Dave -
Not to mention that 205s - 215s are too wide and will put alot of stress on
the steering and suspension on a Big Healey. I had 205 60s on my BJ8 in the
late 80s and although it cornered very well, it shredded my shocks and shock
mounts. Since I've been running 185s on the BJ8 there havent' been any
problems.
Best Regards,
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
On 2/5/06, Dave Murphy <roadwarriordave@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I believe the gent who asked the tire size question was Chris.
>
> Chris,
> Over the last few years I've mentally made note of the tire sizes on a
> dozen
> or so big Healeys because mine has 165 section width tires that to my eyes
> look a little small. Most guys I know use 175s but these still didn't look
> meaty enough to me, so I wondered about 185s or 195s. So I surveyed some
> cars.
>
> Whenever I saw a Healey BJ8 with 195s, these fit OK within the rear
> fenders,
> but NOT up up front; with the 195s there was a whole row of tread outside
> the front fender that could potentially throw stones onto the paintwork.
>
> None of the few Healeys I saw with 185s had this problem of protruding
> tread, so I made a mental note that 185s look really good and are probably
> the maximum size tires I could fit.
>
> I expect the bad things about upsizing from 165s to 185s would be:
> 1) They are probably not going to look or fit right on my 4.5" wide rims.
> 2) The steering is going to be a lot heavier in parking, so I'll need a
> cup-holder for my Starbucks.
> 3) It wouldn't be as easy to spin the tires on takeoff or break the rear
> end
> loose on a corner.
>
> Some more cautions against large tires:
> I have a TR6 on which the tires and wheels (215/60-15" on 15" x 7" rims)
> are
> to wide. They look really "right" on the car with all the tread just
> inside
> the fenders, and they don't rub and the car has tremendous cornering
> ability. But the steering is incredibly heavy when parking and the tires
> tend to follow road irregularities. I also think the ball joints and
> steering box are under a lot more stress on this car. I also note that the
> TR6 with its original 15 x 5.5" wheels with 185 x 15 tires lacked the
> current light handling -easy to park feel of my Healey. Which makes me
> wonder that although 185s might look great on the Healey whether the light
> easy feel of the car would be lost.
>
> -Dave Murphy, SE Michigan AHC
> 66 BJ8
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