[Tigers] No, not a dipstick comment, new subject - Tiger Street Tires

[Dave]

Rob;

Here in Nova Scotia we have three Michelin plants that crank out a lot of car and truck tires for the Canadian and U.S. market. One of the plants made a variety of 15” tires, and it was closed last year due to the shrinking market for this size tire, costing hundreds of jobs. So that seems to be the trend, if not the complete end of 15” tires.

However, for your reasons, I switched to 15/5.5” wheels on the front and 15x6” wheels on the rear. For tires I have on the front 185-55 R15’s and on the rear 205-55 R15’s.  These fit easily into both wheel wells without having to modify the fender lips.
These tire/wheel combinations dramatically alter the way the car handles. With Goodyear Eagles on 13” wheels the car was very loose and easy to control rear wheel drifts with the throttle; not so with the 15” low profile radials. They require a whole lot more throttle and higher road speeds to get that level of throttle control. 
A larger consideration is the much stiffer ride. The original tube type high side-wall tires contributed to a much more confortable ride, and a lot fewer rattles and squeaks! The low profiles which must be run at higher pressures stiffen the ride and transfer rough road surfaces directly to your butt and promotes rattles you never heard before to appear.
Unless you are going autocrossing, racing, and/or mostly riding solo w/o a significant other, I would try to stay with the original wheels and tires until they become impossible to purchase. They make for a much nicer, quieter, smoother, albeit less capable cornering, car.
FWIW,
Dave
From: Robert Hogan via Tigers 
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2015 3:26 PM
To: tigers at autox.team.net 
Subject: [Tigers] No, not a dipstick comment,new subject - Tiger Street Tires

The unavailability of any wide and low profile 13” street tires compels searching for 15 & 16” tire and wheel combinations.  

The tire calculator at http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.do compares existing to preferred tire sizes.

Was the original 5.90 x 13 Tiger tire size an 80 or greater profile?  The 1972 Workshop manual isn’t that specific except to specify a 11.5” rolling radius.

The calculator shows a 5.90 (150 mm) when input as a 155-80 R13 at 22.76” overall diameter, 71.51” circumference and doing 886 revs per mile which suggests using a 225-45 R15 as a very closely comparative replacement.

Does anyone have information on whether 15 inch tires will become as hard to find as wider than 185 sections for 13” tires are now?

Are 16” or larger diameter wheels and tires a better alternative or widely in use on others’ Tigers?

 

 

Rob

B382001560 restoration in process



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