OEM Tires, Optional OEM tires, and totally off-the-wall tires

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B · 2007-09-03T02:05:03+00:00

My '89 Mazda 626:The recommended tires were 185/70-14. I replaced them with the same size.Acceleration was OK at best, and poor going up hills. Also, the amount ofsidewall flex made for poor cornering.I replaced the original tires with the cheapest ones I could find, a $29"loss leader" from a regional tire place. One went flat last week, and Ifound a crack in the tread at the sidewall. NG...So, I had some 185/60-14s hanging around and had them mounted. WOW!!! Theacceleration is amazing, even going uphill in 4th gear (I had to downshiftto 3rd before...). Handling is 100% better, and the odometer is finallyright (it was 5% off (-) before...)Any comments? I haven't been able to 'calibrate' the speedo yet. Eventhough the odometer was off before, the speedo was correct according tothree different radar 'speed reminders' they put by the side of the road,and a couple of 'official' radar readings as well... ;)

Sep 03, 2007 44 Replies

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Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B 18 years ago

Perhaps a poorly worded post, and an even more poorly worded response.

I was wondering more about how the characteristics of the car's performance changed.

And you can't figure out what I mean by staying 'within a percentage of OEM spcification'?

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Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B 18 years ago

OK...you've proven you're not really much other than a trool yourself, so if I have to spell it out for you:

The Mazda is a stock '89 626 with no modifications. As the header in the original message says, "OEM Tires, Optional OEM tires, and totally off-the-wall tires"

The manufacturer specifies a certain tire size for a number of reasons. The original spec on this car was 185/70-14, 195/60-14 or 195/60-15. The DX (the one I have) got the 185 tires, the top model got the 15s.

This has a lot to do with a lot of things: speedo accuracy, sterring and suspension geometry, etc. According to different tire size calculators I have seen, I am running a tire that is 6% lower than 'spec'.

So, I don't know what this means in terms of steering and suspension goemetry. It does throw my speedo off...by 6%. Also should throw the odometer off by 6%; however, where the odometer was reading lower than actual mileage, it is now correct.

Also in the mix is the drivablility response of the car. Prviously I had to downshift to get up short, steep grades; now I can take those same grades in 4th gear and sometimes even have some acceleration to spare. Overall performance of the car has increased considerably, to where it actually feels like a car with 145 HP under the hood, whereas before acceleration was sluggish and often had to drop a gear to reach speed.

But, if you had read the original post, you would have seen these were my original concerns, instead of jumping into a thread halfway.

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Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B 18 years ago

Oh, who gives a flying f*ck?!

All I wanted to know was what I reiterated above. FOAD.

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Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B 18 years ago

I had an absolutely rotten day today.

I expected you to come back with a smart-ass remark whereupon I was going to let loose you didn't know what I was talking about, yada, yada, yada...

However, this gave me the first friggin' *LAUGH* I had all day!

Apology accepted? Say. you aren't the guy in the parking booth at the University parking garage that wasn't going to give me my car 'cause I was $0.75 short, are you?!

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Retired VIP 18 years ago

Mr. Hachiroku,

Live is too short to waste any of it on dumb-asses. Let him have his ego and you and I move on to bigger and better things.

Jack

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