Tyre size

[Gordan]

Time is coming to buy myself 4 new tires for my alloys, now the question is what size? I believe it was Pete who told me that 165/55/13 are the largest that wont scrape the car, but now some people are telling me that this is too large and that it will slow the car down considerably... does anyone have experience with this issue, any info would be greatly appreciated...

[bis13]

whoever told you that are talking a load of old rot. if you jumped from say a 14" wheel to a 17" then yes its going to show.
 however i can tell you now that a 165 55 r13 is smaller , than your stock wheel in its rolling radius ( so that means you get quicker acceleration) i have just been out and offered up one against a 135 65 r12 and its a tad smaller than that so have no worries its only the width that can cause problems with clearance but in your case it will be fine.

[Pete126]

This might help. http://club126uk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2332 And Mick geta job

[Gordan]

Thats great news, thanks Mick, i was thinking the same thing but they told me that tyre width had something to do with this... well either way im getting em, its gunna look FAT...

[Pete126]

Get those arches filled Gordan

[bis13]

dear peter i cannot possibly get a job until i have fullfilled my duty to my trio of 126s , the next job is too start cutting the yellow car up and lumping the 1108 into it . i may have to purchase a crash helmet afterwards !! i am the stig.....lol

[GTMaster]

Because it has different sized wheels, doesn't your speedo show a different reading?

[Gordan]

i suppose it does, but i dont think the difference is too great...

[ciaoflyer]

Yes your speedo will be slightly different but 165/55/13 is very close to the original wheel and puts the speedo out by about 1.5mph.

[Gordan]

here i go again. So the max size for the front tires is 165/55, but is it possible to squeeze wider ones at the back? im thinking of going all the way.. after all it is rear wheel drive... 

p.s. the wheels are 5j...

[Darrell]

I think most people on here will have tried the Cinquecento or Sciento tyre on a 5.5" rim which is the alloy which goes onto the Cinquecento Sporting.
I have forgotten the size it is but it gives the wheel exactly the same diameter as that of the original.
Be it that the original had 12" or 13" tyres.

I thought the 12" would have a smaller diamerter but not as I have a BIS and an Air cooled.

I experimented a little more than most and went with some slot mags on my air cooled.
It required modifying the wheel arches even though I used the Cinquecento tyres on my rims as my rims have a slighty diferent aspect or whatever, in other words they stick out more.

Trust me......modifying wheel arches is not easy...

Hence I shut-up about it as I was worried I would give-up, but now it's finnished.

[stuey]

with some lowering and "arch dressing" with a suitable adjustment tool (read hammer) you can get 175/50/13 s under there but I must admit I wouldnt put that size on the front- when I change my tyres I will be buying 165s!

[Gordan]

ive measured the width of my wheels and theyre 150mm overall so i think im gonna go for lets say 155 width tires, cos i think that 165 is just a little too wide and i red somewhere that its dangerous to put on tires which are wider than the rim...?

[markie]

Hello Guys,  I studied this for a while before getting my 14" 5J wheels.  Wherever you go you will be told that you can't have 14" alloys  but as long as you can source 155/50/14 tyres then you can!

You will find you have a lot more choice of wheel if you go upto 14" and the combination below fits perfectly.

135/80/12 pretty much = 155/55/14

see http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html

NANKANG TYRES £34 EA @

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl

I replied with this on an earlyer post

All the best

[bis13]

the only problem is that you cant really lower the car on these .