195/75/14 tire

[NOS-tiva]

Thinking of making a lil rally car out of my festy. I know the aspire swap raises them a bit. Seeing what else I may need to do to fit some 195/75/14 a/t tires in it. Just curious.

[Advancedynamix]

You'll need adjustable coilover rear suspension ( your tires aregoing to rub on the rear shocks even with aspire shocks), and you'll probably want to trim the fenders. See movins thread about his suspension, you'll need to lift the car a little with that big of a tire.

[htchbck]

Aspire stuff will raise it some, but nowhere near what you'd need for 195/75R14. Talk to Movin!

[Safety Guy]

The 195/75-14 would be approximately 55mm (about 2.25") taller than stock. It would also be about 35mm (about 1.3") taller than a 185/60-14, which is one of the larger tires that will usually (but barely) work in most Festivas.

You'll definitely need a more radical lift to work with these!

Karl

[Charlie1717]

The 195/75-14 would be approximately 55mm (about 2.25") taller than stock. It would also be about 35mm (about 1.3") taller than a 185/60-14, which is one of the larger tires that will usually (but barely) work in most Festivas.

You'll definitely need a more radical lift to work with these!

Karl

I've got 185/65/14 right now and I can't imagine getting any wider than that. They just barely fit.

[TominMO]

Thinking of making a lil rally car out of my festy. I know the aspire swap raises them a bit. Seeing what else I may need to do to fit some 195/75/14 a/t tires in it. Just curious.

If by "Aspire swap" you mean using the Aspire springs, not the Festy ones. And remember that a 2" rise in tire height is the diameter; the real number you want is 1/2 that, the radius, so it's only 1" to deal with.

And yeah, the lower spring perch is still an issue, unless you trim the perch a little and/or use spacers. Could you find some 185/75-14 tires for it? That would help of course, and that size is readily available: http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.p...hen=View+tires

And if you use narrower rims, like 5.5" instead of 6", that will help too.

[Safety Guy]

Tom wrote:

"And remember that a 2" rise in tire height is the diameter; the real number you want is 1/2 that, the radius, so it's only 1" to deal with."

My calculations were the radius, and that equals the mathematical (not necessarily the real world, due to manufacturer's specs and tire wear, etc.) rise of the ride height.

For example in all 14" tire sizes:

-the 185/60 = 111.0mm tall from wheel to tread.

-the 195/75 = 146.25mm tall from wheel to tread.

Now 146.25 - 111.00 = 35.25mm, which is how much higher the taller tire is from one of the largest "comfortable" tire sizes. (The 175/70-13 and 195/50-15 tires are also about the sidewall height of a 185/60-14.)

For the full tire diameter, double my numbers! His first choice of tire size would be about 4.5" larger diameter than a stock 12" Festiva tire.

I have 185/60-15 tires on my MINI wheels. I should pop them on and do another "photo shoot" over the weekend. That size should be 1/2" higher than the 14" version, and the tires don't have too much wear to confound the results. They're in good shape, and should be about 12mm taller than some 185/60-14s, which is around 31mm taller than stock.

Karl

[Bert]

195/75-14s are 25 1/2 inches in diameter. This is a whopping 4 1/2 inches bigger than stock Festy 12 inch tires (which are 21").
I already find 23 inch diameter tires (175/70-13s and 175/65-14s, for instance) to be on the large side of proportional but at least they do work on a Festy.
For your sake I have attached a shot of 21 3/4 inch diameter tires (155/65-14 (or for that matter 165/60-14).
Imagine adding another 2 inches in either direction.
You'd be building a poor man's version of the lunar rover, or a scaled-down Bigfoot.

[kellen302]

I did some googling awhile ago and found a site that listed rally tires in 185/xx/13 I think. They were Goodyear tires iirc, but it wasn't a goodyear site. They were described as specifically for FWD rally applications. I also have a fitment question, the size is similar, but they aren't rally tires. My BP donor Protege has some brand spankin' new 195/45/14 Federal Formoza's on it. I realize the bolt pattern on the wheels is wrong, but wouldd these tires fit at all if I found some 14" wheels with the corect offsset (+35ish?)

[Advancedynamix]

Yes, those should fit with the a 14x5.5-14x6 on a 35-40mm offset, but you'll need 1/4" spacers on the rear and I'd suggest rolling the fenders (you can actually stretch the front fenders about an inch while rolling them if your patient. Keep the tires on the protege rims and do an aspire brake swap. Kill two birds with one lug wrench.

[Bert]

Austin Minis were world champions on the European rally circuit during the early to mid 60s and they were running dinky bias-ply tires on 10 inch rims.
I wouldn't be getting pre-occupied with size of wheel as much as I would be concentrating on suspension travel and firmness, in addition to quality of tire. Performance track tires have weak sidewalls that easily puncture on rough roads. Aspire or Rio front brakes would be perfect for you along with Aspire front sway bar and Aspire trailing arm, rear brakes and adapted/taller Aspire springs all around.