Author Topic: Any comment on cosmic wheels  (Read 443 times)

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Offline web365ster

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Any comment on cosmic wheels
« on: Thursday,September 14, 2023, 08:06:09 AM »
I am nearly ready to buy tires for my Cosmic wheels.  I was going to buy Toyo Proxes 205 60 13s in the rear and 185 60 13s in the front.  I went to a local British car shop that races a Europa and they recommend I go with 195 50 13s all around.
Any comments?

Offline EuropaTC

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Re: Any comment on cosmic wheels
« Reply #1 on: Thursday,September 14, 2023, 08:57:06 AM »
I suppose it depends which Europa they are racing. The S1/S2 versions came with the same size of tyres F/R, the TC had wider rear tyres to compensate for the weight distribution I believe.

Assuming an S2 with standard 155/80x13 wheels, then your 205/60x13 is a good comparison on diameter so the speedo is going to be about right. 185/60 is going to be smaller although I doubt you'd notice it unless someone told you.  195/50x13 is considerably smaller than 155/80x13 and even 185/70x13 so there's going to be 10% or so in speedo error on top of what it's already at.

The plus side is that it will fractionally lower the car and of course stiffer sidewalls feel different. You may or may not like the increase in stiffness, just depends your roads and driving style.

Personally I had 185/70 and 175/70 when I had 13" Cosmic wheels.  I now have 15" wheels with 205/50 and 195/50 which approximate to the original sizes on my car (TC).  I think you should get away with 195/60 on the front if you wanted to, clearance on my car is tight on full lock but it is enough to miss the bodywork.

Run it through a tyre comparison page and see what you think, this is what I've just used and it gives speedo errors as well

https://tiresize.com/comparison/

Brian
« Last Edit: Thursday,September 14, 2023, 10:17:38 PM by EuropaTC »

Offline cazman

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Re: Any comment on cosmic wheels
« Reply #2 on: Thursday,September 14, 2023, 10:30:27 AM »
I feel like I have been through all the combinations on my TC. I personally think that the 50 series screw up the handling of the car. I settled on 185/60/13 all around and find the handling great. I have adjustable coilovers, so it makes it easy to make adjustments if needed to compensate for the lack of a wider tire in the rear.
1973 Europa TCS

Offline jbcollier

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Re: Any comment on cosmic wheels
« Reply #3 on: Thursday,September 14, 2023, 12:45:52 PM »
The TC/S, with its larger rear tires, understeers a bit more than the S1/2.  Using the same tire size all round will make the car more neutral.

Offline Bryan Boyle

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Re: Any comment on cosmic wheels
« Reply #4 on: Thursday,September 14, 2023, 01:38:45 PM »
The TC/S, with its larger rear tires, understeers a bit more than the S1/2.  Using the same tire size all round will make the car more neutral.

I went with the 175/70-13 on steel OEM wheels (one is slightly out of round...fishing around for a replacement that I can get cleaned up, straightened, and powder coated) and the handling is quite neutral, as you say, JB.  Only time I have under-to-oversteer is when the roads are greasy after a rain...in the dry, it's delightful...
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Currently working on 3291R, ex 444R, 693R, 65/2163, 004R, 65/2678
http://www.lotuseuropa.us for mirror of lotus-europa.com manual site.