WTT: 165R15 Michelin XZX's for 135 or 145s

[dale-j]

Bit of a long shot, but hoping someone may have some fronts and need some rears.  I have five like new (stickers!) XZX's in 165R15.  On a poorly controlled impulse (aaargh, bad fender gap - must fix....)  I put drop spindles in the car.  The combo of the additional offset and slight lowering had the front ones rubbing in the maiden voyage around the block recently. 

Looks like I'm going to need narrower fronts.  Anyone with two or three newish XZX's in 135R15 or 145R15 or 155r15 that wants a couple or three 165R15's in trade?  I have one on the spare too, that can either stay or go.

Steve

[Geoff]

Hey Steve it's Geoff, I may have what you need. Gotta see if I can get my  other 135 back from a friend who used it to check tire fitment..

[dale-j]

Cool, that would be great Geoff.  I was just digging in the back posts and saw that you were looking for these.
Got to get the car out to Dale's for an alignment and get it aircared but the long project is nearing becoming a driver <insert shit eating grin here>.  Had it out in the 'hood last night.

Geez, you've been selling me parts for the same car since you worked at CIP in Burnaby and we were both a LOT younger :p
Come to think of it, Kris had a driving oval then too....


Steve

[dale-j]

Ouch.  Just got fully bitch slapped by Bruce for even contemplating 135's on the car.  I wouldn't want to suggest 125's or temporary spares and see what he had to say but I'm sure it would not be pretty.

("Bicycle Tires!  They Don't Turn!  They don't stop!  They SUCK in the wet!  They have no load rating!")

SO, if possible let's focus on the 145 solution.     Geoff, you were first in here, any chance that you've got a line on any?

I've had it suggested that 155's would also work although I'm not sure that would provide enough clearance -  with more caster making them turn more top to bottom/less side to side, and more negative and camber in the front end getting the tops in a bit the 155's might.  Working on the front end stuff now, any feedback is appreciated from those who are running similar set-ups - stock car, stock wheels, 2 1/2" spindles with the extra 1/2" offset.

[Jeremy]

He bitched slapped you but did he recommend another option?

I run 175-55-15 on the front of my car (rear Smart car tire). Profile is lower than 135 and a wider footprint.

Sounds like you might need a narrowed beam as well.

[Jeremy]

https://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=tire+calculator&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4LENP_enCA478CA480&q=tire+calculator+difference&gs_l=hp..4.0l5.0.0.0.4415...........0.aHQc9SsyLLw

[dale-j]

Oh no...   there certainly was a suggestion made - apparently 155R15s are equivalent to the 5.60 15s that were on it, so my 165R15s are actually oversize and may be causing (in part) the problem.  That said, I'm not convinced that the 5mm difference on the outside edge and 17mm in height is going to fix the issue, but maybe when combined with some negative camber it will.  I'm going to do my front end homework first with the link pin shims and see how far I get with a couple degrees negative camber, and a bit of added caster (one set of shims) to make the steering inputs tip the top of the tire a bit more sideways.

Barring that - I kind of like the 165's all around so I can rotate them- I might just bite the bullet and chop down my spare beam a couple inches.

[dale-j]

I did look at the smart car tires for it, but trying to keep the look quasi-stock enough to try for collector plates.  The crazy fender gap in the front just got to me a bit too much to not f@$k with it though.  In retrospect maybe spindles were not the best way to deal with it....