After all this, it's the #$*!#* Tires??

[Safety Guy]

New 12s will work and even at inflated prices (compared to a few years back when you could get a whole set mounted and balanced for under $100) would probably be the least expensive option. However, that won't help you when you need another set in a few years.

If I were you I'd look for a nice set of 13" steel Metro rims, which will fit your car well and allow you to take advantage of sale prices on the smallest tires now commonly available: 155/80-13 or 175/70-13.

Both sizes are within a couple millimeters diameter of each other. The skinnier 155s should be a little lighter weight and give a bit better mpgs, while the 175s will handle better.

Buying two sets of tires is probably a good idea with ever rising petroleum prices. Consider the following:

12" all seasons for regular driving and 13" snows for winter.
12" snows for winter and all seasons in the 13s.
The 13" snows will lift your car up around 3/4" or more for helping to get through any deep snow.
A set of 155/80-13 snows and 175/70-13 all seasons...

Think about your options and see how much money you want to invest.

Just consider that both 12s and 13s may be increasingly more difficult to get and definitely more costly as time goes on. Begin thinking not only for the short term, but for the long haul. This includes parts as well! That's a whole nuther subject though...

Karl

[phyaz91]

Do what I did and UPGRADE to the SHOULD have been factory on our precious festivas 13s are good because their is an array of sizes including the IRS mention up there but also 185/65 and 195/65 for us speeddemons to hug the road with sumitomo htr200's I'm ordering the 185's this week

[Safety Guy]

The Sumis I'd choose would be the 185/60-13s. These would be around 6mm taller than the nearly stock sized 175/60-13s.

In case anyone has never ordered tires on the 'net, I recently purchased two Nankang 165/70-13 CX668s from tires-easy.com. They were delivered right to my front door within a week, taped together with those nice new stickers on them. So far I've also been pleased with them on Twinstiva's front wheels.

Some day I may try these:

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=60661912.135.27506&Cookie=pricegrabber&typ=D-108413&ranzahl=4&Breite=175&Quer=60&Felge=13&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&dsco=135&sowigan=GAN

They look to be a potential successor to the old Falkens, though there are two more expensive tires available in that size from tires-easy.

Unless you have a "connected" dealer nearby, I'm thinking mail order is the way to go, along with your own tire changing tool like I got from Harbor Freight. For forty bucks (with 20% off coupon), you'd only need to dismount and/or mount twelve to fourteen tires for it to pay for itself. After some practice, you could mount your own new tires and take them in for balancing.

Karl