The 175/60/13 VTEC tyres have gone.  I can get more but they are order-only.

I've found a set of five 195/45/13 Contis at reasonably sensible money.  Someone else has first dibs on them, but if they decline they will be available first-come-first-served.

Mty,

I'm getting 'way too far into this, but to which different sizes do you refer? 195/45 Contis and several Hoosier race tires aside (as previously posted), what sizes have you found to be actually available in NA?

As noted on several other threads on the topic, my experience over the last two years has been that the optional sizes listed on various websites are not actually available, just some come-on or out-of-date listing. Ex. some sites list Sumis and Falken Ziex 185/60's which are no longer available. I agree completely with you about "...a bit more...", but double, or in the case of Sumis V Toyos, 4X the cost doesn't fit that description for me.

I'm not being contrary at all, I'm just very interested in finding legitimate new, optional sizes in 13" tires. 

Carl,

Second EM sent.

Alex,

Does Paul still have the "VTEC Tires" you had at MME last year, and what brand/size were they? (Sorry, Mate..getting on in years and more forgetful)

I think we're all in the wrong mentality. We're a bit spoiled by our tire sizes. There's nothing wrong with running some of the 175's on a 7 inch wheel. Given certain applications. If you're enjoying spirited driving, then yes, it's less than ideal. But we CAN order different sizes. You pay a bit more, but not that much for 4 tires.

I just paid a bit over $1100 for tires on my truck. Just tires. If I have to pay $300 for premium tires shipped to me in my choice of size, I'm having a good day. lol

NJ - thats my web site email and it seems to be having a problem right now so you can actually contact me at - [email protected]

Thanks, Carl

I thought Group 5 arches long predated the Sportspack arch. The Sportspack arch looks fine with 6" wheels. The Group 5 arch can make a 6" wheel look undernourished.

Carl - Check your Email.

The 195/45/13 Contis only seem to be made about once a year - they are incredibly hard to come by and very expensive when they do turn up.
I've not bought and shipped any for a long time, but I'd be surprised if they were less than $200-250 landed on your doostep in the States.

I blame Rover for the spate of stupicly wide wheels - if they hadn't made the Sportspack arches so monumentally wide, folks wouldn't feel the need to fill them with wheel...

That pretty much describes the first three gears.

Thanks guys, it sounds like there is a good chance I could get away with the 195 Conti's if I could get them imported.  Or loose an inch of the deep dish look and go to the 6" wheels which will match up with the 175's.  The 175's look great on the 7" rims but since I do like to push it, maximum tire performance and safety are a higher priority. 

RedRiley how do you like the A539's?  They look like they might be a more streetable tire than the A048R's that I am presently running.  They have to last longer than the 3000 miles I hope to get out of the A048R's thats for sure!  Have you ever pushed them to the limit to see how they perform when they let go and do they make any noise in spirited driving?

61 MiniMe, yes as NJ pointed out (thanks) i was referring to 60 series tires which were inexpensive @$48.00 a tire and easy to find at the time also i needed the height to look right on a big wheel well Moke as the 50 series tires look too small/skinny on a Moke imo. As NJ also pointed out Freddy ran 215's on his VTEC but only with a beam axle with coilovers.

It is the same problem with the 12 inch 60 series tires that are expensive for what they are, you can fit some really cheap 80 series 12 inch tires to a Mini but they will rub on full lock and you will have to grind the radius arm bracket and i believe they only come in the 145 size.

61...

I think the point that Malcom was making was that with the given tires and the MOKE's arms it wasn't an issue, not necessarily that with saloon arms that it would be. Anyway, as the OD's noted would indicate, no, I did not. Not even close. I had them on a stone stock rear subbie B4 the AWD conversion. Now, if you get up to the 185/60s at 21.7", that requires radiusing the bottom of the outside swingarm bracket (below the grease nipple) to clear the tire OD at full drop. Having to grind the inside of the arm casting itself is as much (or more) connected to the offset of the wheels used in concert with the cross section. I suppose there might be some castings out there that are so thick they might need some massaging for extreme x-sections (eventually, Gonepostal had a coilover rear subby with those 215's), but as a rule, no. Also remember, the tire dimensions quoted on the various sites are nominal dimensions. There are manufacturing tolerances and these bits are flexible.

