i have a 93 hatch with hx wheels which are 14x5.5. i plan on running auto-x right after winter and i want to run wide tires to hold up with the handling.

is 225/50/14 (all around) too big of a tire for hx wheels?

 

bump for some help

 

those would be waaay too wide for hx wheels

195/55/14 whould be a more suitable tire

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by psychedelicbeats &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a 93 hatch with hx wheels which are 14x5.5. i plan on running auto-x right after winter and i want to run wide tires to hold up with the handling.

is 225/50/14 (all around) too big of a tire for hx wheels?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, absolutely.

What are you going to use these tires for? ONLY autocross? Or autocross and warm-weather daily driving? I assume from your location that winter/snow driving is not a consideration.

If you are planning to use these tires for daily driving as well as autocross, then I recommend you get 185/60-14 tires. The Yokohama ES100 comes in that size and is a great choice for an all-around tire - good dry grip and handling, excellent wet grip, very good treadlife, and inexpensive. Another choice is the Toyo T1-R, also an excellent street tire, a bit more expensive but with higher performance than the ES100, and is available in 195/55-14. If you don't have a lot of autocross experience and/or you're not autocrossing competitively, either of these is really all you need. If and when you build up experience and you're looking for tenths and hundredths of a second, you can worry about getting something grippier.

If you're going to use these tires pretty much only for autocross, and you have a lot of autocross experience, then you can get something more aggressive, with more grip, and not worry about how long they will last. You can use 185/60-14 (roughly the same outer diameter as stock) or 195/60-14 (2.1 percent larger outer diameter than stock) or 195/55-14 (1.3 percent smaller). These extra-grippy tires fall into two categories: an R compound track tire, and a "specialty tire" that is in between an R compound and a street tire (meaning that it grips better than street tires, but not quite as good as R compounds, and it wears faster than street tires, but not quite as fast as R compounds). Here are possibilities:

<u>R compound track tires</u>:
Kumho ECSTA V700 (195/55-14)
Kumho ECSTA V710 (195/55-14)
Kumho VictoRacer V700 (195/55-14 or 185/60-14)
Yokohama ADVAN A032R (185/60-14 or 195/60-14) - get the soft compound version, which will be better for autocross

<u>Specialty tires</u>:
Falken Azenis RT-615 (195/60-14)
Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 (195/60-14)

 

Incidentally, each tire manufacturer publishes specs for what rim sizes are approved for each tire they make. For example, the Hoosier A3S05 autocross tire in the 225/50-14 size you mention is approved only for rim widths of 7.0 to 9.0 inches.