another tire thread/question

[4380r]

In the stock (for TCS) tire sizes: 175/70/13 front and 185/70/13 rear there are real limits in tire choices, and nearly nothing that is even a remotely performance oriented tire.

I'm taking off the Panasport knock offs on the car and putting my restored Lotus alloys back on, and need decent tires.

Options open up a bit with 185/60/13.

Thoughts on putting this size at all four corners of a TCS?

[Arizona]

Options open up a bit with 185/60/13.

Thoughts on putting this size at all four corners of a TCS?

I faced the same dilemma last time I bought tires. If you want to stick with 13's then the 185/60 all around are probably your best bet. I found H-rated Sumitomos in 185/60 for the front and 195/60 for the rear and so preserved to 10 mm difference and maybe kept the speedometer a bit truer. Some recommended 205's for the rear but I didn't want to be confussed for a Pantera.

[Lou Drozdowski]

4380R...
Finding 13" tires these days are like hens teeth.
 A true dilemma as most period radials have long since had their dot numbers expire. Only a hand full of companies are actively producing 13" rubber at the moment...and it ain't in the USA.
You can go the overseas route and pay thru the nose for shipping and the exchange rate, or pick your favorite Korean tire here. Depends what you want. If you want the traditional stagger of 175/185 try these web sites "Performance Plus", 10/10 tire, Coker...If you are intrested in more of a sport tire...Sasco Sports will have Avon & Goodyear made to order with Toyo and Yokohama available.
I recently purchased a set of Nexen 185/60's all around for the factory wheels, but the rear tires seem to get lost in the wheelarch.  I also have a set of Yokohama 048's....the car has a much better look and rake with 185 front & 205 rear.

In the UK try Midland Wheels...Their selection is better as more type/compounds are available by manufacturer. ld   

[EuropaTC]

I think there's more choice over here in the UK, but personally I think the writing's on the wall for 13" tyres and this year I went for 15" wheels.  But there are still 70 series tires around and from the evidence of my elan (155/80 tires) even cheap modern rubber works better than 10yr old "performance" rubber.

If you want to stay with OEM 13" wheels then I think you've got to look at the overall diameter of the tyre, not only to keep the speedo accurate but also to make sure the wheel doesn't look lost inside the wheel arch.   There are loads of "tire calculators" on the web (there's one for example http://tire-size-conversion.com/tyre-size-calculator/ ) and I'd suggest you compare the new tires to the old to get an idea of what they will be like.

I did a quick look and if you want to go for 60 series tires then on the strength of that particular calculator you'll need something like 215/60 at the rear and 205/60 at the front to retain the original diameters. I'd have thought they were a bit wide for the OEM wheel rims so if you can't get decent 70 series tires there's going to be some compromise.

Brian