Alignment Specs
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Nitrate
- Posts: 278
- Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:38 pm
- Your car is a: 1981 Fiat 2000
Alignment Specs
1981 2000. I'm putting Kuhmbo 185 70 13 front tires on. The toe in factory recommendation is 1/8". The car was originally fitted with 165 tires. When using the 185 tire should I use less toe in? Maybe 1/16" instead of 1/8". RB
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18Fiatsandcounting
- Posts: 3799
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Re: Alignment Specs
That's a good question and, in a nutshell, it's complicated. Toe can be affected by dynamic loading (turning, going over bumps), the weight in the car (passengers plus whatever else), tire profile, slack in the tie rod ends or steering linkage rod, how "true" the rims are, tread wear, etc.
In practice, I doubt you would notice a difference between 1/16" and 1/8" with your new tires. I've had 185/70R-13 tires on many of my cars, and I always had them aligned to the factory spec. Always seemed fine.
In case you're interested, there's a pretty good website for calculating tire dimensions from the tire size at:
https://tiresize.com/calculator/
There is not a whole lot of difference in diameter between the original 165/80-13 tires and 185/70-13 ones, about 0.1" for each sidewall or 0.2" in overall diameter. Tread wear over time is a similar factor in diameter changes, and likely more of a factor if your tires are well worn.
-Bryan
In practice, I doubt you would notice a difference between 1/16" and 1/8" with your new tires. I've had 185/70R-13 tires on many of my cars, and I always had them aligned to the factory spec. Always seemed fine.
In case you're interested, there's a pretty good website for calculating tire dimensions from the tire size at:
https://tiresize.com/calculator/
There is not a whole lot of difference in diameter between the original 165/80-13 tires and 185/70-13 ones, about 0.1" for each sidewall or 0.2" in overall diameter. Tread wear over time is a similar factor in diameter changes, and likely more of a factor if your tires are well worn.
-Bryan
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Nitrate
- Posts: 278
- Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:38 pm
- Your car is a: 1981 Fiat 2000
Re: Alignment Specs
Bryan, Thanks very much for the feedback. My previous pair of tires got very worn on the inside edge because of bad inner wheel bearings which, by the way, was not easy to diagnose. Standard grab, shake, and pull showed no play at all. Finally heard an odd noise comming from the front at very low speed. Do not want to damage my new tires. Going to a good local alignment specialist. Thanks for the information. Puts my mind at ease. RB