Witch tyres?

[califkid_66]

I have some michelin tires they are like new
except they are old and have little cracks on the sidewalls
I want to put decent tires in 185/70r13
back 175/70r13 front any suggestions
Brand model available in Canada
Thanks for your help

[1970EuropaGuy]

I put Kumho tires on my Europa here in British Columbia. I used 175/70R13 all round but will likely change to 185 on the rear. It will be a tight fit on my S2 however.

[califkid_66]

thanks im gonna look them up i was planning to get panasport or konig rewind in the 14’s more choices of tires  but i need to do research to find offset bolt pattern width to fit my S2 federal  and i have a friend that needs wheels so i would send him my 13’s
but for now i have the 13’s and just want to drive the lotus a little
Thanks again!

[RoddyMac]

I have a set of Federal 595s on order at the moment, they're 185/60 13's.  A friend has them on his Europa and is pleased with them.  Currently I have 185/70 13's all around, and the front's are too big in diameter (at least for my car).  They not only rub the arches but they rub the inner wheel arch/toe board on full lock.  I'm hoping the slightly smaller diameter tire will solve the inner arch rubbing. 

[jbcollier]

Europas are really, really, really (ad infinitum) sensitive to tires that are out of round or out of true.  Talk to your local tire shops and see what they can get for you.  Explain that the tires need to be round and true and get them to show you them spinning to make sure.  That way you can reject any tires that have issues and they will deal with the hassle of rerunning them, not you.

Even better is if you can find someone locally who can shave tires.  Modern tires are more often out of round than true so you can have all the mounted tires shaved to the same diameter.  There is no one who does this work anymore in Alberta so I'm in the middle of making my own tire shaver.

[califkid_66]

I have michelin on my s2 185/70r13 all around
and the back is ok but front rubs on full turn so im gonna go with 175 front and 185 back
Im gonna see if they’re out of round when they spin them to  balance them
Thank for your advice

[Fotog]

J B.... You say "Modern tires are more often out of round than true..."   For my understanding, what is "true"?  Is it side-to-side straightness, as we called it with a bicycle wheel?  Do you mean "more often out of round than [out of] true"?

[jbcollier]

Looking at the wheel on the car: out of round is "up and down"; and true is "in and out".  It's all nominal.

In the old days, round and true tires were not very common.  Some brands were distinctly better than others.  I worked a lot on cars with macpherson struts and they were very sensitive to tires being round and true as well.

[Skywalker]

A few years back I visited Banks Europa and spent some time chatting with Richard Winter - I asked him about tyres and he said the best kept secret tyres at that time were Hankook.  Took me a little time to find them but have used them on all my cars since then and have had no problems - good wear and on the Cosmic wheels of my S2 they handle just fine, a lot cheaper than Michelins too!


Hope you can get them in the States!

[Sandyman]

Perfect description JB. As I am upgrading to 14 in. rims and tires what size is a good choice?

[jbcollier]

Way too many variables to give a straight answer.  I use this site a lot:

https://tiresize.com/converter/

Plug in what you have and work from there.

Larger diameter rims will give you more clearance from the ball-joint/a-arms.  How much?  Hard to say.  as with most things Europa, you have to try it to be sure.

[surfguitar58]

I am striking out on all the major tire brands for 185/70-R13 rears, and few options for 175/70-R13 fronts. I have 12 year old Coopers on the car now, but apparently they don’t make that size any more. What are other stock-rim TCS owners using these days?
Tom

[Rosco5000]

In my opinion the best tire out there for our cars is the Avon CR6ZZ, a bit spendy but if you want the best tire for your car these are them.  I have them on my Elan+2 and they are unbelievable.  Oh and they come in both the sizes we need...

http://www.avonmotorsport.com/historic/historic/cr6zz

not affiliated just really love driving on them.  So much feel around the limit and the limit is high.  I was attending a cars & coffee last summer up the top of a local ski mountain chasing a 2011 911 Carrera GTS and when we got to the top all he say was wow and he couldn't believe how it handled the corners.

Ross

[RoddyMac]

Ross,
Do you know of a local source (in Van, or in Cananda) for the Avons?  Or did you bring them in yourself?

[gideon]

Surf, have you tried simpletire.com?  They have the most extensive list of tires at each size of any online vendor in the USA (that I have found anyway).  You can get a set of 4 Hankook 175/70-R13 for $139.88.  That's about half the price of one AVON CR6ZZ.