buffalo

always hated those math questions!, --83 is getting eibachs- konis soon,and now i'm checking for tires- did the search gig and now i know enough to be dangerous, thanks to all the excellent input--- i get to drive a twisty little mountain road 22miles to work each way (and of course trying to do it a little bit faster each day)- so was looking for a tire with great grip, can handle quick transistion and hairpins, and frequent rain(my protenza re900 are spooky wet ), all on a 13" rim--- not to much to ask huh?- so from what i gather there's a couple schools of thought here- sorta wide low(flat stick) vs. narrow taller(responsive/feel)- if i went the wide low route i 've read 205's don't rub and i'm guessing that's with stock front struts, was wondering if anyone has had rubbing problems with 205's and aftermarket springs, also i want to stay with 13", figure they keeps me low and light ( seeing how they don't make really low "aspect ratio" tire for the 13"--- now i'm throwing out those $50 words, like i know what i'm talking about)- any thought's?

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

Shouldn't rub

Manntis

shouldn't at all. I have 205 16" tires and even with their squared profile (low profiles are flatter than the rounded tread of 13") they don't rub.

buffalo

good thanks, so given my driving conditions i guess i should be taking my cues from the auto x runners as to what rubber i should run best with- aloha

MyRxBad

I've got 205 45 16's and done some hard cornering in mine (so I could start to hear the tires speak to me) and there is no rubbing at all.

rotorhead

205 60 13's with eibachs and tokico hp's and it's never rubbed once.

peejay

The rubbing has nothing to do with ride height. With the stock wheels, the closest point of interference is the tire sidewall vs. the front struts. Ride height does no affect this at all.

205/60s on the factory wheels will kiss the struts a little if you corner hard enough and the tire's tread belts are stiff enough. Some people with stiff-belted tires (race rubber, where else do you find decent 13" tires anymore?) have rubbing because the whole tire shifts laterally on the rim. With floppy soft S-rated tires, I never had a problem because mostly only the "bottom" of the tire shifts around and the top stays relatively stationary.

You might find that grip isn't so hot with the 205's on stock wheels because the rim really not wide enough. The tire gets donut-shaped. Run enough pressure to keep the tire from folding under and traction goes away and tread life is abysmal because most of the load is on the center of the tread. Lower pressure for more traction and better tread life and it gets floppy. I got better performance (both transient feel AND ultimate grip) by switching back to the stock 185/70 size so that i could run more realistic tire pressure. (40 front/35 rear in my case, as opposed to 24 front/20 rear) Goodyear Clubs. I'm tellin' ya, these tires are awesome. They have really gummy rubber, a decent carcass construction, last a good while, AND they're inexpensive.

Manntis

The wider the tire, the more likely you'll get rubbing, and not just from the springs.

With wider tires and a lower ride height you can get rubbing from the fender lip every time the suspension is compressed by a bump or cornering.

peejay

With stock rims that's about impossible.

I only ever contacted fenders once. This being with rims that stuck out appx. 2" further outboard than stock, and a HARD bottoming out of the front suspension. (crossed a rut in the infield, uh i mean grass at about 60-70mph!) That was JUST sufficient to pull the fender lips downwards. Stock rims don't go anywhere near that close to the fender lips.

edit: my '85 has what you could consider to be "lowering" springs - the stock springs are so sagged that it's pretty much bottomed out just sitting still. I had my race tires/rims on and had zero contact. The tires on it now are 195/70s, a bit taller than stock and pretty much the same width 205/60s. (I can explain that if necessary, basically tire size is depended on rim width and much of the tire width is the sidewall bulge) they contact nowhere either.

interestingly, i was having big-time contact problems with the factory spare. i couldn't turn the wheel more than 1/2 turn either direction before it started rubbing the fender liner.