Oh, and then there's the issue of the upper inside of the wheel housing itself. With enough suspension travel, offset and x-section, it's possible to rub the inside top of the housing. My wheel housings were enlarged (sometimes referred to as "tubbed") at VTEC inception, so that was never an issue for me. 

RE: tramlining, I never had 175's so can't draw comparisons to them. In any event, FWD VTEC'ing with 225 HP on tap and a Y-80 FWD transmission and the earliest VTEC frame scrub radius dimensions makes a Mini's existing tendency to tramline more severe. So, in my case the x-section of the tire isn't the real issue. For example, pre AWD, jumping on it with cold 195 tires and in 18º F ambient, I got yanked fully into the left lane instantly before I could get off it. I'd looked about me before nailing it, but am still thankful there was noone there. That tendency was one of the factors that took me to a third generation subframe and AWD (which has a different transmission).

Power loss is not my problem, traction is although I can see the handling benefits on the 6” rims.   Malsal you mention the radius arm interference and I checked on the web and the conversion table I found said the diameters for each are 175/50/13 tires (19.89) and 195/45/13 tires (19.91).  And as you can see by the numbers they are practically the same diameter.  I checked the distance from my A048R tire to arm and there is still a full half inch clearance. Picture of tire and arm shown.  Are the conversion table numbers off or am I missing something else?

NJ since you have run the 195/45/13 Conti’s is there an interference and if so did you need to grind the radius arm back a tad?  Or have you always had the 4wd set up with the aftermarket rear sub frame?  I’ve also read that the tendency for tramlining pretty much goes away with the 195’s.

13x7 has been the common size historically, and proper tires have been available. Not so anymore. Since going to 13" rims I've run 165/60 Falken Ziexs and currently 195/45 Contisports. (The latter from Dave Sell @ gb car parts over a year ago.)

I've run into dead ends on all alternative sizes excluding race tires and 185/60 Toyos, apparently priced by the size ($185 ea. cough, cough, choke). If I don't sell my car (it's listed on bringatrailer.com as noted on an earlier post) I'll snap up a used set of 185/60's that are being held for me on right of first refusal, making my current boots surplus.

Our friends across the pond have a wider selection available to them, but I understand that even they come in bunches of limited production runs. Brian (RedRiley) has what I consider to be the current ticket size-wise.

You can get wider tires. It depends on the money and how aggresive you want to go!! I had 215 with the mintyec rear subframe. I now have rear engine with 9 x 22 x 13 hoosiers wet tire.

My 175/50-13 A539 Yokos are on 6 inch Performance Superlites. It didn't make sense to me to put them on wider wheels, so I didn't.

NJ should chime in he has run quite a few different set ups with 13 x 7's. One of the biggest problems is clearing the radius arm/bracket in the rear.

I ran 185 60 13's and 205's as well on my Aussie Moke but it had the longer arms and plenty of wheel well which a Mini saloon does not have.

I personally would not run any wider than a 6 inch wheel of any diameter on a Mini, lets face it they only look good with anything wider and actually handle worse and are slower.

I've been thinking the same thing as I am about to finally install my arches.  I've got Sumitomos and they look silly to me all streched out.  Thinking about trading the wheels in on a set that is 6" instead of fighting it.  Are there 6's with the same type of offset as the deep dish 13x7 (?   I'll search.

Does anyone else asides me find it odd that the common wide wheels for a Classic are 13x7 yet the tires ALL the Mini shops sell are 175/50/13? 175's should be mounted on 5-6" wide wheels maximum for correct performance, not 7" which among other things stretches the sidewall compromising the tire and performance.

The bead of one of my Yoko A048R tires separated from the rim twice when racing. And now after researching tire/wheel combos I realize this setup is totally wrong!  The tire width should be at least 185 and 195 would be ideal. Yet there are no 185's and the only 195/45/13 Conti I could find is only sold in Europe.

I know for a fact there are many other classic British cars that run on 13's so there would be a market for the wider tire.  What gives?