So today I started looking for some new tires for the '83 and in a Google search of "low profile 13" tire" the only thing that came up was golfcart tires! What has this world come to? Does anyone know where I can get a damn tire that will fit my rim and not look like a truck!?
Aaron

 

Your out of luck in 13", except in the stock size. The 205/60-13 size is very hard to find much less
anything lower profile.

 

Bet those golf-cart 13's would be great for drifting, though. Probably as hard as fork-lift tires.

 

Damn! When I first started with rx7s 13"tires were readaly available.. what gives!
Thanks!
Aaron

 

What gives? Most cars come with 18" rims from the factory, so your 5 inches of catching up to do has a lot to do with it. Sadly, that's the way it is. People want 18+ and that's what they get. The rest of us are left flapping in the breeze. There are options, but only after you upgrade.

 

Tire companies like Yokohama, Falken, and Sumitomo make 13 inch tires in stock sizes but good luck finding a low profile tire.
It's all supply and demand and there just isn't a demand for 13 inch tires like there used to.

 

Yeah I've realized t:-) that no one makes em I was hoping someone had a good answer to my prayors wish full thinking I guess. I have 14s on my wide body 7 3 piece hiashi racing rims the rim size is 14x8 and 14x9 ppl chuckle at me when I ask for the widest low pro tire they've got... light truck tires are the best I can get 255/55/14s with an awful tread partern ... I guess I'm gonna go five lug on my 85 wide body... least then when I get a 17 I'll be only slightly behind the times...
Aaron

 

What are the 14" tire options? American tire can get them but not sports tires... What do the mini cooper guys do for track tires?

 

Track tires are not as hard to come by I know hooser makes a ton of 14“ tires but that's somthing I wouldn't drive on the street! They have a few options for 13“s too... circle track tires are readaly available for the smaller sizes as well.
Aaron

 

High performance tires are still available in 13", but not much for daily driver type stuff. The Toyo R888, and R1(?) come in something like 245/35/13.

I used to run the Sumitomo HTR 200, which was a great cheap tire. You could still find them last year, but now they're just gone...

I run these for Autocross: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=245ZR3Z214C51 Great tires!

I ended up having to buy skinny/stock rims to go with skinny/ugly tires. My car looks so sad now. Meanwhile, my 8" wide Revolution wheels have the race rubber on them, which makes my car happy again. lol. I'm hoping that somebody will make something to fill the spot that the Sumitomo used to fill...


.

 

I will be babying my wrl's in the meantime.

 

13" stock all purpose tires, with RWL, if you can find them. Doesn't get any better for an SA/FB in terms of looks, style, performance and cost.

Here's a low profile 13", the Sumitomo HTR 200 175/50/13's on my 85 GSL The Silver One:



Pretty ugly, eh? I got rid of them before putting the car on the road. Looks like a comic book and that's not mentioning scraping the undercarriage on every speed bump and the back ache from getting in and out of the car.

For good looks, great performance (handling, quickness, gas mileage, 100,000 mile + tread life) and least expense I'd recommend stock kumhos or equivalent. Here' what I put on The Silver One when I registered her two years ago.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....7&autoModClar=







And here's what they look like this evening, with just over 40,000 miles on them:

 

If you could get those wheels in 16" I'd be alllllll over that. 13" just looks too small, even on an FB. 15's and 16's look just about perfect IMO. Here is mine:





That's on 15's.

 

Well that's the thing. If you want low profile tires on an SA or FB, you're going to have to go with bigger aftermarket wheels or at least the LE or SE upgrade.

Of course looks are a matter of taste - I really like the classic look of the X wheels and big rubber. Other folks like the Big Wheels and little rubber - to each his own, might even be a generational thing.

(Although I will admit, those black spoke wheels and wide tires on the Starfox07 FB shown above do look pretty cool )

But besides looks, here are some other advantages of the X wheels:

1) Most folks already own a set or two (I have 5 or 6). That's good for $300-$500 saved on a set of aftermarket rims you didn't need to buy.

2) You can get really good high performance stock 185/60/13 tires for a really decent price (Kumhos at $66/tire, for example).

3) The stock tires have a classic look that suits the FB body style nicely, fills out the wheel wells and are optimized for the stock FB suspension.

4) All that extra rubber gives you outstanding ruggedness and tread life, something I sure do miss in my Mazda MP5 with it's low profile tires on 16" wheels and sports suspension.

My wife drives the MP5 pretty gently and it still needs new tires every 30,000 miles, at more than twice the cost for new sneakers on the Silver One every 100,000+ miles.

Grrrr...... one more reason the FB makes an outstanding DD.

 

What wheels are those starfox, they look pretty sick

 

They are Impul FZ-R wheels. Basically a copy of the weds EX-C and some others of the period. They are pretty damn rare, as I've never seen another set for sale. I had reservations about powder coating them because they were still original, but they looked like ****. So i went for it.

And they are NOT black. They are actually pretty light grey.

 

I know the tires that I used to run on my Legends race car were 13". Anyone know if they would mount up ok? Federal is the company that makes them now and they have a pretty decent tread pattern.

 

Those should mount up just fine murben. Its fairly well known that a 205/60R13 fits the stock wheel and doesn't rub anywhere. If they don't fit, Federal does make a 185/60R13, somewhat shorter than stock diameter, but would still work good.

 

205/60-13's fit the stock geometry & stock offset with just less than 1/4" clearance between the sidewall and the front strut carrier. Any more width and you'd need spacers... and might end up biting fenders on a sharp turn & a dive.

 

So a 205/60R13 tire will fit on the stock rims? shouldn't you be able to run some toyo proxes then if thats the case?

 

I have lots of luck with http://www.onlinetires.com and http://www.tires-easy.com/ They have a surprisingly big selection of 13 inch tires

 

Wow those two links have a great selection, I've never seen so many in the stock 185/70/13 size and they even have a bunch in the hard to find 205/60/13 size, including toyo proxys (a bit pricey though):

http://www.onlinetires.com/user/vehi...allbrands.html

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.p...hen=View+tires

Thanks for the tip Neanderthol

 

Still none offered with RWLs..

You'd be the man if you can find those.

 

I have run 215/50/13 Sumitomo HTR 200s on the stock + type rims. They fit on the car, but they don't fit very well on the rim (sidewall bulge, spongey feel) so I wouldn't recommend it. When I moved those tires to 13x8 Revolutions, they were much happier, and the fit was still good (4" backspace), but very tight.

 

I wonder how ugly the toyo proxes would look on the stock wheels, with all that extra fender space lol