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Handling due to different tyre width

I need to get a new full set of tyres for the old 626, including spare. At the moment, it has 185/70R13s on and a 165/80R13 on the spare (only just noticed that). The handbook mentions these two as the only possibles. From the digging I've done, there doesn't seem to be any other alternative sizes that will fit. Very few people seem to sell 185s - most of the local tyre places only have them in budget if they have them at all, and the online chains only have a very limited range. There's a much better choice in

165s.

I'm told that going from 185 to 165 reduces the contact patch, and may affect the handling. Given this isn't a performance car, gets driven at max

70mph on the motorway, and the hardest work the tyres have to do is going not-that-fast on country lanes, how much will this make a difference? The 1980s suspension is probably not set up for anything too demanding anyway.

So will a change in width make more of a difference to handling than buying a better tyre? (eg a premium 165 over a midrange/budget 185 if that's all I can get)

One thing the car is really terrible at is driving on snow. Which doesn't happen very often, but a few times I've been caught out by leaving work to discover there's 6" of snow on the ground and need to get home on it. I imagine the 165s would help here?

OTOH I'm a bit unsure about general driving performance (eg stopping from

70mph in the wet). How much worse would the 165s be?

Any thoughts? It's all a bit vague and confusing.

Cheers, Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos
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I really doubt you'd see much, if any, difference in handling with a change of these sizes, given the driving pattern you describe above. There's actually little in it wrt contact patch area.

Reply to
Paul - xxx

stick with the 185/70s, michelin still make them, but you probably need to order them.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Thanks for the comments. In the end I went with the 165s, having found a bargain that couldn't be ignored (4 Bridgestones for 150 quid). Done a bit of throwing it around country lanes, and the handling is a bit lighter, but it still seems to grip OK. We'll see what it makes of wet roads. But the biggest difference is that it now no longer drives like an oil tanker when parking: the steering (no PAS) is much easier. That's a big improvement in my book...

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos
[...]

IME new tyres always make the steering seem lighter for a couple of days; I've always assumed it's until the mould release agent wears off. You may be getting a workout when parking sooner than you think!

(OT)

Back when Adam was a lad, I owned a Hillman Super Minx. It was a heavy car - around a ton and a quarter. It had worm and gear steering, (and no PAS, of course) so was inherently hard work.

The previous owner has fitted much wider wheels and tyres, and changed the steering wheel for a much smaller one. I was the original 7-stone weakling (not much better now!), so at low speeds it really needed some effort.

It's surprising what you can get used to however; after a couple of weeks I didn't notice it.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Chris Whelan saying something like:

That's because you then had biceps like tree trunks.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon
[...]

I wish!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

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