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Gary_D

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Just purchased a set of Superlite wheels from Hap for my 67 Sprite. Engine and body are being worked on now and I am trying to pull the other peices together. The car is being set up as a performace street car. I am looking forward to some spirited driving when it is completed. Any suggestions for tires for the 13/5.5 wheels? Don't need race tires, but a good performace tire might be nice. Also, really not sure what size to get. 165, 175, 185, 70, 60's..........so many choices. Any suggestions, help will be greatly appreciated by a new member to the forum. THANKS,
 
175 is most likely the widest you can go, and it my require a little trim/role on the rear arch lips.

I like 165/70 but there isn't much out there in this size.

Look for a soft compound tire in the size you want and you'll probably be happy on the street.
 
I have minilites on my 63 and am running 155/80 GoodYears on it. There is about 1.5 inches clearance between the sidewall and the wheelwell in back. They are pretty soft and stick well. A nice plus is the tires are only 32.00 each. They might be a little narrow for your liking, but it might give you an idea. I have never tried it, but I heard somehere that the widest tire you can put on a square well car with 5.5 minilites is a 165/70. Has anyone put anything wider on without rubbing?
 

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That is a nice looking MG.
 
I run 175/70 13s on STOCK 4" rims on "the red thing" (1966 MK III Sprite) The only times I've rubbed the tires are when I've REALLY overcooked a corner, and then only a slight touching.
 
I had 175s on a '67 sprite I had a few years ago, no rubbing, all tires, even of the same nominal size, are not created equal, some have diferent widths, etc.

Sound like you already bought wheels, but did you think about going a plus size and putting a low profile 14" tire on, sounds like you are going for performance.

MGB wheels maybe fit, not sure.
 
The tires I had on my car had to be replaced due to age and as I am looking at upgrading the engine, I replaced them with Sumitomo HTR200.
Very good tire with excellent traction, though from what I have read, not good in the snow or very cold temps, though I doubt I will get the chance to test.
A / H Speed rated tire - 130.
Price was $41 per tire at tirerack
 
FWIW - MGB rims don't fit
 
What about my 13 inch rostyles?
I want something that will give me better rain & snow performance this time of year.
There's a "Big O Tires" store nearby, maybe I should go over there and ask what they have.
 
All weather tires in 175/70 13s are readily available from many manufacturers and outlets. What are hard to find anymore are performance tires. You used to be able to get Goodyear, Goodrich, Michelin, Pirelli, Dunlop, you name it. Now I think your choices are limited to Yokohama, Sumitomo, and Falken, and I'm not even sure about that last one.

As to going plus sized the problem lies in finding larger diameter rims with the correct bolt pattern. I know of a set on a Morris, but they were custom built. Then your problem would be finding 175/60 14s as 175 is as wide as can be put on a SWA car.
 
JPSmit said:
FWIW - MGB rims don't fit
Click to expand...


OH, but we have a solution for this, we stock 14" undrilled blanks, and can drill them 4x4 for the Midget, this is exactly what we did on the "Modern Midget" in CMS magazine, the 14' are 6" wide though, so on a square rear arch car you may need to do some fenders lip mods.
 
I wonder if Gary is coming back?
 
Hap Waldrop said:
JPSmit said:
FWIW - MGB rims don't fit
Click to expand...


OH, but we have a solution for this, we stock 14" undrilled blanks, and can drill them 4x4 for the Midget, this is exactly what we did on the "Modern Midget" in CMS magazine, the 14' are 6" wide though, so on a square rear arch car you may need to do some fenders lip mods.
Click to expand...

What does this do for things like rpm at a given speed?

It seems you would have a significant tire diameter increase, does that give you a better ratio at speed? Lower rpm throughout the range actually right?

I've been thinking about just this thing, I'm sure there's a formula to figure out the change just not sure what it is.
 
It depends on the tire size.
 
"Little Red" and I thank all who have responded to my first post. What a great forum! Kind of have my tire pick narrowed down to two choices,Kumho 758's 185/70/13 or Sumitomo HTR200's 175/70/13. I know the HTR's will work, but like the wider 758's. Anyone feel that there will be a clearence issue with the 758's on the Superlites? What ya think Hap?
Thanks again to all,
Gary
 
185/70 will be too wide (I think) and a little too tall.
 
If you go up on rim size and down one aspect ratio, the tires remain at the same "nominal" diameter and there is little to no change in speedo or final drive.

That is you go from 155/80/13 to 165/70/14 to 175/60/15 and they'll all be just about the same outer diameter. The sidewall gets shorter and the tire patch gets wider. ...

It is interesting to note that a wider tire doesn't mean a BIGGER contact patch. The shape of the patch on the ground changes but the AMOUNT of rubber on the road stays the same. (assuming that the tires are always filled to the same air pressure)

Most of these changes are simply not feasible on our little cars because of the limited number of rims (aside from custom made ones) and limited space. (BE's and RWAs can at least offset out)
 
I guess what I was hoping for would be a miracle tire / wheel combo that would relieve the high rpm's at speed. No need for a 5 speed tranny that way.

So a 14 inch wheel with some tire combination should give a greater diameter right?
My 1500 car has a lot of room in the wheel wells now, I would think a taller wheel / tire would work.
 
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