13 in wheels, need help with tires/tyres

[Seabee1978126]

Soo.. Ive searched tyre and tire in the bar and only about 4 topics popped up without an answer to my question.. Ive heard that only 145/65R13 and 145/70R13 on the Aluminum wheels that i picked up would work. I dont want to do any mods and chopping for it to work. I cant find new ones for any cheaper tha 50 Euro a piece.. Which dosent sound too bad, but, I just want some cheap reliable tires to take back to the states with! BTW, I live in Italy for about another year than ill be back to the U.S. to try and find some new tires.

[kev126]

Are the wheels in question the standard ones which came on the car?

[Seabee1978126]

The tires. I am taking off the stock 12in wheels and putting on 13in wheels. Im trying to figure out the tire sizes that I can use w/o any mods to fit with no rubbing.

[Hazey-n-Marc]

It depends on the offset and width of the wheels.

[Seabee1978126]

There is some numbers stamped on the wheel. I will post the numbers when I get home. I dont know too much about offsets and such..

[Seabee1978126]

This is what I found on the wheel-
5 1/2J x 13H2B
1 118 306
FAH ET18

[Hazey-n-Marc]

5 1/2 inches wide, the offset is 18 et. Anyone had the same on their car?

Fiatos had 19et 5.5 J 13s,
 I don't know if he had to do any mods though. He had 175 50 13 tyres.

[kev126]

I have 165/55/13 and my rims are 5j (half an inch narrower than yours) and are a great fit. They will squeeze onto your wheels fine as long as you can get someone who will fit them.

[Seabee1978126]

so let me get this straight... i can use the 165/55R13 and be fine without doing anything to the car with everything stock?

[kev126]

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. The only way to find that out is to fit them and find out. If you can fit a rim onto the car you might be able to get an idea of how much room you'll have.

[guy2yourleft]

I'm using the same size rims and 155/65R-13 on mine and it's lowered an inch. It is important to note I also have wheel spacers, which are easy to install. There is very slight rubbing in the front, no issue in the back. I wouldn't be too worried about the back tires, but the front need to be narrow enough to not rub. As long as I don't make a sharp turn, I'm fine. Regular driving through town is no issue. I would not recommend going any larger than that though. Michelin had tires for good prices, but they won't be available in the States, as I learned from their customer service department. When you get back to the States, look up
http://www.universal-tire.com/
They were the only company willing to work with me to help me. I think all these tires are made in China.

[Seabee1978126]

Thank you very much guys! Now I can have more luck while tire shopping!!

[guy2yourleft]

Also, if anything off the Mini Mania site can fit on your 126 (I know almost nothing about wheel offset though there are good explanations in the forums) that's another decent source for wheels/tires. www.minimania.com
Mr. Fiat (based out of Atlanta) also carries a couple wheels/tires. www.mrfiat.com

[Seabee1978126]

Thank you for those sites guy. I have changed my direction on the car to rebuilding the engine from finding tires. I just found out that space A may be coming back within a few months and put my name on the list for the 126. I think im going to put off spending money on the tires until im back in the states. The parts out here are just so much cheaper!!

[Chewy]

I also run 165 55 with a spacer. Similar rolling radius helps to keep the speedo accurate too!