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Thread: Real skinny tires...

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    Real skinny tires...

    Has anyone gone skinnier? I know we have some mighty skinny tires already. But the skinnier the better, I always say. Ok, well I've never said that. But I'm declaring it now! I'm starting to really like the pizza cutter tire look.

    Having owned the Blueberry for over a year now, the 165/65's are looking like as wide as F1 race tires (to me).

    Mo' skinnier ought to return higher fuel economy. I did some tirerack research and there are 2 tires in the 135/80-14 size, that yield a 22.504" diameter compared to the 22.445" diameter of the 165/65-14. This is .26% larger in diameter ... effectively the same diameter. And it least it would be going in the right direction to correct the slightly optimistic speedometer.

    One tire is a Vredestein Sprint Classic (so you know it's gotta be awesome). And the other is a Pirelli Spare Tyre. Even says "Spare Tyre" on the side, hehehe.

    Couple dudes put the Vredestein Sprint Classic on the fronts of their classic (possibly muscle) cars, and had good things to say about them. Other even skinnier tires get too short.

    Seems legit, and the tires say they're good for 4" - 4.5" rims. So these tires should fit our 4.5" rims. A little pricey though, at $164 per tire. I'd probably cheap out before I'd buy these tires though. Friggin Enasaves are like $167 a tire. So yeah, pricey (both). That and no more Blueberry Heavy Haul Tow Rig on such skinny tires.


    Other interesting stats:

    Vredestein - Dunlop:
    Weight: 12 lbs - 13 lbs
    Tread Width: 3.8" - 5.5" (now that's cutting some pizza!)

    Comments? Questions? Concerns? Suggestions?


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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Someone private messaged me some thoughts on tires two weeks ago, & he brought up something I never even considered.


    I am firm believer in narrow snow tires. I'm not sure that I would have bought a Mirage if 165 or narrower snow tires didn't exist. I would have considered a 155/80r13 snow tire, but we all know 13" rims don't fit on a 2017+ Mirage (due larger front brakes).

    What I never really considered was going to larger rims. So I was asked about this two weeks ago -

    4 i-MiEV front wheels (15x4) and getting 145/65-15 https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...tnum=465TR5QT5

    145/65r15 tires exist, and they are the exact same diameter as 165/6514 tires (22.4" for both).

    Just thought I would add that to this discussion, because Top Fuel has made a good case for trying lightweight 15" rims & 185/55r15 tires on the forum. I've never really heard anyone bring up going to 15" rims to run narrower tires.

    I will share my one caution when considering narrow tires - check their payload capacity. It's something to not overlook. We are talking about vehicles going down highways at high speeds & not bicycles.

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    Senior Member daleWV's Avatar
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    I wonder if grip would suffer when braking really hard on skinny tires?

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    Metro put 4 part-time spare tires on his car and did a rolling resistance test against other wheels/tires on the same vehicle. The skinnier spare tires didn't do too well in his test.

    HERE is a link to his test results.

    Here's his car with the pizza cutters...

    Name:  metro.jpg
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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


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    My 90 Horizon had 165/80 13 snows studded and I go until it plowed snow.
    I think going skinny would give up some stability and have more roll when turning?

    Good luck with what ever tires you buy.

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    Christopher_B (01-20-2023)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Top_Fuel View Post
    Metro put 4 part-time spare tires on his car and did a rolling resistance test against other wheels/tires on the same vehicle. The skinnier spare tires didn't do too well in his test.

    HERE is a link to his test results.

    Here's his car with the pizza cutters...

    Name:  metro.jpg
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    I seriously wouldn't judge anything by junk spare tires.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark View Post
    4 i-MiEV front wheels (15x4)

    145/65r15 tires exist, and they are the exact same diameter as 165/6514 tires (22.4" for both).
    This is the only way I see this being a positive experiment. Because the Enasave is available in this size we could have a true Apples to Apples comparison.
    Resident Tire Engineer

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 44.4 mpg (US) ... 18.9 km/L ... 5.3 L/100 km ... 53.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    My Nokian snow tires are 155/70-14s. Didn't even know that size was a thing here in the US. Bought them a couple years ago when Simple Tire had them on clearance.

    Great in the snow/ice, mileage is awesome, but they are some of the loudest studded snow tires I have ever used.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ken2400 View Post
    My 90 Horizon had 165/80 13 snows studded and I go until it plowed snow.
    I think going skinny would give up some stability and have more roll when turning?

    Good luck with what ever tires you buy.
    Studded tires are not allowed in Wisconsin.

    Personally, I think 165-185 is a good range of width for a car like the Mirage. A lower profile 185 tire could have less rolling resistance than a higher profile 165 tires. Width alone is not going to determine that.

    If you buy a quality tire like Top Fuel has shared in the past, your economy is not going to suffer. It may actually enhance it, & he has shared some good proof of that.

    I have been climbing winter ridge roads (that are blocked from the Sun) since 1994. When it comes to small FWD cars, added tire width kills snow climbing performance. The difference can be quite profound. If anyone wants to think otherwise, they are free to do so.

    If someone can't keep a Mirage with 165/65r14 tires on the road without incident, I would really question their driving skills. I have no doubt 175 or 185 wide tires offer a better riding experience. I would not make a bold claim that wide tires are superior to narrow tires when it comes to wet or snow covered surfaces, however.

    Personally, I like the charm of the 165/65r14 tires on my Mirage. As long as good 165/65r14 tire options exist, I have no problem using them. I drove a car with narrow 145SR12 tires for 14 years & thought nothing of it.

    I've said this several times on the forum - A Mirage in North America should come with 175/65r14 or 185/55r15 factory tires. Both tires have a 23" diameter, & both tire sizes are quite common in our tire market.

    165/65r14 = 22.4"
    175/65r14 = 23" (+2.7% variance)
    185/60r14 = 22.7" (+1.3% variance)

    175/55r15 = 22.6" (+0.9% variance)
    185/55r15 = 23" (+2.7% variance)

    Even the current 175/55r15 factory tire has some variance to 165/65r14 factory tires.

    Anything within 3% variance is considered somewhat acceptable in the tire industry.

    Most (not all) seem happy with 175 & 185 wide tires on their Mirage. Some are quite happier with the wider tires.

    I can't recall anyone making the same claim with tires narrower than 165/65r14 tires. That doesn't mean someone can't be the first to do so. Edit: Cobrajet has just expressed a positive experience with 155/70r14 tires, but good luck finding tires that size today.

    Personally, I will remain content with 165 or 175 wide tires for my Mirage.
    Last edited by Mark; 03-02-2022 at 02:29 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Basic View Post
    This is the only way I see this being a positive experiment. Because the Enasave is available in this size we could have a true Apples to Apples comparison.
    I agree. If you are truly testing something like tire width/fuel economy, you want to change only one variable (tire width).

    165/65r14 Dunlops are $167/tire & 145/65r15 Dunlops are $189/tire (using Walmart prices tonight). Not a cheap proposition!

    Keeping the other variables the same would still be a challenge. For example, rim weight should be the same. Fuel (summer blend, winter blend, octane, etc...), weather condition (temperture/wind), driving style, etc... are all variables that can impact results, too.



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