The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I need 2 tyres for BUD, which is sat on Sprint alloys.
Has anyone any expereience of 185/70 x 13 on the back?
I'm just thinking that a bit of width, and a bit more sidewall may help the gearing a touch more.
If not, I'll stick with 175/70

Answers on a forum please!

BWJ (Incredibly happy)

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BWJ
1966 Triumph 1300 Royal Blue
1966 Triumph 2000 Blue
1965 Triumph 2000 black and rust
1967 BSA B40wd green
2018 Jaguar E pace 2018
NOBODY expects the Canley Inquisition!

Run 185s a few times, I think the difference is pretty neglible! Maybe fill the arches a little better?

width will not make any difference to gearing. just a bit more rubber on the road. go with the skinny steels, great fun at this time of year.

Don't go large if your rear bushes are getting elderly. Blue had 185/70 on the back when I got it, they rubbed on bumps, hard cornering and very badly with rear passengers. The rubbers weren't great but I wouldn't have called them knackered either. I've not retried it since rebushing and other on here have had better luck than me.

From memory 185/60 is a closer match in the rolling circumference so will affect the speedo less.

Tinweevil

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1978 Pageant Sprint - the rustomite, 1972 Spitfire IV - sprintfire project, 1968 Valencia GT6 II - little Blue, 1980 Vermillion 1500HL - resting. 1974 Sienna 1500TC, Mrs Weevils big brown.

Well, the width will make a difference to the gearing as it can influence the sidewall depth depending upon the code of the tyre.

e.g.

165/80 R13 is 165mm wide and 80% of that is 132mm

185/80 R13 is 185mm wide and 80% of that is 148mm

Which means the rolling circumference of the 185/80 is greater.

i retract my previous statment
70 is the % of width so so a 180 will be taller than a 175 but probably not enough to alter the gearing noticably

Indeed, I have to admit to being a touch on the pedantic side there

I ran 185/70s on the rears once but they do tend to touch the lip on the inside of the rear wheel arch, especially with passengers in t'back.

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Sprintless for the first time in 35+ years. ... Still Sprintless.

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1997 TVR Chimaera 450

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2009 Mini Clubman Cooper S Daily Driver.
1980 Dolomite Sprint with a touch of BLTS
Balanced Lightened and Tweaked 13B Rotary and SuperCharged.
Back in my possession 22 September 2019.
Rebuilding the Sprint time taken so far, 111Hrs@15/12/2020
212Hrs @31/12/2021
352 @ 28/11/2022
455Hrs @ 20/10/2023
480Hrs @ 14/03/2024
This is time taken at the Sprint not necessary time worked.

Working on a ratio of just 7Hrs a day not including driving to the Sprint.
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Project 13B Sprint now back on.

miniman, i think i posted my retraction at the same time as your post.

im going to try to find 185/65's for orange... shes on 185/60's at the mo

Bruce,

I do have some 185/70s here, but they are on non-Sprint alloys with a different offset, so no good for a quick check. However, you're welcome to have the tyres for the price of removing them from the wheels if you want to take them away and try them on some sprint wheels.

David

I used to run 185 70s on my 1850 on sprint rims.
They rubbed ocasionally on the inside due to worn bushes but were fine once it was polly bushed.
The sprints tend to rub on the outer lip due to having the wider rear axle.

wider axle? think its just the rear drums/brakes that are wider, but i could be wrong...

The sprint axle between hub faces measures 54"
And 1850/ 1500 axle measures 53 1/4"

which gives a track of 50 3/4" and 50" respectively.