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Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:35 am
by v8 wanted
Well, after lurking around the forum for a few years I have finally taken te plunge and bought a stylus (spidermikes yellow 2.0 Zetec) - should collect it some time this week.

I may have to change my user name as I didn't find a V8.

The car currently has 16" Catherham wheels - I think these are too big ( and tyres too expensive to replace) - what are the recomended sizes for a live axle car, kit was supplied in 2003 when Peter Powell owned the company. I have an old copy of "Kit & Specialist Cars" (Sept 99) with a road test that gives wheel size as 185 x 60 x 14 on alive axle/Zetec car.

I'm ideally looking to replace with 13 or 14" Minilites although judging by the way the 16's fill the arches these may be too small - any thoughts / oppinions ?

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:23 am
by stylussprinter
Personally I found the 14x6 wheels with 185 Tyres lacking grip so went to 15x7 plus 205 Tyres . No problem with arches until I wanted to lower the car so that's what started me off cutting f/glass out of the arches and flaring the edges. Using 13x7 or even 8's isn't a problem because Tyres to fit them are normally 60 profile , also if there's a large gap you have ability to lower the car . Loads of tyre choices for 13's too.

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:28 am
by stylussprinter
stylussprinter wrote:Personally I found the 14x6 wheels with 185 Tyres lacking grip so went to 15x7 plus 205 Tyres . No problem with arches until I wanted to lower the car so that's what started me off cutting f/glass out of the arches and flaring the edges. Using 13x7 or even 8's isn't a problem because Tyres to fit them are normally 60 profile , also if there's a large gap you have ability to lower the car . Loads of tyre choices for 13's too.
Also remember the 16's probably have very low profile Tyres ---- 45 or less .

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:11 pm
by CMA
14" ones are hard to find decent cheap sticky tyres for. I had to go to 195s to get T1Rs and even then they cost £70ish a corner. If I had 15" I could have got the same tyre for about £30 a corner.

So just check on tyre prices before you plunge for a new size wheel

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:15 pm
by flipper123
not sure what your plans are for the car but if its a sunday car surely the miles you do wont be so high you 'd need to be replacing them that often id wear these ones out and have a look when the time comes.
you can get some good tyre/ wheel packages sometimes cheeper than just getting tyres .

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:39 pm
by stylussprinter
True re - above but not always the offset you need --- they're nearly always front drive offsets and no good for ours.

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:47 am
by v8 wanted
flipper123 wrote:not sure what your plans are for the car but if its a sunday car surely the miles you do wont be so high you 'd need to be replacing them that often id wear these ones out and have a look when the time comes.
you can get some good tyre/ wheel packages sometimes cheeper than just getting tyres .

Car will be quick road use & the occasional track day, I used to run Toyo T1 R's in 195 x50x 15 on my Westfield, the factory specced 205's but the cost difference was massively higher compared to 195's for next to no benefit.

Any one know of any decent minilite style wheel / tyre packages in 195 50 15, I've had a look around at 14" tyre prices and have to agree with the coments here re prices . Love to know where you got £30 a corner from though. I paid £140 for 4 in 2005 and that was cheap then.

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:48 am
by v8 wanted
Forgot to add, whatt offset and PCD will I need for these ?

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:25 am
by stylussprinter
v8 wanted wrote:Forgot to add, whatt offset and PCD will I need for these ?
I can't recall the pcd but it's simple enough to measure from your existing wheels . Offset wise , when I changed to 15x7 and 205x50's before lowering the car , the ET15 was ok but ran 195's up front . Once I started lowering and cutting 35mm's out of the arches then obviously the Tyres protruded from the body , due to the fact that the wings/arches curve in .
The smaller the offset number the more the wheels/Tyres protrude . Matt runs 12 not 15 like me so his protrude another 3mm's per side .

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:09 pm
by CMA
v8 wanted wrote:... Love to know where you got £30 a corner from though. I paid £140 for 4 in 2005 and that was cheap then.
Toyo T1Rs in 195/50/15s at £36 a corner
http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php? ... 3b103s99p0

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:54 pm
by v8 wanted
Not bad, were about £48 each on mytyres last time I looked. Thanks for that.

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:32 pm
by flipper123
how much do you want for the caterham wheels?

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:24 pm
by v8 wanted
flipper123 wrote:how much do you want for the caterham wheels?
I have 4 with Yoko Parada A's ( virtually unused) and 1 with a michelin sport pilot. I'll take £400 for the set - the tyres alone are £100 ish each - daren't look @ what Caterinvan charge for 5 16" wheels

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:23 pm
by flipper123
are they the ones which are on the car in the video of spidermikes sound test at the sva on you tube

Re: Wheel & Tyre Sizes

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:00 am
by v8 wanted
yes, and in the Harewood Hill Climb Video , you interested ?