looking at 14's for the festiva

[Aaronbrook37]

I am in the process of buying a 1988 festiva and was also wondering about the tire size. Should I upgrade to the Aspire brakes and such? sorry, newbie here.

That depends on what you're using the car for. If it's an A-B grocery getter or city cruiser, I wouldn't bother with it. My old daily driver (plain jane bone stock engine) has stock brakes that are fantastic. Mind you, I've done the rotors, pads, shoes, hardware, wheel cylinders, and tires in the last couple months.

If you're on the freeway/highway a lot or you do aggressive driving, then definitely pursue the Aspire option. I have a full swap on my B6T performance car, and it's a phenomenal boost.

[sketchman]

My DD had warped rotors. It's more work(and probably just as much expense if you're not DIYing) to rebuild the stock parts. I've done it both ways. I'll never rebuild another set of stock brakes as long as I can find a donor Rio/Aspire front end. Junkyard 13" 4x100s should be easy to get for most people, and 13" tires are the sweet spot between size vs cost right now AFAIK.

I went all new on my last one. Even did the 14" multi fit wheels. Looking back I should have gone ahead and drilled the rear for 4x100 and gotten some 13s with locally available tire size options, but live and learn.

[Aaronbrook37]

+1 for 13's. I'm rocking these bad-boys on my B6T car, and they're phenomenal. Cheap, aggressive tread, good wear rating, and perfectly accurate for the speedometer.

[iriegnome]

When you make the switch from the stock 12 to 14's, other than rims do you have to make any other mod's?

[old yellow]

how would 185/60/14 be on the festiva

how about this?

[FestYboy]

depending on the rims, you'll either have to run spacers in the rear, or roll the fender lips a little all around or both. going to a 185/55 helps as it makes the overall diameter smaller so as not to contact the rear strut and it gets the speedo closer to correct (as opposed to the 185/60s)

i run 185/60/14 on scrappy with 14x6 +35 rims, i had to clearance the spring perch in the rear and roll all 4 fenders (car is lowered). reguardless of the ride height, i had to clearance the spring perch. running a spacer on the rear would have ment far more fender massaging than i was willing to do.

i have the same dimention rims on the sport and 165/60 tires and had to do NOTHING fits like a glove and speedo is nearly dead nutz on.

[old yellow]

Rims.jpg

this is the rims i wanna use and they worked great for my aspire and they already got a great pair of 185/60/14 tires (just needs 2 more)

plus the Festiva is still rides at stock (not lowered or lifted)

[Bert]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14284[/ATTACH]

this is the rims i wanna use and they worked great for my aspire and they already got a great pair of 185/60/14 tires (just needs 2 more)

plus the Festiva is still rides at stock (not lowered or lifted)

Only drawback with 4 x 100mm rims (if they fit on an Aspire then that's what they are) is they will not remotely fit onto 4 x 114mm Festy pattern.

[Bert]

When you make the switch from the stock 12 to 14's, other than rims do you have to make any other mod's?

Much of this depends on what rims and what tires you choose. Remember that Festy steel rims are 4 inch wide (OEM alloys are 4 1/2) and 12 inch tires are 21 inch tall. The further you stray away from those dimensions the more problems will potentially crop up. There is nothing out there in 14s that will replicate those 12s dimensions; narrowest rims begin at 5 1/2 and common (ie least expensive) tire heights are usually in around 23 inch.
By virtue of having done a complete Aspire swap (springs/brakes/shocks) and getting hold of OEM 14" alloys off an 01 Kia Rio, and not getting too cocky with wide/high tires I've had absolutely no problems at all.

[old yellow]

Only drawback with 4 x 100mm rims (if they fit on an Aspire then that's what they are) is they will not remotely fit onto 4 x 114mm Festy pattern.

they fit with some struggle (i think the size is between 4X100 and 4X114) they are maybe 4X108 or some odd number but will have to look again

[FestYboy]

if it isn't the right pattern, it's not going to fit, period. Fiat makes a 4x98 pattern and it is NOT mountable to a 4x100 car even though it's only a 2mm differance. a 7mm differance is too much to overcome without machine work and welding.

having said that, i see that you stated that the rims were mounted on your aspire (4x100), they make adapter rings to allow a pattern change from 100 to 114.3, but this will effectively change the offset closer to "0" and push the rim away from the car and into your fender lips.

[DriverOne]

Time to upgrade to Aspire knuckles & rear beam, Old Yellow! I've got a set of tires coming in a 165/60R14. I paid $240 for all 4 shipped. They're 2.3% larger than the stock tire, and I'm hoping they tuck in enough to keep from scrubbing on my fenders like my 195/45R14's do. It'd be nice to get some 165/55R14's since that's closest to the stock OD, but they're damn hard to find and expensive when I do!

[Bert]

they fit with some struggle (i think the size is between 4X100 and 4X114) they are maybe 4X108 or some odd number but will have to look again

That's a scary thought. Something ain't right if you can shoehorn Aspire-compatible wheels on to a Festy. Only thing that would save you from bouncing up and down or flying apart on the road is if the rims were hub centric, and a tight fit.