Tire Pressure with 175/70 13 ?

[summerinmaine]

175/70-13 tires can be squeezed onto a 4.5" wheel, but 5.0 or 5.5 would be better. Some flaring would be needed at both front & rear.

Cheers,
Kiyoshi

My 175/70s are mounted on stock steel wheels, and actully don't appear abnormal.

I also didn't find a need for any flaring. Lucky, I guess.

[Galwaylotus]

175/70-13 tires can be squeezed onto a 4.5" wheel, but 5.0 or 5.5 would be better. Some flaring would be needed at both front & rear.

As for pressures, I would start with around 26 psi for all four and possible go as low as 22 or 23 psi. I suggest starting at say 28 psi and chalking the shoulders of the tires and get on a skid pad (round-a-bout?) and see how much the tire is rolling over. Continue lowering the pressure in 2 lb increments until you see the tires rolling over. Then bump the pressure back up in 1 psi increments until you see the correct amount of roll over.

Cheers,
Kiyoshi

And for most of us on this side of the pond, make sure you have plenty of oil in the sump before starting your "skidpad" work!!

[Bluefield]

Thank you all for your input. I will do some testing with the pressure and see what feels best to me. It sure was an improvement going from ~22 up to 26-27 psi.

/Bluefield
26-3811

[khamai]

175/70-13 tires can be squeezed onto a 4.5" wheel, but 5.0 or 5.5 would be better. Some flaring would be needed at both front & rear.

Cheers,
Kiyoshi

My 175/70s are mounted on stock steel wheels, and actully don't appear abnormal.

I also didn't find a need for any flaring. Lucky, I guess.

175/70s will fit under a S4/Sprint with minor rubbing at the front under full lock with the correct offset wheels (may foul with the spring perch at the rear with stock wheels). I believe the poster mentioned he had these under an S1. Both the S1 & S2 are, shall we say, "fender well challenged".

Here's a link to an article I wrote for the Golden Gate Lotus Club - http://gglotus.org/ggtech/elan-panasport/elanwhls.htm. At the time I had an S4 and wanted alloy K/Os. I'm now running a set on my S2.

Cheers,
Kiyoshi

[Bluefield]

Well noted Kiyoshi,
My wheel arches are stretched to fit 5 inch minilites. This was made around 1970, when the car was used for rallying. Pretty nice job, though.

/Bluefield
26-3811