16" wheels?

[TurboFource]

I am not to the point of getting tires, but I have been looking on line. It seems not much is available in  13" size.
As cars have bigger wheels from the factory (my Mazda5 has 17s and Malibu LTZ Turbo has 19s) tires in 13, 14, 15 sizes are becoming few in number. Has anyone put 16s (or 17s) on their car? How do they look (don't want them to look to big for the car!)? I would like to put a Minilite style wheel on TCST but would like to use a size that will continue to have tires available for them.

[EuropaTC]

I have 15" wheels on mine and to get the same rolling radius as the 185/70x13 I'm using 205/50 x 15 tyres.  At the front it's 195/50 and a tight fit on full lock although general driving it's no problem.

The rear has good clearance, it's the front where you run into trouble with very wide tyres and the lock isn't that great to start with on the Europa.  This photo shows what it's like with 15" rims, I think you'd struggle with 16" & the same profile/width tyres.

Brian

[SwiftDB4]

Don't know the diameter of the wheels on the Foose Europa project, but you see if they look OK.
https://www.chipfoose.com/lotus-europa/
Personally I think the original 13" look appropriate. 13" tires are getting harder to find, but persevere. I found 215/50/13 and 235/50/13 tires to fit my 7" wide wheels just last year so options are out there.

[TurboFource]

I think they are 18" on Foose Europa, which IO think would be to big on a standard Europa without all the other mods.

Swift what wheels are you running? Any pics?

[BDA]

I have 15" wheels too thinking that 15" tires would be easier to find. While I have not had problems finding tires when I needed them, I have to admit that there are fewer choices than I would have expected and it has required me to choose a different brand or style (apparently, the production is such that manufacturers do not ensure a steady supply of tires of a particular specification for these sizes). I've seen a few Europas with 15" wheels and they don't look out of place at all (to my eyes).

I don't know if 16" wheels would make a difference in tire availability - I suspect it would - but without seeing a Europa with 16" wheels (and I know of none), I suspect they might be a bit too large to look appropriate for an old car. Of course, that's not only a personal view and it's based on absolutely no experience what so ever! 

[JR73]

I also have 15” wheels on mine, 7.5” wide on the front and 8”wide on the rear - no body mods required (S2) and the fronts just about graze the inner wheel wells at full lock.

As mentioned, preserving the rolling radius helps and 13” and 15” tyres generally have quite a few options on this with the various manufacturers.

The stickier track day type tyres are supported in those sizes still as 13 and 15 are the preferred wheel sizes for Caterham (similar weights so the compounds are suitable) but most are wider than original. - worth considering before purchasing new wheels? These aren’t cheap though.

[SwiftDB4]

I have flared fenders so obviously 7 x 13" wheels are too large for a stock Europa. The wheels are American Racing from the 1970's.
Vitour also makes a 195/55/13" tire. Don't know if that would fit a stock Europa.
With my age I figure my tires will last 10 years and maybe I'm too old to drive a Europa at that point.

[BDA]

Pretty car, Swift!

[TurboFource]

Nice!!

[Clifton]

There's lots of good 15" tires.  Grassroots Motorsports magazine just had another comparison. They are 200 treadwear but last forever in these cars. 205's are usually the narrowest though. As other have said, clearance on the front when turned may be an issue. I had clearance my foot well by 1/2". If you don't need the clearance for brakes, 13's are easier and there's a few decent performance tires, R888R, AR-1.

[Fotog]

I suppose it's all a matter of personal taste, and we'll each have our own preferences, but I don't wish to make my car look like something from recent years.  Our cars are from the era of this photo, and I love the look of big fat sidewalls on moderate sized wheels. That's just the way they were.
So I'd likely opt for 13 or 14 inch wheels.

[TurboFource]

Fotog,
I prefer that look too, just doesn’t seem to much selection for 13” wheels.

[Fotog]

That's true, and with what you're doing you're probably looking for pretty high performance tires. But of course, you only need one set! 😊

[TurboFource]

For those of you running 15” wheels, what width and offset are you using?

I kind of like the Rota RBs in a 15 x 7, anyone have Rota wheels?

[GavinT]

I think it was Tom "tpatena" on the Groups.io site who used 15" Rota RB wheels and they looked pretty nice in my opinion.

There are some 15" versions of Minilites that seem to stretch the spokes out too far for my taste.