Factory tire size?

[oldguy]

My '89 lx had 185/70/13s on it when i got it. Every 3g I have seen in the junk yard seems to have 175/70/13s on them. What was the original tire on these cars?

[Busted_Blue]

stock tire size should be 185/70/13. 175 would throw your speedometer off.

[oldguy]

Ok, thanks. A lot of folks around here must have used the slightly cheaper size for replacements.

[Wood9669]

my speedometer is already off by 6mph.. and i have a 120% bone stock car lol

[bullard123]

195 60R14 was recommended for my hatch.

[SteveDX89]

It's listed on the driver's door jamb on the white label stuck there. It's supposed to be 185/70/13

[RedneckRicer]

stock size for LXi's was 195-60-14 and the LX and DX had the 13's, LXi's have bigger calipers up front, at least for the 88-89 years, and the 185-175 shouldn't throw off the speedo at all cuz thats the width, normally the tire size reads like this -- Width - Sidewall height - Rim size. on my car i have a 205-40-17 which is a fairly low profile tire and thats why the middle number is lower, while on a caprice i have i have 275-60-15 which is a really wide tire with a normal sidewall

[Busted_Blue]

redneckricer... you are on the right track..

yes it is width of tire/sidewallheight/rimsize

but actually you missed a big problem its tire width/sidewall height (number is a percentage of width of tire)/rim size

So 185/70 and 175/70 are different in sidewall heights.

[accordlxi2.0]

i thought side wall hieght was the /70
i mean it seem's like it cause the smaller the number the smaller the hieght.

[oldguy]

The height number is the percentage of the width. In other words a 70 series tire is going to be 70% as high as it is wide. So a 175/70/13 is going to be smaller in diameter than a 185/70/13. This difference in diameter is what throws off the speedometer because one revolution of a 185/70/13 equals out to more distance travelled then would one revolution of a smaller diameter tire.

I think the 195/60/14 is only around 1/2 inch larger in diameter than a 185/70/13. would only put out your speedo by 2 or 3 mph at 100mph. wouldn't matter much to the cops if you were going 100mph or 103mph. Your ass is still getting a ticket

[Busted_Blue]

i thought side wall hieght was the /70
i mean it seem's like it cause the smaller the number the smaller the hieght.

oldguy is right. It's a percentage of the width of the tire. The wider the tire the smaller the number to achieve the same sidewall height of a thinner tire.


so like 195/55/15 and 205/50/15 have the same sidewall size more or less .1 inch.

[HondaBoy]

to tell you the truth, it really doesnt throw your speedo off much. i've run 175 70 13's, 185 70 13's, 195 75 14's, and now have 195 60 14's. there's not much difference in the side wall, so its not so much like going bigger sizes like you would on a truck. i always thought my tires made my speedo off some, but it basicly stayed the same with each tire size. the reason you'll see a lot of 3gees and cars's with tires less wide than they came with is because they were probley less expensive. most times that's exactly why.