Section : Wheels and Tyres

What are the best tyres for 13 x 4.5" J wire wheels fitted on Spitfire MK2 

Posted By : Tom Broome, 08-Aug-2005, 03:01pm

• What are the best tyres for 13 x 4.5" J wire wheels fitted on Spitfire MK2 

  Posted By : Neil Nasralla, 08-Aug-2005, 03:12pm

  Tom, from what I have read on this forum and others besides the consensus is 175/70R13 tyres. They seem to give the best balance of grip in the dry and wet and fill the wheel arches better than the standard 155/78R13 tyres. I don't think this is any different if you have wire wheels or standard steels or alloy wheels although others may be able to state otherwise. If you are looking for advice on a particular brand of tyre then all I can say is that I have Dunlop SP30 175/70R13 and I have found them to be absolutely fine with good amounts of grip in all conditions.
  
  I would go for a decent brand of tyre rather than budget tyres. One thing that I have read is that be very careful where you get the wheel/tyre combination balanced as wires require special fittings on the wheel balancing machine that your average tyre shop may well not have and people have reported having wheels that have been completely out of balance as a result.
  
  I am sure there are some comments about this in some of the previous threads that I have read. I have Revolution alloys so have not been through this but it is certainly something to bear in mind when ordering and getting some tyres fitted to your wire wheels.
  
  I hope you get some decent tyres and get excatly what you want.
  
  Regards, Neil

  • What are the best tyres for 13 x 4.5" J wire wheels fitted on Spitfire MK2 

    Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 08-Aug-2005, 04:12pm

    Dunlop SPs are fine on a car that gets a lot of use, but my experience (and that of my friendly tyre fitter) is that they easily lose shape if left standing for a while (we're talking months here I think). When I first bought my GT6 (which had done 9,000 miles in 10 years), it had SPs on all round and I had bad virbation problems, although they were balanced up (on wires) using the proper clamps. However, the vibration didn't quite go away until I changed them for Firestones which were by far superiour to the Dunlops.
    
    The wear rate is good and the grip is fantastic, but both these factor are reliant of the proper pressures and tracking of course.
    
    You should use no larger than 155s for tyre width as the spline adaptors already increase your track setting and more than that will have your wheels extending beyond the bodywork (esp at the front)... even with that the fronts can rub (on the very outside) on the wheel arches if you take a speed bump too quickly - the rears are fine for clearance but I wouldn't want to put the extra strain of a 175 on those rear axles (known weakspot).
    
    When were talking road cars, IMHO wider tyres give you no extra benefit (some would say they look better) but they do increase the wear rate of the steering/suspension components - as for more grip in cornering... well, who are you trying to beat? Why do you need to corner faster? These are the questions I asked myself and so my GT6 stays on 155/78s.

    • What are the best tyres for 13 x 4.5" J wire wheels fitted on Spitfire MK2 

      Posted By : James Carruthers, 09-Aug-2005, 10:56am

      Also - more grip means less fun around corners!
      
      If you're going to get nabbed by the old bill - make it for going sideways around a roundabout rather than driving around a corner too quickly