Tyre size advice, please.

Jackonicko

Newbie
Points
16
Car
Lotus M100 Elan
I have (or more accurately, my wife has) a long unused Vauxhall Tigra (handling tweaked by Lotus, would you believe) that is about to be restored to the road.

She will need new tyres. She's become used to driving 'sportily', so I'd like good tyres on the car.

The recommendation is for 185/60/15s.

(The rims are 6.5J x 15 ET35)

This is not a common tyre size.

The choice is not inspiring.

Which of the following alternatives would you recommend, and why?

195/60 R15 V (same profile, different aspect ratio)
195/55 R15 V (slightly wider, but maintaining a similar aspect ratio?)
185/55 R15 V (same width, lower profile)

And what effect would be predicted on handling, etc.?
 
I have (or more accurately, my wife has) a long unused Vauxhall Tigra (handling tweaked by Lotus, would you believe) that is about to be restored to the road.

She will need new tyres. She's become used to driving 'sportily', so I'd like good tyres on the car.

The recommendation is for 185/60/15s.

(The rims are 6.5J x 15 ET35)

This is not a common tyre size.

The choice is not inspiring.

Which of the following alternatives would you recommend, and why?

195/60 R15 V (same profile, different aspect ratio)
195/55 R15 V (slightly wider, but maintaining a similar aspect ratio?)
185/55 R15 V (same width, lower profile)

And what effect would be predicted on handling, etc.?

You need to keep the overall rolling diameter as close as possible to the OEM fitment.

Send an email to me :- paul.anderson70@live.co.uk and I'll forward you a little spreadsheet I put together about 15 years ago for calculating this. It's not pretty and I haven't bothered tarting it up because there is no need.

205/55/15 would be a very close fitment but the rims might be slightly too narrow at 6.5J. This would add to tyre carcass flexing, heat buildup and potentially to tyre failure.
 
I'd drop on some Corsa SXI rims for a more standard wheel size. The breakers yard will usually yield some good alternative rims. It's just not worth trying to make tyres fit a non standard rim from a safety and cost point of view IMO.
 

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