My new favorite wheel

[War_Wagon]

I must say I never bothered to check the air in my spare tire when I put my Insight on the road, so I never realized how trick the spares are in these cars!



14 x 4 inches, and the Sartorius says it weighs in at 15.1501 pounds with the tire on it. Granted the wheel and tire are for temporary use only, but I think I will still make them the next thing I try to scrounge up a set of 4 of. For off-highway, non public road use only of course! I wonder what the narrowest, tallest 14 inch tire still produced is?

[Jean-Seb]

Nice ! How smaller in overall diameter is that spare ?

A quick search netted me those two.

Coker Tire 55592 - Coker Firestone F560 Tires - Overview - SummitRacing.com
Coker Tire 61975 - Coker Excelsior Tires - Overview - SummitRacing.com

May not be tall enough, barely 24 inches, but it's narrow ! And DOT-approved (although the second one requires tubes, grrr...).

[Ryland]

Bridgestone Potenza RE92

the 165/65 R14 is the narrowest you can get for a 14" rim, it is also only at tirerack.com in one tire, a LRR tire...

I've often wished that my commuti-car used 100mm bolt pattern instead of 4" so that I could use these rims, with it's 1,400 pound curb weight it shouldn't over load them.

[War_Wagon]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Bridgestone Potenza RE92

the 165/65 R14 is the narrowest you can get for a 14" rim, it is also only at tirerack.com in one tire, a LRR tire...

I've often wished that my commuti-car used 100mm bolt pattern instead of 4" so that I could use these rims, with it's 1,400 pound curb weight it shouldn't over load them.

I don't know if a 15" rim would fit your commuti-car or not, but Weld Wheels used to make a 15 x 3.5" aluminum wheel in their Draglite line that had a dual bolt pattern of 4 x 4" and 4 x 4.25". If you see a 5.0L Mustang driving around with skinny front wheels odds are they are Draglites. The Mustang used a 4 x 4.25", the 4 x 4" was for Vegas etc. If you check your local Craigslist for Weld Mustang wheels you mught be able to find a few pairs cheap.

[Old Tele man]

...looks like it has a designed-in "aero" cover already!

...and, school-bus yellow is a cool "see me" safety color.

[War_Wagon]

=Old Tele man;253589...and, school-bus yellow is a cool "see me" safety color.

True, though my next super secret project car is grey, so I am thinking my buddy with the wheel polishing equipment might come in handy, strip off that yellow paint and polish the aluminum up and they would look pretty trick.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

I wonder what the narrowest, tallest 14 inch tire still produced is?

The narrowest is likely the 145/80/14 Bridgestone B381 (LRR)
(VW Lupo and Audi A2 3L-versions)
I think it would run great on these.

Wider and even taller,
155/80/14 Nankang CX668 and Toyo 310
165/80/14 there's a bit of a selection, at least in Europe

[vinny1989]

Could try using a motorcycle tyre?

Might not be rated for the weight, so its your own risk..

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by vinny1989

Could try using a motorcycle tyre?

Might not be rated for the weight, so its your own risk..

Motorcycle tires are not designed to corner without leaning so they don't have the same side wall construction, that is why if you put a side car on your motorcycle you really need to install motorcycle tires that are designed for running with a side car.

I have to wonder how much use a rim like that can handle, I know the tires are not designed for continued use and that the rim is a bit lighter but there must be standards that it still has to meet, right?

[War_Wagon]

I would imagine that even though Honda would protect itself by saying right on the wheel that it is for temporary use only, I would have to think that a wheel made for a vehicle would have to meet all safety specifications for any wheel made that year, regardless of it's intended period of use.