What's the biggest tire that one could conscientiously mount on a 5.5"x13" mag wheel?
How about not so conscientiously? :evil:
A 5.5" width wheel equates to 139.7mm, according to my calculator.
In general practice, having a tire with a section width no more than an inch and up to 2 inches wider than the wheel width, on a smaller, narrower wheel such as this, is still going to be reasonably safe.
Since an inch is 25.4mm, adding that 1 inch to your wheels' width, (which is measuring from the INNER side of the bead flange across to the matching flange-the part that touches the outer side of the tires' bead) would give you a 165mm section width tire, adding a second inch would get you up to a 190mm section width tire.
The closest actual tire size to that on the safer side would be a 185.
(If I remember correctly, 185-70-R13's is what I used on my 4 speed '71 sedan on 5.5" slotted aluminum American Racing wheels, and that was a MOSTLY good running street combination which I used for many years with the light car, especially when using aftermarket traction bars and an antisway bar..... But Winter driving in the North still needed a very light touch on the stop and go pedals to keep the car going where the steering wheel pointed it.)
Wider than that is up to you, but your real world performance may suffer dramatically with a light weight car (as mine did), in low friction conditions (snow/standing water, etc.) as the weight per square inch of the tire' footprint continues to decline as the width of the footprint increases, so bad weather traction rapidly decreases as tires get wider. Not as important in truly dry, warm weather areas.
Also, consider this:
When you DO mount a significantly too wide tire onto a relatively narrow wheel, the sidewalls of the tire are forced to fold inwards somewhat from their molded in neutral position, and the section width actually comes out narrower than it would have if mounted on the proper width wheel.
A tires' performance profile is generally designed around a specific wheel width, so getting a tire that is within the recommended range for a particular wheel is always safe idea, and usually a smart one too.
A little bit of too narrow wheel and too wide tire isn't too bad on a street car, if appearance rather than performance is your main thing, and you never intend to push the limits of your cars' ability to go through turns at speed, for example, but running those too wide tires will result in compromised tire performance, and shorter tire life as the tires' tread will always be attempting to lift at it's edges when being used at "normal tire pressures, with the relatively low weight of the vehicle not being enough to "flatten" the wider, (and higher load rated) tire onto the pavement. Compensating for that tendency requires lowering the tire pressure, which makes the cars' handling suffer, even if the vehicles' perceived "ride quality" (as in softness) improves.
And one more thing.
TRY not to change the tires' HEIGHT too much, even if you do go wider, as the rear ends' final ratio will be dropping in lockstep with each tire size height increase, and a lot of Pintos don't have much (if any) torque to spare down low. Too tall tires, coupled with a lot of nice looking new, wide rubber now firmly gripping the road will make an unaltered Pinto want to fall on it's face rather than lighting them up, with anything less than a high rpm take off.
185/70-13 is probably the largest tire you will find these days and most tires manufacturers have settled on 175/70-13 as their largest offering. I personally prefer 195/70-13 for the little additional rubber on the ground. Over the years that I had my '77 Squire (close to fourteen years), the car felt more stable with the 195s and it didn't feel like the tires were going to break loose every time a long sweeper was taken at speed. I also felt that the extra rubber made the car stop more surely with less lockup. Since I have not been able to find 195s anymore, I have gone to 185s and the above mentioned areas have suffered some.
I have 205-60-13s on mine.I believe they are still available from BF Goodrich.
Pepboys sells a 205/60 13 as well....Futura is the tire brand
I've had good luck with them so far running them for 5 years on my Falcon wagon (13's on this car)
I have have been looking for some muscle looking tires for my Pinto wagon. I ended up using 14's on the back.
Frank
My previous Pinto had 205-70-13 radial tires on the same wheels. I wonder if that's okay for my current Pinto. Actually, I wonder if it's okay to go bigger, if I can still find the tires, without getting into trouble.
