I haven't followed all the thread here so it may already have been covered but handling/ride characteristics are also affected by the relationship of the tire width and wheel width.
Nominally they would match. Wider tire to wheel ratio tends to give a more supple ride at the expense of steering response while a narrower tire sharpens steering at the expense of ride comfort (then again we are talking spiders here). Finally, tire pressure has an affect that only experimentation will resolve to your preferences. A wider tire cross-section needs less pressure as the contact patch increases so less psi required to maintain your preferred sidewall stiffness. Use www.Tirerack.com and www.1010tires.com (they have a great tire calculator http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp) for (usually) good owner reviews. One issue is not many relate directly to Alfa spiders but you can get a pretty decent idea of how a car will perform. What you end up with depends on how you use the car and what you want to bias the ride for. And, of course, cost and wear characteristics. Is it tooling around in the sun or blasting back roads with some autocross and track days, year-round commuting etc.? It may make sense to get more than one set of wheel/tire combinations. One last thought, if the current setup does not make you smile there may be worn suspension bushings and dampers that when fixed brings the smile back no matter what the tire used. Can be a big subject or pretty simple. Enjoy the car (now I'm mind humming Mrs Robinson da da dada....) Jef Fowler - -----Original Message----- Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 17:35:35 -0400 From: Richard Bevins <[email protected]>Subject: [alfa] Graduate tire size I'm sure this has been answered before, but I don't remember reading it. Other than the stock 186/70 x 14 tires for my '86 Graduate with stock wheels, what other size tires will work? (And is there any advantage to using another size?) Dick Bevins -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
