Hi all. In the process of reviving an 85 GS that’s been in a barn for 15 years. Needless to say it’s in desperate need of new tires. I’m having trouble deciding which direction to go and I’m looking for your advice! Should I buy some cheap Kumho tires now and hold out for used 15 inch wheels to pop up in the classifieds? Or should I just go all in and buy some Konig rewinds? I’m reluctant to drop a bunch of money on wheels as I haven’t even driven the car more than a few yards yet...but I would definitely prefer some sporty summer tires and there are just so many more options with the 15 inch wheels.

 

My experience: the cheap tires on the stock rims will make the car feel faster. You really will not be, but the reduced traction is kinda like driving in the rain. If you are a conservative driver that likes to let loose on occasion, I also had 15" Weds Auto Bahns on Falken DOT comp tires. very grippy. May have been too much grip with a stock 12a. But the car was secure.

 

Hah, good point. Thanks for your advice. I do live up in the hills, so a spirited drive is just outside my doorstep. But I appreciate your point about too much grip being a bad thing.

 

Cant say it’s bad, just different. I was in the ditch less with the 15”. That’s not bad.

 

 

If you can afford it now I would spring for the 15 inchers, gotta have the right shoes. Might keep you motivated with the cars new looks!

 

Stock rims with stock size tires with a stock alignment will provide the best steering feel. Light and direct. As you mess with tires and alignment things start to get hard and sloppy. You'll get used to it, and it will be faster, but the car loses some of that lightweight vintage feel with wide tires. I run 15s for track days but the rest of the year I use the stock wheels with some 205/60R13 Vredesteins that are plenty grippy for the street and a joy to drive on back roads.

 

Thanks for the feedback. That is some of my concern. I'm also not enamored with the look of the konigs, it's just what's easy/available.

Maybe I split the difference and get some BF Goodrich T/A's in 205/60r13 on the stock wheels...

 

I chose to go with 14” rims. The Miata crowd ensures a limited supply of lightly undersized rubber, and Goodrich Radial TAs seem like a good street performance tire.

 

Agree- Have the 205/13 Vredstiens on stock waffles and they are fab. Not cheep (tho I think Tire Rack now sells them), but a nice tire, and I get to keep my stock Goldie waffles...

Stu A
80GS
AZ

 

I prefer the look of the original wheels so for me, the choice is easy. Stepping up to a slightly wider tire as Stu mentioned is a good idea and will improve the overall grip and stability of the car. I like some of the older original aftermarket wheels suck as the Enkei mesh wheels. I think those look fantastic. For me, the Rewinds are just bland. Personal taste. Iblrefer more of a vintage look on our cars.

 

Waffles rule! I need to redo mine and put the RWL Radial TAs on for dress up days. The 15in Konig Rewinds look good and have some really sticky rubber on them which makes it a lot of fun for daily driving or mountains runs.

 

IMO, i would prefer to get it running and driving before i spent $$$$ on wheels. occasionally this puts me driving on really old tires, which maybe isn't the smartest thing.

the good news is that if you can find the stock tire size, its cheap

and maybe a good plan B is to keep an eye out for something used

 

Existing tires are definitely not road worthy. Nylon belts are showing, and cracks all along sidewalls.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm leaning towards sticking with stock rims until some nice used wheels pop up... I guess I may as well pay a little extra for the 205/60's instead of getting some cheap 185/70's to hold me over.

 

As the guys have said, moving up to a 15" (x6.5" width) wheel gives you a lot more options when choosing tires, because Yokohama and Pirelli still make 15" tires for passenger cars that work suitably well on our light sportscars.

In this width, I like the Yokohama ADVAN Fleva V701 in 205/55 in V speed rating to 149mph. These are currently about $100 each through Discount or Summit, making them a very affordable tire. Even though they're considered to be All Season, the tread design works well for traction on pavement and concrete and the flat footprint works particularly well if you've done any suspension mods (springs, sway bars, lowering, etc.) as the contact patch makes for great cornering. Another side-benefit is that the rubber sidewall design has a flare at the mounting point, which protects your wheels from curb rash very effectively. My prior set of this tire was 205/50 - a slightly lower profile - and wore evenly, but they tend to get a bit loud after they've worn down to the wear bars, resulting in noticeable drumming on freeway ridge pavement. I went with 205/55 and think the slightly taller sidewall profile should help with noise going forward.

Your tire choices in 14" (GSL-SE & GSL models) are extremely limited, and I just don't trust the tire manufacturers still making tires in these rim sizes, as they're all econo- models and not at all performance oriented. Though they may be the stock sizing, they're not built to the same standards as the Pirelli P6 Cinturato's that came on the car from the factory. I was lucky enough to have a set of Yoko A008's on my 80LS for about 5k miles, and while those tires wore out EXTREMELY fast, they were the stickiest gumball's I've ever driven on - silent at speed on good pavement, and you could corner at alarming velocity without the tires even making any noise at all. If Yokohama brought these back for a cameo appearance, I'd buy a set for my stock -SE wheels and drive the hell out of them while they lasted,

 

the options are improving, but will never be great. This looks promising for a option for the 13" rims for example.

 

LOL, availability 1/11/20!!

 

Ill take new and incoming as opposed to NLA any day

 

Not wanting to drop a lot of cash on tires while rebuilding my car, but needing something to get me on the road, I decided to get a set of cheap Federal SS-595s and mount them on 13" Enkei 92s that I had on hand. Honestly,for the price I can't complain. I bought the tires on ebay for about $180 shipped for a set of four. They look great and so far have been nice handling street tires.

 

Woah, that looks pretty neat design. Similar to the Vredesteins. Price is tough to swallow, and I have a feeling the Vredesteins will be better in the rain...but I'd be willing to give these a try when mine wear out. If they're still available in like 2 years I'll be a guinea pig

 

had a set on Federals on mine for several years, including trip down from AK to AZ. Never a problem, ride and handling were just fine, tho its not like I was slaloming on weekends. For DD needs these are just fine. Think I paid $75 ea which (on ebay) was a steal.

Stu A
80GS
AZ