12 inch wheels

[bastille10]

Hi Yall - Went to Les Schwaab for a general peek at the under carriage. Specifically the condition of the original shocks and struts. Said they we're suprisingly good for an '88. Anyway - He said that 12 inch wheels will always ride pretty rough. Even with new tires, struts, shocks, whatever. "Nature of the Beast" thing. I guess this question would only pop up on a Festiva Forum. What do the 13'' and up wheel folks think (as far as stock suspension goes)?

[Charlie1717]

Simple answer. Move up to 13". Get some wheels from geo metro. You will have more tire selection, which can in turn be cheaper than 12's. Better ride, traction, comfort, etc. Of course it depends on the tires you get but generally you will have better options!

[bastille10]

Thanks!

[TominMO]

Simple answer. Move up to 13". Get some wheels from geo metro. You will have more tire selection, which can in turn be cheaper than 12's. Better ride, traction, comfort, etc. Of course it depends on the tires you get but generally you will have better options!

+1. Unless a person is a purist and wants to keep it as it came from Korea, there is no good reason to stick with 12" tires.

[Zanzer]

I installed the Geo rims on mine and have been very pleased with the results.

[1990new]

+1. Unless a person is a purist and wants to keep it as it came from Korea, there is no good reason to stick with 12" tires.

OK..sounds like a good idea.
Still have 12 inch wheels on Ole Yeller. The tires still have fairly good tread but they are almost 7 years old. Don't want to change the suspension but would like to go to 13" but don't have a lot of cash to spend on fancy wheels.
What 13" wheels that will fit the Festiva am I most likely to find at a junk yard?

[Charlie1717]

OK..sounds like a good idea.
Still have 12 inch wheels on Ole Yeller. The tires still have fairly good tread but they are almost 7 years old. Don't want to change the suspension but would like to go to 13" but don't have a lot of cash to spend on fancy wheels.
What 13" wheels that will fit the Festiva am I most likely to find at a junk yard?

You shouldn't have a problem finding geo metro 13's there is also a sticky somewhere with a large list.

With my blue car I got 13" steelies for 12 bucks a piece from a junk yard then put on 4 brand new tires for 17$ a piece :p Unfortunately I've never found the tires again. So far so good though!

[TominMO]

I've even found four Metro 13s with brand new tires at the JY! $16 per tire/wheel.

[Eaglefreek]

I installed the Geo rims on mine and have been very pleased with the results.

I have installed 13" wheels but not happy with the results due to my choice of tire size. I installed 155/80/13's because that is all I could find locally. I had purchased some 145/70/13's from tireeasy.com but after they were installed they were found to be way out of round. I have lost acceleration and at least 2 mpg. Try to stick with tires that are close to the stock diameter.

[Zanzer]

I'm running mine with 175/70/13's and other than just a tiny amount of rubbing during hard corners I've had good luck with them. I knew I would lose a little acceleration and mpg but it was a good trade off vs. ride quality and tire availability.

[1990new]

Thanks for the input everyong.
Anyone else have negative comments about the 13" tires.
I checked Tire Rack for the 12" tires that I buy from them from my festiva, and they do not carry the Yokahama 13" tires for the Geo Metro.

Other that improved ride and possibiy better availability, what are other advantages for switching to 13"

[Zanzer]

Do you have a local Discount Tire? That's where I bought mine for like $220.

[1990new]

Do you have a local Discount Tire? That's where I bought mine for like $220.

Sound like it may be a better deal, but the thing is thought, I just paid $262.00 including shipping (mounted them myself) for the 12" Yokahamas for Junkyard Save in April. The same ones that I bought over 4 years ago that ran for over 75,000 and still had maybe 10,000 miles of tread on them
(Considering the fact that I discovered that my rack and pinion was bad when I had the new ones balanced that was exceptional.).
I had previously bought discount tires for my Festiva's and my experience with them was not nearly as good.

As long as I can get 12" inch tires like these at this price, I think I'll stay with them for now.
Anyway, at my age and the number of miles we are driving now, I may not have to ever buy any more.