion is that this demand will continue for a number of years. Two or three more sets should see me out.
 
I would n ot run from the 13" size, there will plenty of tires for that size wheel for many years to come. What you want to do is paly with rolling diameter to see where the 14" puts you compared to the 13".

When you compare the the 175/70/13 to the 175/65/14, it's a good match as for overall diameter or rolling diameter, the 175/65/14 only has a 1/3 inch increase in ride hieght difference.

Here's the way tire sizing works ( I owned a Goodyear dealship in a previous life) the first number 175 is the mm width of the tread, the second number is called a aspect number, and it is a percentage of what th sidewall height is when compared to the tread width, so 65 means 65% of 175, of course the last number is the wheel diameter. So in short a 175 width is a 175mm width on a 13", 14" or whatever wheel/tire diamter, by playing with the aspect number, dropping when going to larger diameter wheel you can end with a rolling daimeter that you had with the samller diameter wheel/tire, which affects your ride height, by going to a lower aspect number you can keep the ride height in check or alter it.
 
I'm not running from the 13s so much as running TO the 14s. I've been wishing for years that someone would make something, anything, as as to be able to run 14s. I've even considered having the stock set cut and put into bigger rims.

The new tires will be a tad narrower which is just fine for clearance issues, change the handling and speedo minimally, and the wheels will look like a million bucks. I can hardly wait.
 
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