tyre size on early 944

[stevejohnson]

I have a non power-steering '83 944. It has 15in Cookie cutters and 215/60 tyres. Steering is predictably heavy, handles beautifully but I suspect it would handle just as well on narrower tyres and may be more comfortable. Any views on whether I would be better off with narrower/higher profile tyres?

 

[Guest]

Welcome Steve,

better off how? cheaper, yes (although you'd be surprised how little the difference is) turning the wheel at parking speed, yes (again, very little though), stability, no. Cornering, no. confidence in the wet, no.

So unless you drive at 3 MPH everywhere and want to save a tenner, why bother?

 

[Guest]

Surprisingly my car still has its original "drivers manual". In the tyres section it gives two options for the 15" by 7" rim, these are as follows.

215/60VR15 or 185/70VR15

If you can still get hold of the later size tyre for a sensible price then I suppose it will make the steering a little lighter and the car will be a little easier to slide, if thats your thing!

 

[mik_ok]

I can remember Peter Dron going on about the "wide tyre" option waaaay back in the late 80's when he ran a Lux for fast Lane magazine. He much prefered the balance of the car on the 185's (once he'd changed from the ludicrous tyre pressures quoted in the manual).

185/70 gives you very limited choice however.

A good compromise which offers LOADS of choice is a 195/65/15. This gives an identical (within 1%) rolling radius, and will fit no problemo. Cheap too.

 

[John Sims]

Tyres with big contact patches are obviously better in the dry but the potential to aquaplane is much increased. A narrower tyre can be better in the wet as it cuts through the water and doesn't sit on top of it.......and you really don't want to find yourself driving in snow with nice wide tyres for the same reason.

 

[Quarterflash]

What tyre pressure do you reccommend? I put the pressure up on my '84 Lux fronts (195s) to help with the steering at low speed but then the sidewalls become stiffer and cornering is affected. Presumably cars with power steering don't have this problem? Anyone know if it can be retro fitted?
Q

 

[Fen]

Retro-fit PAS needs a crossmember, rack, pump, hoses etc. but it all bolts up. You only need the crossmember because the early non-PAS cars don't have the mounts. Later PAS car crossmembers have mounts for both rack types. I was going to swap my PAS with a car that had none but in the end just disconnected it and left the (higher geared) PAS rack unassisted. I also run 225 fronts so I could make a comment about you being soft as mine must be much heavier than yours, but it is unpleasant so I will refrain [] You have 3 options:

1. Gym
2. Retrofit PAS (and I have everything you need bar the rack and crossmember in the garage - you will find a home for the unassisted rack on a race car easily enough too).
3. Do as I'm planning to do this winter and have electric steering (from a Corsa in my case, but apparently from the stickers a Mitsubishi system) fitted. I'm going that route so I can either have the engine management turn it off over a set speed or maybe have it on a switch so I can turn it off completely. It's also lighter in weight than the hydraulic set-up and I may be able to adjust the level of assistance it provides. Lastly with power assistance I can hopefully cope with a quicker ratio, assuming I can find one.