I have a 92 civic si and am getting into autocrossing and am wondering if there are any 14" tires that have a smaller diameter than the 185/60/14 that are stock. The reason for this is that I would like to be able to stay in no lower than 2nd gear on the course but often there are corners slow enough to take me wayy out of the good part of the powerband while in second. Shifting into first then back to second not only wastes time on track but i cant imagining my synchros lasting too long if i am going into first at speed like that. With a smaller diameter tire, the same speed corner would be a higher RPM. 13" wheels do not fit unfortunately and so i cant go that way though i'm sure there are some good small 13" tires made for older cars and the like.

 

what class, street tire or Rcomp or slick?

Azenis come in 195/60/14 which is about as close as youre likely to get in a street tire class, slightly shorter shaved.
Kumho's v710 is listed in 195/55/14 with a 22.4" OD vs the ~22.7 of 185/60/14.

 

anything really. I looked around, and it did seem like the R-comps are the only way to lower the diameter, and i'm not ready to go there. I think this might just be the first time i've ever thought i was smaller brakes, so 13" wheels would fit over them...

 

I don't know of anything, other than 195/55-14, which is barely smaller at all.

The other problem you'll run into is, even if you can find 14" street tires with a smaller diameter, they probably won't give you the traction you need. There aren't very many decent 14" street tires to begin with, and of the few that are available (Azenis, Hankook Z212, Yoko ES100, Toyo T1-R, and for all-seasons, Bridgestone RE960AS), the smallest diameter 14" size is 185/60-14, 195/55-14, or 195/60-14. So if you can find a 14" street tire with a smaller diameter, it's probably going to be a really crappy tire.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Voyage34 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what class, street tire or Rcomp or slick?

Azenis come in 195/60/14 which is about as close as youre likely to get in a street tire class, slightly shorter shaved.
Kumho's v710 is listed in 195/55/14 with a 22.4" OD vs the ~22.7 of 185/60/14.</TD></TR></TABLE>

For the RT-615 Azenis, isn't the 205/40-16 a slightly smaller total diameter than the 195/60-14?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TunerN00b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For the RT-615 Azenis, isn't the 205/40-16 a slightly smaller total diameter than the 195/60-14?</TD></TR></TABLE>

didnt think of that, i was to caught up in looking for tires to fit a 14", thanks for catching that.
195/60/14 : 23.2" OD
205/40/16 : 22.5" OD
(185/60/14 : 22.7" OD)

 

tough call, some good tips here, .. i dont see tire manufactuares haveing to many options for 14 inch wheels, so i dont belive there are many available options.