will 205/55/15 be ok on my mk1,as ive got 195/45/15 at the moment but as the car is lowered it keeps grounding out on speed bumps so instead of putting standard springs on im going to put bigger tyres on to clear it,hopefully
steve
This will increase the diameter of your tyres from 557 to 607mm, thus increasing your ride height by 50mm or just under 2 inches.
HOWEVER! It will also raise your gearing by nearly 9% which means your speedo will under-read and the gearing will be raised, affecting both performance and economy. And you will now have less room under the wheel arches thus increasing the risk of something rubbing, particularly on full lock.
There are better ways of making a car higher!
im not really that bothered about economy etc.i dont drive it that fast 70mph is fast enough as when im at work im use to only being able to drive at 60mph,but you could be right with the rubbing so maybe just go for 195/55/15 instead
steve
if you use this web page it would show you the difference in the speedo reading, the room to the suspension and how it fills the wheel well…
I have a customer with a Mk1 1.8 Eunos automatic, he runs 205/60/15 on his BBS wheels with no rubbing/clearance issues so running 205/55/15 wouldnt cause a problem, as for raising the overall gearing by 9% then that is a real bonus as fuel prices have risen by 13% in the last 12 months
No big deal to loose a bit of ooomph in the interests of fuel economy, if I could find a bolt-on overdrive unit for mine I definately would get one fitted.
Dr. Eunos
No quite, it would only raise the ride height by 25mm.
Hmm interesting might give me the ride height I want for rallying how does it handle on 205 60 15?
I stand corrected, 50mm extra diameter is of course 25mm extra radius! But that’s still nearly an inch!
To be honest at 6.5J rim width the 205/60/15 makes the car a bit over-tyred i.e the sidewalls are a bit balloon-like, 7.5J rims are needed to make 205 tyres work properly and sit nicely but it depends what you are after- remember the original MX5/Eunos Roadster sat on 185/60/14 tyres and the ride on that tyre-size is very good, in fact probably as good as you can have for normal everyday motoring.
If you run 15" rims (I notice the OP Stevescar is on thewrong` profile at 45 series for a 15" rim gearing-wise, should be 195/50/15) and want a comfortable ride rather than a circuit-race car feel, and raising the gearing by sacrificing some accelleration then running 60 series tyres is ok but really you want 7.5J or at a push 7J rims to stop it feeling too mushy. Of course what you gain on the swings, you loose on the roundabouts- running wider tyres will produce more drag and increase fuel consumption but upping the gearing will more than win that back for you.
Dr. Eunos
and to be honest with you dr eunos,the 195/45/15s look terrible as there is to much clearance around the arches so im looking at filling the arch up aswell as giving the car a bit more ride height so i think it will be 195/55/15s
steve
ps car has been lowered by 40mm
It will depend on the offset of the wheels, but particularly as your car is lowered I would be concerned about rubbing the front wings. 205 50 on low offset wheels will hit the inner flange and possible put a pull in the wing.
Also, while you do increase the gearing you do require more effort to get to that speed so it depends on where you do most driving.
As you car is lowered, I think you might find it looks silly on big tyres.