Gotta fill up those fenderwells. :laugh:
Will see what Ben Fish in Sioux City has sitting around after Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Oh heck, I thought that you actually wanted real world tire to wheel fitment advice, not just to fill up those wheel wells.
this may help:
Tire Size Comparison
Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference
165/70-13 4.5in 11.0in 22.1in 69.4in 913 0.0%
175/70-13 4.8in 11.3in 22.6in 71.1in 891 2.5%
185/70-13 5.1in 11.6in 23.2in 72.9in 869 5.0%
195/70-13 5.4in 11.9in 23.7in 74.6in 849 7.5%
205/70-13 5.6in 12.1in 24.3in 76.3in 830 10.0%
215/70-13 5.9in 12.4in 24.9in 78.1in 812 12.5%
225/70-13 6.2in 12.7in 25.4in 79.8in 794 15.0%
185/60-13 4.4in 10.9in 21.7in 68.3in 928 -1.6%
195/60-13 4.6in 11.1in 22.2in 69.8in 908 0.5%
205/60-13 4.8in 11.3in 22.7in 71.3in 889 2.7%
215/60-13 5.1in 11.6in 23.2in 72.8in 871 4.8%
225/60-13 5.3in 11.8in 23.6in 74.2in 853 6.9%
235/60-13 5.6in 12.1in 24.1in 75.7in 837 9.1%
185/50-13 3.6in 10.1in 20.3in 63.7in 994 -8.2%
195/50-13 3.8in 10.3in 20.7in 65.0in 975 -6.4%
205/50-13 4.0in 10.5in 21.1in 66.2in 957 -4.6%
215/50-13 4.2in 10.7in 21.5in 67.4in 940 -2.9%
225/50-13 4.4in 10.9in 21.9in 68.7in 923 -1.1%
235/50-13 4.6in 11.1in 22.3in 69.9in 906 0.7%
245/50-13 4.8in 11.3in 22.6in 71.1in 891 2.5%
255/50-13 5.0in 11.5in 23.0in 72.4in 875 4.3%
And remember, the cars' final drive ratio will be changing with the tire size change.
Great info GOBDW.
Also, keep in mind that those dimentions are ESTIMATES.
Bill
So was I pushing it on having those 205s on my '80 Pony and thinking about putting them on my '79 wagon?
Sorry.
The tire data posted was from a tire comparator site into which I punched the various tire sizes shown. I forgot to also post the sites' URL.
I'll do better than that now.
Here's the original URL on which I found the link for the tire size comparator. It is one of the most extensive link sites for automotive related technical data that I have yet found. A good thing to bookmark.
stealth316.com/1-tech.htm
Scroll down lower on the page for general sites not specific to the Stealth.
Look for Miata.net, that's the tire comparator I used.
I checked today and BF Goodrich still makes a 235 and a 265-50-14.I have the 265s and they fill the wheel wells nicely.
Okay... here I am. Total newbie to the site and Pinto Specs. I've read all below but am still unsure. Can anyone help with suggestions.
I just bought a totally restored '77 V6 Squire. She has what I would term, the factory "Rally" wheels (Black, with silver trim, centercap with red decals, and trim rings -- not the slotted mags I had on my '79).
The tires on it are brand-new, Uniroyal Tiger Paw 185-70's, Blackwalls.
Problem is...
1) They look too small for the car / wheel wells
2) Because of the short sidewall, the car rides like they are made of stone... too firm, too much banging.
What I want...
1) As close to original looking as possible. I am not looking to make the car look mean, over-tired, aggressive, racy, etc.. So, I don't want big wide monsters or anything sticking out of the fenderwells.
2) I want to soften the ride as much as possible / higher aspect ratio
3) Whitewalls
4) To properly fill the fender-wells without over doing it.
5) I live in the Northeast, so light snow and wet traction is necessary.
What do you suggest....?
I have found:
Coopers Trendsetters -- 175-80's and 185-80's
Kelly -- 185-80's and 175-80's
Komho -- 185-80s and 185-70's
I see below that people are hunting down 195's and even 205's, but that sounds a bit more aggressive than I think I want. But, without seeing an example, I can't judge.
Do 185-80's, with a 24' hight do the trick or should I be looking for bigger?