Tire size on the echo...

First, look in the owner's manual. It will tell what other sizes Toyota approves of for your car.

Second, go to tirerack.com and check out their tire education sections. It might take a bit of poking to find them, but their articles in general are terrific and they have specific articles that go into detail about the advantages, disadvantages of "supersizing" your Echo.

Indeed, I believe if you enter your car information into their "tire finder" it will actually pull up the OEM tires for your car, as well as a couple of other size options that you could consider.

The primary factor with a larger tire is that you will see a decrease in gas mileage, an increase in traction and an increase in the actual cost of the tires ;>)

You didn't tell us what size you have now.

The numbers you gave us mean the following,

185 This is the width of the tread.

60 This is the "aspect ratio". It defines the sidewall height as 60% of the tread width. In your case, 185 X 60% = 111mm. Your sidewalls measure 111mm, so the total diameter of your tire is 23 inches. 111mm = 4.5 inches, so 4.5

• 4.5 + 14 = 23.

14 Rim diameter. Any tire you buy must be a 14 or you have to buy new rims at the same time. the rims have another number that describes the width of the rim, I don't know what it is for an Echo, but I'll make a guess that it is

5.5 or 6. If your tires are too wide, then they will not fit the rims either, but it would be difficult get a tire that was too wide and still be a 14.

I had a '95 Tercel, which is basically the same car. When I bought it from it's second owner (bought "her" from "her" second onwer, who had named "her" Isabella!) it had the stock 155/80-13's on it. I had a set of 14" rims that fit perfectly EXCEPT for clearing the calipers. Oooops...

So, I found in an older Corolla I had bought for parts, a set of 4

185/60-13's in the hatch. I mounted them on the Tercel rims.

I will tell you this: you will run out of engine LONG before you run out of tire!!! The thing ran like it was on rails. Cornering increased dramatically! I remember I was getting on an on-ramp with another Tercel behind me with the stock size tires, and we had both been running down a secondary highway at about 60MPH, so the driver of the other Tercel was not afraid of a little speed. On the on ramp, a sweeping right-hander with a 'pinch' at the end I left the other driver in the dust!!! I was doing about 45 or so with no loss of tire contact at all; no squealing, etc.

This size is still available. And it is close enough to the original profile that the speedometer is only off by about 1/4MPH. And, if you look REAL hard, you might still find some 185/55-13's hanging around somewhere which will handle even better than the 60 series.

Are you talking about those decreasing-radius exit ramps that seem to be unique to Mass? They are fun in a sporty car but I noticed that a lot of people apply brakes while they are turning, which make for some exciting attitude adjustments!

I remember riding with a co-worker (to protect the guilty, we'll call him Moe) on the on-ramp near our office. We were being followed closely at about 45-50 MPH when we hit the on the on-ramp by another co-worker (to protect the guiltier, we'll call him Curly). Moe had actual racing instruction and experience, and while Curly would talk about yaw, pitch, roll, yadda, yadda, yadda, I don't think he had any actual competition experience. Moe was driving a 4X4 van (the first generation that looked like a 2-slice toaster from the side) and Curly was driving a Cressida. In theory, the more powerful Cressida with IRS should easily catch up and out-handle the top-heavy, live axle, 4-cylinder van, but Moe in the van was leaving Curly in the Cressida in the dust on the decreasing radius on-ramp. We could see Curly's look of embarrassment that a lowly 4 banger van was leaving his straight 6 Cressida in the dust.

Moe looked over his shoulder, saw traffic coming, and in order to have more time to accelerate while merging, gives the parking brake a quick pull to bleed off speed while still on the gas to keep RPM up, corrects the steering wheel, and smoothly merges on to the highway. Since the brake lights in the van didn't come on when the parking brake was applied, Curly quickly caught up a LOT quicker than he expected and nails his brakes to avoid rear-ending us. As you can imagine, standing on the brakes at 45-50 MPH on a decreasing radius ramp will put the car sideways. In our mirrors, all we saw was a**holes and elbows as Curly worked on his yaw control. Luckily, Curly didn't hit anything and so he avoided having to explain how he got his shiny company car Cressida wrecked while trying to keep up with a van with a reputation for not being able to get out of its own way!

Yeah, man, those are the ones! And remember, we are also the Rotary King of the US, too. All other states abandon them ('roundabouts' for the non-US participants) and Mass doubles the number of them in the state!

And you were Larry?

Man, I LOVED those vans! I almost bought a white 4x4 last summer, arranged the price, had the cash and the dude never came back! I guess, since I was so eager, he decided he actually had a good vehicle, 'cause I still see him tooling around in it.

I went to 195-55-15 Yokohamas on Fondmetal rims. Very nice, same diameter as the original so there was no impact on the speedo.

--- Rich

If the van is an LE, look for the mini-fridge with ice cube trays in the center console. Those vans were designed for city delivery in Japan so they are very manoeverable. When they were in production, they had the tightest turning radius of Toyotas sold in the U.S. and could practically do a u-turn in your driveway. The bad news was a highway ride like a bucking bronco.

I saw one of them in the not-too-distant past (past 2 years or so) Interesting. My primary need for a van is to move band equipment around, so being able to navigate handily is a plus. BUT I also need to drive distances sometimes, so poor highway handling is a minus. Most of our gigs are within 25 miles from home and can be handled a lot at speeds between

40-60 MPH. Hmmmm....

25 miles on the highway in one of those vans is nothing. I used to drive about 1,000 miles a week and did several Carver, MA to Chicago, IL runs in them. It takes a while to get used to sitting over the front wheels, with your legs actually ahead of the front wheels. Having the van loaded improved the ride quite a bit, which would make it a good band van.

Man, I had a 1969 Chevy C-110, long wheelbase. You sat Right On Top of the front tires, which is why I liked the Toyota Hi-Ace when they finally started selling it in this country. And, with a setup like that, the turning radius is sharp. I wish they'd import them again.

Hmmm. Maybe the retro craze will bring it back!