May 15, 2007 - The tire in the previous picture was a 225/45-15, the tire size I'm favoring for the race.
This is a 205/55-14, identical in size to my second-choice 205/50-15. In a number of competitions, I've walked away swearing I'd never want for rubber. But the smaller size is 3 lbs lighter (rotating unsprung mass, the worst place for it) and, as you can see, it fits in the trunk. The larger rubber will fit in the trunk if I make some small alterations to the sheetmetal though.
Some advise against running too much tire in the Targa for more resistance to hydroplaning and more grip on gravel, but even a 225 is a smaller tire than a lot of cars will run. I want the sheer mechanical grip of the larger tire. According to Toyo's measurements, the 205 has a tread width of 8.4" when mounted on a 6.5" wheel. The 225 has a width of 9" on a 7.5" wheel. We'll have 7" wheels, but how much of that extra width comes from the extra wheel width? So many questions.
tags: tires |
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