Minilite wheels

[msd1107]

Brian,

You might think of increasing both front and rear tire pressures. If your 14" wheels are 5.5" or 6", the 18/23 psi is probably too low.

On my Elan, I went from the original 18/23 to 23/28. When I went to 5.5" wheels and 165-13 and then 185/70-13 tires, I went to 28/33. This kept the steering light and precise, the car was very stable, and the handling improved.

If the car feels skittish, maybe something else is contributing to the feeling.

The 175/65-14 tire has a TPM figure that is only 0.75% different from a 155-13 tire, so speedometer calibration should still be accurate. You made a good choice. It is closer to the 155-13 than the 185/60-14 that Spyder picked.

David
1968 36/7988

[bcmc33]

On my Elan, I went from the original 18/23 to 23/28. When I went to 5.5" wheels and 165-13 and then 185/70-13 tires, I went to 28/33. This kept the steering light and precise, the car was very stable, and the handling improved.

If the car feels skittish, maybe something else is contributing to the feeling.

David,

I am on 14x5.5" wheels - and your tyre pressures are exactly where I started, thinking it was a good option, but at speed the steering was way too sensitive. Skittish is the way I described it, and two experienced CL friends agreed. The consensus was to go back to standard which is where I progressively ended up. One of the club guys has 180/60 Yoko?s on 14x6? wheels on his Sprint and runs on 18/23 psi for fast road performance.

I have to admit to softening the damping on the front end since coming to that conclusion. When my car is back on the road I will try higher pressures again just to see if the damping had any adverse affect.

[msd1107]

Brian,

I think I understand better now.

After going to 165-13, 5.5" wheels, and 28/33 psi, on the road I would put my elbow in the door rest and hold the steering wheel between my thuimb and two fingers. Just a slight pressure was all that was needed to steer the car, at least for small movements. I never thought of this as skittish, and the car went through rain and snow and high winds without any drama. My wife loved driving the car. And I have never driven a car with that feeling of lightness, sensitivity, and precision, not even the Elite.

One interesting thing was driving on some freeways with grooves for water drainage. Sometimes, at some speeds, the car would what I call "wiggle" as I went down the road. But as long as I didn't try to steer the car, it just went straight although with this funny wiggle feeling.

Perhaps, as you say, the shock absorbers contribute to this skittish feeling. It would be interesting to see the inter-relationship between the tire pressure and shock firmness (and spring rate).

David
1968 36/7988