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New Tires...

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DesertSprite

Jedi Warrior
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Okay, well I went to Firestone and Goodyear today asking about a wheel balancing and alignment, however, neither of them would touch the car because the tires are pretty much shot. Well, the front left is wearing unevenly and there's a bit of cracking on the rears.

So, they say "buy four new tires and we'll help you out." Sounds more like I'm helping them out.

Anyway, I wanted to ask exactly what size of tire I should be looking at here. I know it's a 155 13in tire, but what about the sidewall? The guy at Goodyear was trying to sell me on some 175/70's but I wasn't sure it would fit in the rear. Firestone didn't even have anything on the shelf.

So now I'm looking at TireRack.com. Anyone ever order from them? They seem to have a decent selection of tires that isn't going to bust the bank on me. However, same question: what sizes should I be looking at? They have some Kumho 155/80's for $29/ea.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Ah...the joys of cleaning up the PO's neglect... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazyeyes.gif

Joel
 
Tire Rack are good guys...I've used them before...its kinda strange to come home & find UPS dropped 4 tires off in front of your garage....& I've not had problems getting them mounted & balanced.

If you do use them, go through the link at the top of the BBS & tell them you found them here - Basil will get credit for the sale.
 
Sounds like I might just use Tire Rack. Gotta call one of their installers here to get the exact price though.

What size tire do you reccommend?

Joel
 
My brother has those 155/80-13 Kumhos on his Midget. Got them from TireRack
I actually put them on for him by hand (and then had them balanced).
They're fine.
 
By hand eh? That's what I call dedication.

I think those are the ones I'll order then. If say, in the future I decide to put some superlites that are a bit wider than stock, will the 155/80-13's still fit?

Joel
 
I am using firestone 165/70 on minilites, but before that I had 155/80. No problems.
 
I did lots of research, as I wanted a tire to really fill my bugeye's wheel well, and I located a tire that *seems* to be perfect (fills the wheel well but doesn't rub anywhere): Toyo 800 Ultra 175/80 R13 86T. Could not find them at Tire Rack. In fact, 175/80/13 is pretty uncommon...found it tires-easy.com finally though.

CAVEAT EMPTOR: I say they don't rub solely based on the lock-to-lock steering wheel turn test, and by visual examination of the 4 tires closeness to the respective wheel wells (front and rear). That having been said, the engine is not in, and the car has not been driven even one mile, so buy at your discretion.
 
I just went and looked. My Firestones are F570's.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I did lots of research, as I wanted a tire to really fill my bugeye's wheel well, and I located a tire that *seems* to be perfect (fills the wheel well but doesn't rub anywhere): Toyo 800 Ultra 175/80 R13 86T.

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif Your speedo is going to be off a bit with those tires. They have a diameter of 24 inches. Consider that the original bugeye tire was a 5.20x13, which is roughly a 145R13, with an outside diameter of 22.1 inches. 165/70R13's will maintain this diameter. The common 155/80R13 is sligtly taller than stock (22.8 inches), but not too noticeable.

I run 175/70R13 (22.6 inches) on a 5" Western alloy. I had to flare my fenders to get them to fit, since I have square arches, and the backspace may not be quite right.

See https://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html to play with the numbers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
I run 175/50R13 Sumitomo HTR 200s. I had no problems fitting the 175s in the rear (with square wheel arches) at stock height. When I lowered her 2-3", then I had to do a little fender modification (just on the inside lip) to stop it from rubbing in tight corners.

I bought the tires from tire rack and had the mounted and ballanced at a local shop. He traded me my old tires for the mounting and ballancing labor so that was fine with me /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I used to have some 155s, think they were 155/70 goodyears. I'm very happy I went with the wider 175s, the handling is much improved....
 
Anyone have side shots of their cars so we can see what the various sizes look like? Please.
 
I spent a lot of time on this issue the last several years. Moss Motors in their annual mag had a lot of tire and wheel sizing info. Using it I had Circle Wheels build 14x6 rims with different offsets front and back. I now have 185x60 14's Yokohama ES 100 under the wings with no rubbing. They are a great tire and I'm happy with them. My son will be back from college next week and I plan to start including a picture of the old bugeye. I did not like the look of the bugeye from the back with the stock sized tires, but now it almost looks like a micro cobra(not quite though, ha)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Using it I had Circle Wheels build 14x6 rims with different offsets front and back. I now have 185x60 14's Yokohama ES 100 under the wings with no rubbing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd love to know that offset front and rear you're running!

Thanks,

Rob
 
Rob,

Would those 175/50's fit on stock wheels? I just have the plain ole steel wheels. I do plan on minilite style wheels later on...but we all know how long that can take. Gotta fill the piggy bank.

You think I should just go with the 155/80's on the stock wheels, or go wider?

Joel /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Nial was the one who recommended these as good cheap tires to me and I'm pretty sure he ran them on stock wheels /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

They are pretty low profile, so make sure you like the look of them and that you're ok with the increased highway RPM.

If not, I'd shoot for something a little taller, but I'd definitley try for something wider than the 155s /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Thanks Rob. As long as I can fit them on stock wheels for now I might consider them. Although...the $23/wheel for the 155's is tempting.

As for the highway RPM, my Sprite has the later 3.73 rearend in it...so I suppose that should offset the low profile of the tires.

Joel
 
I redid my wheels and put these tires on a couple years ago. I have yet to put them on the car because I have been so slow on the restoration. These are 175/70 and I love the looks of them and hope they dont rub. I've been told that they won't.
Mvc-001s.jpg
 
Joel:

As Rob said, I ran those Sumitomos on my stock Midget with no problem. But they are very low profile and will "gear down" your car (so that it will take off a bit quicker but will not cruise as well). In my car (3.91 final drive) they gave almost 4000 RPM at 60 MPH.

You can run 165-width tires with no problem.

Some of the 175-60 tires may rub without wheel spacers and a panhard rod ( and maybe a bit of fender trimming at the rear).

As a more extreme example, I am using a 1/8" wheel spacer and stock rims with my 175-60-13 Kuhmo "Advan" DOT/race tires (but with panhard rod and trimmed rear fenders).

With 185-60-13 Hoosier race tires (also on stock rims) I needed to fully cut the wheel wheels (like a RWA Midget) and use 3/16" spacer with longer wheel studs. Fronts were fine.

I'm looking at the Circle or Diamond 6X13 wheels with 3" to 3.5" offset and bigger wheel studs.....but not until I pay for my younger daughter's wedding (I paid for my older daughter's wedding about about 10 moths ago, so $$$ is tight right now).
 
Hi Nial,

I'm really tempted to go for those 175/50's because of the wider contact patch and better handling...but I am kind of worried about 60mph at 4000rpms. That's kind of unbearable. I do drive on the highway part of the day, and in California, if you're not going at least near 70mph you're a road hazard.

Those 175/70's that Regularman has look pretty nice, but I'd be worried about them rubbing. My Sprite does have a panhard rod installed, but as far as I know it doesn't have wheel spacers. And, when it comes to bodywork...I have zero experience.

I think I'll look for some 165 width tires, and if I can't find anything that fits the bill I'll probably just go with the 155's for the time being.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

Joel
 
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