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selowitch · Jan 24, 2006, 02:13 PM

Does anybody know of a good, free online database that allows me to look up what tires fit what cars and vice versa?

leehotti · Jan 24, 2006, 02:16 PM

www.tirerack.com
www.discounttiredirect.com
www.vulcantire.com
www.wheelmax.com

d4nth3m4n · Jan 24, 2006, 02:23 PM

go look at your tires and work from there.

cjrivera · Jan 24, 2006, 02:46 PM

I've used tirerack.com many times and the online site has been helpful. The sales reps (when you call) are also extremely helpful for the questions the website doesn't answer.

Their prices are very reasonable also.

greenamp · Jan 24, 2006, 02:53 PM

Or just look at the sticker inside your driver-side door jam.

selowitch · Jan 24, 2006, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by greenamp

Or just look at the sticker inside your driver-side door jam.

Sure, but some of these tires are for cars I no longer own. Thanks for the tips, folks. I don't suppose there's much of a market for used tires?

d4nth3m4n · Jan 24, 2006, 03:50 PM

just say what size they are, and let the buyer figure it out.

if you're really just talking about the TIRE, then they're pretty universal. the wheel size is the main difference. the width and the sidewall size can be fudged as long as the overall diameter is relatively close.

if you're talking about wheels then there are ton of differences from car to car.

leehotti · Jan 24, 2006, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n

if you're really just talking about the TIRE, then they're pretty universal. the wheel size is the main difference. the width and the sidewall size can be fudged as long as the overall diameter is relatively close.

Depends. If you change the sidewall much the speedometer can get pretty funky.

Doofy · Jan 24, 2006, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Depends. If you change the sidewall much the speedometer can get pretty funky.

And changing the width will seriously affect your handling.

rozwado1 · Jan 24, 2006, 08:59 PM

If you're trying to eBay your tires, it's not much use to put a fitting guide on there. I'd say just about 100% of people willing to buy used tires on the net would know exactly what they need.

leehotti · Jan 24, 2006, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

And changing the width will seriously affect your handling.

Not so much, really. Wide tires= it tracks along the road's surface more, but other than that not a whole lot.

selowitch · Jan 24, 2006, 09:55 PM

I wonder whether it's worth bothering to try and eBay my tires. They're pretty nice Winterforce tires, quite expensive when new, but they've been used for two seasons and I'm not sure how much value they really have. But I hate bringing them to the dump.

leehotti · Jan 24, 2006, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by selowitch

I wonder whether it's worth bothering to try and eBay my tires. They're pretty nice Winterforce tires, quite expensive when new, but they've been used for two seasons and I'm not sure how much value they really have. But I hate bringing them to the dump.

Well..yeah.. if they've been used for 2 seasons, probably not much. But instead of dumping them, just try advertising them in your local paper, or school paper, or on one of those little flyers in front of a grocery store. At the very least find someone with teh same car, and ask them if htey want them for $20 or so.

d4nth3m4n · Jan 24, 2006, 10:46 PM

craigslist. did you get those at sears?

selowitch · Jan 24, 2006, 11:04 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Well..yeah.. if they've been used for 2 seasons, probably not much. But instead of dumping them, just try advertising them in your local paper, or school paper, or on one of those little flyers in front of a grocery store. At the very least find someone with teh same car, and ask them if htey want them for $20 or so.

Good idea. I'll try that.

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Not so much, really. Wide tires= it tracks along the road's surface more, but other than that not a whole lot.

Rob, you need to stay away from anything which mentions "car handling", because you simply haven't got a clue.

You probably don't even know that a Ferrari 360 has understeer built into its handling to satisfy the American market's requirement for safety but you can easily fix this and balance the car more towards oversteer simply by upping the front tyre section width by 20mm.

A change in tyre width will alter your car's handling. Period.

Thorzdad · Jan 25, 2006, 10:49 AM

For those of you wanting to upgrade your ride to a larger wheel/tire combo, but want to stay close to the original overall diameter (so as to not throw your speedo off too much) here is a nifty java-based calculator.
It's on a Miata owner's site, but it's good for any size combo.

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Rob, you need to stay away from anything which mentions "car handling", because you simply haven't got a clue.

You probably don't even know that a Ferrari 360 has understeer built into its handling to satisfy the American market's requirement for safety but you can easily fix this and balance the car more towards oversteer simply by upping the front tyre section width by 20mm.

A change in tyre width will alter your car's handling. Period.

WTF? Of course increasing the width on ONE END of a car will affect the handling, make it oversteer more, understeer more, or feel more nuetral. Why? It's getting a bigger contact patch, and will affect the balance of the car since one end will now be getting more traction than it previously would.

IF YOU INCREASE ALL THE TIRES WIDTH THE SAME AMOUNT, the balance of the car isn't going to be affected much.

PS: Learn how to spell TIRE.

Thorzdad · Jan 25, 2006, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by leehotti

...PS: Learn how to spell TIRE.

Dude. "Tyre" is the British spelling of "Tire".

Thorzdad · Jan 25, 2006, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by leehotti

...PS: Learn how to spell TIRE.

Dude. "Tyre" is the British spelling of "Tire".

Thorzdad · Jan 25, 2006, 11:29 AM

Friggin forum double-posted me. Sorry.

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 11:38 AM

Yeah I know. I just felt like giving him **** for something that's completely obvious, since he was doing the same for me.

