155 Width Tires?

[Loren]

Got the tires mounted today. My tire mounter is a friend who works out of his garage and does a LOT of tires for autocross and track guys. If he had any concerns about this fitment, he'd have told me. He said it looks fine, just a mild stretch. Mounted easily, no problems.

By the numbers:
Konig Helium 15x6.5 wheels - $84.99 each shipped
Nankang AS-1 155/60-15 tires - $54.97 each shipped
Mounting - $50 cash

Total package weight (wheel and tire) = 26.7 pounds each

I'll get them on the car tomorrow or Monday. But, here are some photos my installer took:







And, wouldn't you know it, they just dropped the price on the wheels to $76! Serious bargain if you're looking for wheels.

[dspace9]

Deep tread from the looks of it. Hopefully you get lots of miles on those tires.

[Top_Fuel]

...they just dropped the price on the wheels to $76!

That's a smoking deal on those wheels! Who has them for that price? They still look like they are $89?!?

[Loren]

Amazon had the lower price last night.

[Eggman]

Looking forward to seeing pictures of them installed, and of course how they perform.

[Loren]

Performance review will have to wait until I get the tire pressures set, fix my alignment, and spend a little time with them.

My alignment is messed up, and these tires REALLY make that more obvious. And they're at 36 psi... I think they'd feel better around 45.

Anyway, they're on the car. Here are some more photos. A few comparisons with a stock size tire on a stock wheel, and a car shot.

[Mark]

You wouldn't assume the 165/65-14 tire on the left is the wider tire vs the 155/60-15 tire on the right. Added width of the rim really changes the overall appearance of the tire.

Sadly, there are very few 5"-5.5" wide after market rims that would be a good fit for a Mirage. Thus, I understand why people buy 6" or 6.5" wide rims. There's not much else out there.

Once you get things like you want them, it will be interesting to hear what you think of this set up (& how they wear over the long haul)? Personally, I would keep them pumped up quite high, too.

[Loren]

Drove out to dinner tonight. I'm already adapting to the feel of these tires, even without making any suspension or tire pressure adjustments. They're quiet, smooth-riding, and handle well-enough. Can definitely tell the difference in weight from what I had before. (they are 2 pounds lighter than what was on the car before) But, also, being 30mm narrower than the 185's that I had on the car, the steering is WAY lighter and feels nice.

I usually hypermile on the way home from my Monday dinner, and often see over 50 mpg on that trip. Today, I hypermiled to and from. On the way to, with rush-hour traffic, I averaged 49.2 mpg. I didn't reset, just continued the same trip on the way home, and got it up to 52.7. And that's without jacking up the tire pressures yet!

And my major alignment problem (I have way more negative camber in front than I need, but that's not a big issue) is that I have a significant amount of toe-in from raising the ride height a while back. Like 3/8" of toe-in. That's a lot! So, the front tires are constantly scrubbing a little bit, as if I was turning. That's got to be affecting FE.

So, with a few tweaks, everything should improve. Feel and FE, anyway. Higher tire pressure will actually make it ride a little worse, but probably not too bad.

The tires look "skinny", though. I'm thinking about putting some wheel spacers on. I think I have a set of bolt-on spacers in the garage somewhere. I bought them a long time ago, but couldn't use them because the spacers weren't as thick as the wheel studs are long, and the wheel studs interfered with the back of the wheel. The wheels I'm using now have a large set of additional holes between the standard 4x100 tapered holes! Should take care of that problem.

I feel like a stance boi. Fitment, y0!

Fenders are rolled from running wide-ass tires in the past. Might as well stance it out and make the wheel wells look fuller.

[Subcompact Culture]

Looking forward to more info, Loren. As you know, I have these in 175s and have been happy with them as an all-season "performance" tire. I can still generally hit the low 40s with mine and 50 if I hypermile mine.

[highwire]

I find it interesting that the Mirage is being used for a competition, but am not surprised. I bought my Mirage hatchback because I like the European craze for rally racing, and hatchbacks being one of the popular rally cars (Ford fiesta, e.g). This is a budget Honda Fit modded for rally racing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FSvaq7bkhU The Nintendo 64 game Top Gear Rally was actually my introduction to rally racing. But I don't really plan on racing mine. I don't have the budget nor have really needed the thrill. I do like the tight turns it has though- I feel it gives me the edge on parallel parking and making sharp lane turns when necessary.

By the way, the Nintendo 64 game Diddy Kong Racing had a racer called Pipsy with the best handling for turns. So the Mirage is kinda of like the Pipsy of cars, lol. This is from the Mitsubishi website

Edit 2: Found an autocross prepped- Mirage car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVN9PluGhak

Edit: found some (heavily modded) Mirage Rally cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMcA_CH7i-g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psos4A2Qd5U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8OkBXCNm2A