Your POV: Best tires for 451 Smarts

[SmartAzz]

At some point I'd like to switch to better tires and see about going wider on the stock rims - so I thought a thread with people's opinions about what tires and sizes they have tried and how they like it would be helpful.

The stock tires seem 'okay' but there has to be better summer type options out there.

TIA

[markitect]

I think wheels will be as big a problem.

If you can fit 15x5.5 to 6.5 rims all the way around (should be doable) you could get some bridgestone re-01s You'd be under 2% off on your speedometer. Its the closest overall diameter wise I've seen

Otherwise for high performance summer tires you'd need to do 16x7-8 rims which seems like fitting it in could be hard.

Either way I think you will end up with same size front and back.

Hopefully someone will just make us a tire that fits.

[GHammerly]

The RE01-R tires may be called 195-50 -15 but they are really wide, more like a 215 tire, they should fit on 15X6.5 wheels, I would not try to mount them on a narrower wheel.
This tires have huge grip wet or dry!

[SMARTIEPANTS]

i went with the Continental ContiEco Contact EP 175/55/15 on the rial 5 inch wheels for the front ,, and the Goodyear F-1 GS-D3 195/50/15 on Rial 6 inch wheels for the rear, the Conie is the only tire avaliable in that size but it is a nice tire has and inside and outside works very good , the 5 inch wheel has the perfect offset, tucks the wheel inside the fender just right, i tried the 195's with the 6 inch wheels on the front every thing cleared but they stuck out and inch and threw crap allover the side of the car, plus i didn't like the way it looked, but they will work

i used the goodyear on the rear cause i had been using them for rain tires for my mini, but they work very well , the rial 6 inch wheel moves the tire to the outside just a little more than i like but not enough to throw mud and dirt on the side of the car, they are only .1 of and inch larger in diam. than the stock tires that came on the car, this tire and wheel combination adds about 3 lbs per wheel to the car, have not had them on long enough to get a good reading on the gas milage yet, i would think it will drop off a little,,,the car looks really good from the rear

the best thing about this set up is the car is much more stable in the cross winds and the ride is about the same as before, the wheels from tirerack are not all that much money, and i still have the stock ones for snow tires next winter

[roverallover]

I'm hoping there's some way to update the tire diameter info on the ecu so you can go with a different diameter. I'd like to put 175/65-15 on the front and 195/60-15 on the rear but they're 24" tires. I want the extra rubber to help with the ride ...

[jwight]

SMARTIEPANTS, any photos of the new wheels/tires? Also, your thoughts on mixing tires and tread designs front and back? Not something I'd normally consider but it seems to be working for you. Thanks.

[SMARTIEPANTS]

no pictures, maybe i can try and get one, not very good with that kind of stuff, i was a little concerned about mixing tires too, but their is not much choice if you want to go to the 195 on the rear,, when i first started messing with this i had the 195's on the front with the stock setup on the rear and the car seemed to be worse than with the 155's on the front, when i put the 195's on the rear it seemed to make it a lot better, i never did try the 195's on the front and the rear at the same time, from this short expermint it seemed to me that putting the bigger tires on the rear helped the most,, i think some of this could be that the 6 inch wheels offset widens the rear track quite a bit,, would be interesting to put the 195's on the stock rear wheels and see how they compare,, if i had free mounting and balencing, but i don't, at some point you got to stop playing with the car and start driving it

when i was doing all of this i only had two 195's mounted up at once,,, and when i saw how much they stuck out on the front, i took a pair of the 6 inch wheels back and traded them in for the 5 inch, untill someone makes a 175 and 195 of the same tire , we are stuck with what we have now,, but it seems to work just fine,, i never looked into the 16 inch wheels as i didn't want to go to a lower sidewall, plus i would think the wheels would be harder to find and lots more $,,, the next thing i would like to try is a bigger sway bar on the front if and when they become avaliable in the states , don't really want to go to the stiffer springs and shocks , overall i am happy right now with what i have

[SMARTIEPANTS]

no way would i want to go to a larger dia. wheel,, the car struggles at 50 in high gear now, with the larger tires you would not be able to get into high gear untill 65 or so, i think your only choice would be to go to a 14 inch wheel and that could be tough to find , unless you went to a five lug adapter, but where their is a will their is a way, don't give up,, cheers

Originally Posted by roverallover

I'm hoping there's some way to update the tire diameter info on the ecu so you can go with a different diameter. I'd like to put 175/65-15 on the front and 195/60-15 on the rear but they're 24" tires. I want the extra rubber to help with the ride ...

[SmartTech]

I dont think that a 14" wheel would clear the brake caliper in the front.. i wouldnt go there.

[jonnysan]

Originally Posted by SMARTIEPANTS

i went with the Continental ContiEco Contact EP 175/55/15 on the rial 5 inch wheels for the front ,, and the Goodyear F-1 GS-D3 195/50/15 on Rial 6 inch wheels for the rear, the Conie is the only tire avaliable in that size but it is a nice tire has and inside and outside works very good , the 5 inch wheel has the perfect offset, tucks the wheel inside the fender just right, i tried the 195's with the 6 inch wheels on the front every thing cleared but they stuck out and inch and threw crap allover the side of the car, plus i didn't like the way it looked, but they will work

i used the goodyear on the rear cause i had been using them for rain tires for my mini, but they work very well , the rial 6 inch wheel moves the tire to the outside just a little more than i like but not enough to throw mud and dirt on the side of the car, they are only .1 of and inch larger in diam. than the stock tires that came on the car, this tire and wheel combination adds about 3 lbs per wheel to the car, have not had them on long enough to get a good reading on the gas milage yet, i would think it will drop off a little,,,the car looks really good from the rear

the best thing about this set up is the car is much more stable in the cross winds and the ride is about the same as before, the wheels from tirerack are not all that much money, and i still have the stock ones for snow tires next winter

any screwy behavior as far as the ABS/ESB is concerned??