Just curious...

[rocco79/138]

Seems like everyone is fairly distressed over the drying of the 185/60-13 well. I switched over to 175/60-13 many years ago and would not use the 185 if I could get them. The 185s always seemed a bit puffy on the 5.5 wheel and It seemed like a bit more bump than the old "plus one" concept tire distributors marketed.
The 175s were not available in the late 80s, I guess, since I never used them until I found them on tires easy. They are available at a nice price point and they seem to wear well and ride nice. There are four to choose from right now.
Perhaps the 185s offered a better tread or better performance on autocross and that would be exactly why they were never a must have for me.
Not sure what class of car uses or used the 175/60 but for some reason they are still around.
Would like to hear why 185 is the preferred tire size... Thanks in advance.
Regards

 

[Pete Whitstone]

I think a lot of people just go with "bigger is better". Same mentality that has one starting from the bottom of the cam advertisement page. Not bashing that mentality, I suffer from it myself.

In truth, I don't think that nominal 10mm wider tread is going to make any noticeable difference in cornering forces generated, and if it did, some of that improvement would be eaten up by the taller (and therefore less stiff in theory) sidewall of the 185 vs the 175. The car already handles great, it handled great when it came out in 1973 with 145-series rubber. And let's face it, in stock or even modified form, it's not likely to have enough HP to require wide tires from a traction perspective.

I'm with you, 175 is just about as good on these cars as 185. I wonder how much of the desire to have 185's is visual, people just want a wider looking tire on their car.

Pete

 

[bradartigue]

This is just the nature of oddball tires, when I tried to find 175s for my steel wheels I couldn't, but there were plenty of 185s in the Achilles brand. The comedy of using a tire called Achilles is another tale...but they appear to be better than the METRIC tires I once had on a 124.

 

[rx1900]

Hey folks. Another option few consider is a 175/65-13. Possibly a better option than the 175/60-13 which have a smaller diameter than stock. The 175/65 is very close to stock diameter, and will not rub like most 185/60 will.

However, they too are tough to find at times.....

 

[Greg (in Conn)]

Tall & skinny tires...

 

[rocco79/138]

165/80 yep! The 175/60 is almost indistinguishable from the 185/60. aspect ratio is the same and tread width is @ 3/8th inch narrower... Back in 1987 or 1988 when the world was filled with 13" tires I had a 1975 X with the Appliance baskets 13 x 6 and I bought some Perelli P Zero 185/50-13 tires for the fronts. Best part was watching two guys standing on the edge of the tires on the machine to mount them! They were run flat tires before anybody knew what that was! Ha! I believe those tires are still on those wheels at my dad's place...
Regards

 

[kmead]

In a perfect world as you look at the possibilities, starting at the bottom and looking at the progression of sizes put on the car by the factory and then the choices we have today. Please look at the images from the bottom up as I am on my iPad and its not as easy to fiddle with formatting, my apologies.

145/80 13 was the original factory tire size on these cars. For the 1979 to 1985 models the factory tire size was 165/70 13. For the last models with Phone Dial wheels they went to 185/60 13.

In looking at all of these and what is available today, a 175/65 on a 6" wide rim would be the most ideal arrangement. It is nearly the same height as the two original factory tire sizes and its narrow enough that it doesn't look like the pills bury doughboy or the Michelin man on the rim.

Personally I wouldn't want to run a 175/60 as it is a very short tire on a car already geared short; though it would ensure you never get speeding tickets and you could claim to go around corners at even more insane speeds than the rest of us.

 

[rocco79/138]

Thanks for clearing this up for me! I actually like the lower profile and I give you the 2.8 " advantage on circumference! At an inch shorter I get 1/2" closer to the ground as well. Have not had a speeding ticket since 1982 and the tires may play a role in this!!!
My first car was a 1970 Camaro, citrus green metallic, and I put 14" rally wheels on with E 60-14 tires. This at a time when the thing had just been little 5" wide rims on the front and honking 10" wide on the the jacked up back!! Sweet! So I was programed to like the smaller lower profile look.
I saw a 1987 yesterday with the phone dials and, yep, 185/60-13! My last new X1/9 was an '83 in 1985 so every new one I bought came with 165/70-13 standard... Perelli P3 to be precise.
Awesome graphics!
Thanks again
Regards