'72 510 wagon sticking with 13x5.5 wheels - what size tires?

[rosso]

Have 185/70-13 on stock steelies on the car as bought. Want to go wider.

 

I have Western Wheel Minilite replicas in 13" x 5.5". What size tire can I use?

 

205/60-13?

 

Car has 2" lowering blocks in rear and similar drop in front.

 

I test fit the wheels in back and clearance looks good.

 

 

[bananahamuck]

205/60/13 will fit and look good 

[Dolomite]

In my opinion, a 205 will be really rounded on that narrow of a rim. It may be just me, but I find my cars handle more neutrally with the tread width matching the rim width. I’d go with a 195, but YMMV.

[MikeRL411]

Your existing tires will fit the 5.5 width wheel just fine. And your speedometer will not give false speed readings.

[banzai510(hainz)]

I have some 15in SSR mwsh that would look better

[rosso]

Your existing tires will fit the 5.5 width wheel just fine. And your speedometer will not give false speed readings.

Yes I would keep them, except even though they have good tread, they are very old Goodyear snow tires (like 6 years old at least).

 

EDIT: A quick look for the 185/70-13 seems like more tires are available - will consider it.

[rosso]

I have some 15in SSR mwsh that would look better

I like SSR mesh wheels and would love to go with 15" but have 3 sets of 13" wheels already so will stick with them.

Western Wheel minilite reps

Octavo Finned

Vial finned

[rosso]

I'll try to continue this thread before starting another.

 

I have been looking at 185/70-13 tires to stick with stock stuff for now.

 

Has anyone used the Achilles tires?

 

https://simpletire.com/achilles-185-70r13-mad187013-tiresThey are one of the only tires to list

 

They are one of the only tires to list a UTQG rating, let alone one with 420 AA A specs. Many tires have only the A traction rating and B heat rating.

 

Anyone used these or have another tire with similar specs in the lower price range?

 

Cheers to all.

 

Michael

PS: I survived Canby 2018. Such fun!!

[banzai510(hainz)]

most of those a Chinese I bet.

Not a lot of companies making them anymore so I assume they getting outsourced to lower wage countries now.

 

I had some USA made Coopers and still have them in 165 front and 175 rears but they are over 10years old sitting in the garage

 

 

As for the rating I think its OK for most L motors

[datzenmike]

Have 185/70-13 on stock steelies on the car as bought. Want to go wider.

 

I have Western Wheel Minilite replicas in 13" x 5.5". What size tire can I use?

 

205/60-13?

 

Car has 2" lowering blocks in rear and similar drop in front.

 

I test fit the wheels in back and clearance looks good.

 

 

 

The stock 510 tire is 5.60-13 No idea of the diameter.

 

In a 70s series tire, a 185/70R13 has a height or diameter @ 23.20" but width of 7.28" No way the stock 5.60-13 was this wide.

 

A 205/60R13 is 22.69" tall and 8" wide. Speedometer will read 2% higher or 1 MPH faster @ 50 MPH than what you are going compared only to the 185/70R13.

 

 

The maximum tire width on a 510 is about 9" but rarely done because no one can be bothered to get the rim and off set right.

 

 

Has anyone used the Achilles tires?

Achilles? Odd name for a tire. Achilles was only remembered for his weak spot, his heel.

[rosso]

Hey DatzenMike,

 

Thanks for the info - the Tirerack conversion chart lists 5.6x13, 185/70, and 205/60 as equivalent size tires.

 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/45_conversionchart.jsp

 

Achilles is not the strangest name - some are like Wanlu, Duran, Sailun and many have no UTQG rating so would not consider any of them. At least the Achilles apparently did the testing to determine the rating.

 

I looked for you at Canby - did you go? I survived the rain, lightning, and hail. Still had a blast. My goal is to bring the wagon with VG33 next year!

 

Cheers.

[datzenmike]

Yes, did a lot of walking around. Identified the ratios on two different 5 speeds. Had a ride in HRH's Max goon.... fuck it pulls good. Got twin SU choke cables from James. Noticed that Farmer Joe's O₂  sensor wire was broken off. It may or may not have helped him. Generally just hanging out talking Datsuns.

[docbainey]

UTQG ratings are typically required for manufactured tires of over 2000 units or more per year. No UTQG rating is the same as a UTQG temperature rating of 'C'. Traction and tread wear ratings are a manufacturer supplied number, nothing else. Temperature rating on the other hand, determines the severity of a DOT required test. An 'A' temperature rated tire undergoes a more severe test than a 'B' rated tire, and then 'C 'in terms of severity. Other determining factors of DOT testing are of course tire size, load index number and load rating IE 'extra load', 'standard load' or 'light load'. Any speed rating on a tire 'S', 'H', 'V' and so on are manufacturer supplied ratings, like traction and tread wear, and do not require any DOT tests to actually verify the rating.

[Ranman72]

I have had several sets of Achilles on my 350z and on my 370z 

decent tire rides nice handles great wears decent 

all have been nice and round and tru so no wierd wobbbles or out of round 

had them at high speed too with no issues 

I would buy them without hesitation 

[rosso]

Thanks ranman - I am leaning towards the Achilles - glad it works for you, that's great incentive for me to use it.

[bananahamuck]

I agree with Ranman ,, bought some 175/60/13 Achilles for my 1200 ( off Ebay cuz they are cheaper)  last year and they ran smooth even without balancing . 

[Ranman72]

i purchased mine at onlintires.com

[Dolomite]

A note to those looking for cheap tires.

Don’t even think about Lakewood, I bought a set just to get 15s going so I could do my zx strut swap before I had my watanabes/dunlops worked off from the keeper. After I got the wats, the sendel/lakewood combo went into the garage. In less than six months they were all flat, just sitting in the garage, with only a few hundred miles on them. The same rims sat outside in weather from snow to 100+ with falken azenis sports worn to threads and they still had pressure in them when I took them to have the Lakewoods installed. I’ve since seen YouTube vids about brand new lakewoods having failure rates like the infamous ford explorer firestones.