"DUH YOU KNOW IF I PUT 12" WHEELS IN FRONT AND 24s IN BACK MY CAR HANDLES FUNNY!

No ****.

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by leehotti

WTF? Of course increasing the width on ONE END of a car will affect the handling, make it oversteer more, understeer more, or feel more nuetral. Why? It's getting a bigger contact patch, and will affect the balance of the car since one end will now be getting more traction than it previously would.

IF YOU INCREASE ALL THE TIRES WIDTH THE SAME AMOUNT, the balance of the car isn't going to be affected much.

Wrong. Go think about traction/weight issues and how that affects things once the car has broken roadholding.

Oh. And here's a reminder: "handling" is what happens to the car when "roadholding" ends.

Originally Posted by leehotti

PS: Learn how to spell TIRE.

I'm an Englishman in England typing in English. What crazy-assed language are you typing in?

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Yeah I know. I just felt like giving him **** for something that's completely obvious, since he was doing the same for me.

"DUH YOU KNOW IF I PUT 12" WHEELS IN FRONT AND 24s IN BACK MY CAR HANDLES FUNNY!

No ****.

Dude, you're just plain wrong. On my Jeep, for example, I can tell you what make, model, section width and pressure the tyres are just by the way it handles. 1 PSI out on the front offside? I can tell you just by driving it. Pirelli STs instead of BFG All-Seasons? Yep. 235 instead of 225? Yep.

Now, without looking, how on earth could I tell you all that without feeling it through the handling?

Oh, and dude... We're talking about width, not height. So I don't know where you're getting those 24 inchers for the back. Last time I looked the max section width available was about 345, not 610.

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 11:54 AM

Dude. Again, increasing the width of all four tires equally isn't going to change the balance much. It's going to give you more grip, and make the limits higher on the vehicle. That's it. It isn't going to suddenly be tailhappy or understeer like crazy.

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Dude. Again, increasing the width of all four tires equally isn't going to change the balance much. It's going to give you more grip, and make the limits higher on the vehicle. That's it. It isn't going to suddenly be tailhappy or understeer like crazy.

Go re-read the thread. I said changing widths will alter the handling of the vehicle (over/understeer was only mentioned in direct relevance to the Ferrari factoid). You said it wouldn't. Now you say it will ("make the limits higher"). "Making the limits higher" is affecting the handling.

Make your mind up!

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Go re-read the thread. I said changing widths will alter the handling of the vehicle (over/understeer was only mentioned in direct relevance to the Ferrari factoid). You said it wouldn't. Now you say it will ("make the limits higher"). "Making the limits higher" is affecting the handling.

Make your mind up!

Sorry I wasn't more clear. But if you put on wider tires and drive as you were driving before, you will not notice a difference. Your limits of grip will be higher, but unless you're constantly losing traction now, you won't notice a difference. Changing the width of all four tires equally will not affect the 'balance' of the vehicle, it will give it higher 'limits' of adhesion.

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Sorry I wasn't more clear. But if you put on wider tires and drive as you were driving before, you will not notice a difference. Your limits of grip will be higher, but unless you're constantly losing traction now, you won't notice a difference. Changing the width of all four tires equally will not affect the 'balance' of the vehicle, it will give it higher 'limits' of adhesion.

It'll seriously affect the handling of the vehicle when those limits are breached (which is why some states have laws against using non-OME sizes). Oh, and upping the width even 10mm will affect your steering even when you're not breaching any limits. On the Cherokee, for example, it stiffens up the steering, gives you more positive feedback through the wheel and makes the whole lot feel more planted on the road.

Even my mother (66 years old and not interested in cars) notices this type of change in her car while she's driving around at her usual sedate 30 mph.

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 03:30 PM

That's because the car will 'wander' more because it's tracking the imperfections in the road a bit more.

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

That's because the car will 'wander' more because it's tracking the imperfections in the road a bit more.

Wanders less, actually. Much less correction needed at the wheel.

(yes, I know that's against conventional wisdom, but there ya go)

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Wanders less, actually. Much less correction needed at the wheel.

(yes, I know that's against conventional wisdom, but there ya go)

Uh, okay. Thousands of car people will disagree with you on that, but whatever. You're doofy. You believe stupid things, like GTs must have v12s.

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Uh, okay. Thousands of car people will disagree with you on that, but whatever.

Yeah. Those thousands of car people have driven my car, yes? No. Thought not.

Originally Posted by leehotti

You believe stupid things, like GTs must have v12s.

...And that in English, the word "tire" is spelt "tyre".

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Yeah. Those thousands of car people have driven my car, yes? No. Thought not.

Oh, I forgot. Your magical jeep gets 80mpg, was never sold in the US, and has suspension that is drastically different from every other vehicle on the planet.

...And that in English, the word "tire" is spelt "tyre".

What "colour" is it? When did you acqyre them? Can they be set on fyre?

Doofy · Jan 25, 2006, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by leehotti

Oh, I forgot. Your magical jeep gets 80mpg

Did you e-mail Jeep UK and ask for the specs on that engine? No, thought not. Go on, e-mail them - it'll save you from your ignorance. XJ with a VM 2.5 TDi is the model you need to be asking them about. And it's 26.5 US mpg.

Originally Posted by leehotti

was never sold in the US

Ask any Euro member if they've heard of it. In fact, just go look at the US and UK Jeep web sites to see what models you still can't get in the US. See any diesel models on the US site?

Keep making yourself look a prat in the face of the facts, Rob. We're all used to it.