Tires 195/55/15 or 205/50/15 Options

[makinson1]

Anybody have experience with the Goodyear F1 tires? They have a very high rating at tirerack.com

[Scott Carlberg]

WRONG SIZE!

Tyre outside diameter should be the same as the original 165HR15. This implies using (for instance) 195/65 HR 15. With your current options tyre size is too small; your speedometer will be off and give you a higher speed than actual.

Besides, with a standard 1.8 you don't need all this rubber. Looks nice but is totally not functional.

My advice: stick to original size or only marginally wider tyres.

Anybody care to comment on this??? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

"your speedometer will be off"

yeah, so? close to 1/2 of the speedo's here prolly don't work anyway, and the other
1/2 are off because of the different size tires. (correct spelling btw) lol


"Besides, with a standard 1.8 you don't need all this rubber. Looks nice but is totally
not functional."

Anton, maybe your 1.8 isn't running very well, eh?
1.8's last time I checked, were more than capable of going faster than, say 55?
When you get into some twisty's, your main concern is Not the amount of HP
you have behind you... but rather how well your car handles, which includes the
quality of your Rubber Patches (tires) Why not have the biggest (re: best) possible
patch underneath you.
Many of us are running 205's in the 50 or 60 series, without problems.
It IS a good thing to have more tire underneath you, it really is.

[-P-]

Man, I can barely fit my pinky between the fender well and tire in the rear. I think the offset on these Riverias is all wrong. MUST GET 5 LUG Fuchs. My next big purchase will be rims and tires.

[Dave_Darling]

WRONG SIZE!

Tyre outside diameter should be the same as the original 165HR15.

I disagree. Having the stock gearing and speedometer/odometer readings is a nice thing, but is not necessary. In fact, it can be a nice thing to have shorter gearing. Particularly for autocrossing--you pull harder coming out of the corners, and top speed is not that important.

Also, shorter sidewalls give you more feedback about what the wheels are doing. This not only means a harsher ride, but it also means that you can actually react to what the car is doing before it's already done.

I used to run 195/60-15 tires for steet and autoX. When I switched to 195/50-15 tires, all of a sudden it was easy to "catch" and correct an spin that was just starting. I could tell what was happening as it started, not after the back end had already started to go around.


When I looked into it, it seemed as if the tradeoffs between the 205/50-15 and 195/50-15 came out about even when autoXing. You get a little more grip with the 205s, but not much. 205s are ballooned out a fair bit when put on 5.5" wide rims (all stock 914-4 alloys are 5.5x15) so you don't get as much extra rubber on the road as you would expect when you go from 195 to 205 width. And you get shorter sidewalls and shorter gearing with the 195s, plus a little less unsprung rotating mass. Apparently the trade-offs there come out to just about even on the autoX course. I personally think the 195/50s are a little better on most courses I've run.

--DD

[Racer]

Ask enough people and you'll get too many answers to be helpful! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

I, like others, have run the gammut of tires. My personal faves were 195/60-15's. Plenty of grip and good ride characteristics. Nowadays I'd suggest a 205/50-15. Better handling, but as mentioned, the speedo is a little less accurate, but more brands/compounds seem to be available in this size. When I ran 195/50-15s the acceleration was soooo much better, but cruising at 60 equated to about 4,000 rpm and the car likely topped out at 90mph.