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Old 19 Apr 2010, 10:52 (Ref:2675709)   #5
smokystove
Racer
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
United States
BERLIN, GERMANY
Posts: 196
smokystove should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
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Originally Posted by johnh875 View Post
Interesting question, depends if you want the "cheese cutter" look of the 4" wheels or a bit more performance. For example a friend has kept the comical ~4° positive camber setup on the front of his Mk1 Hillman Imp because it looks so strange, despite not giving the best performance (he doesn't do any competition stuff with it!) Assuming you won't be doing a lot of mileage in the car, why not go for a softer compound? I have done that on my car.
That's just the thing, I can't really say that I won't be doing much mileage in the car because what I tend to do is drive cross country/cross continent to said events and back. So I'm neither a racer, nor am I driving the car on a daily work commute either. So I guess my real question is, would you drive to France, do a trackday weekend and drive back with confidence on the Avons or similar tyre?

Concerning the look, the thing is that I find that depending on the tyre's overall diameter even the "correct" stock size can look a bit small in the arches. It's not the width but the height that concerns me. For example even using the 5.5 wheels, the Avons in 185/70/15 are 635mm but Pirelli Cinturato in the "same" 185/70/15 are 652mm. Not a huge difference in diameter I know but probably noticable. So it's a real shell game between performance, quality, and fit that's making my decision difficult. For instance, check this out on the Longstone Tyres site showing 185x16s for a Jag XK: http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/image/185X16options.jpg

Not to even mention price, but then I've learned the very hard way not to skimp on tyres... 10 year old hard as stone Michelins on a very well tuned Alfa 1750 GTV on a cold night years ago which ended in tears!
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