<VV> Stock wheels or not???

[Bill Elliott]

I concur. A few things to consider:

1. You really can't get a high performance tire in an appropriate 13" size. In fact, it's hard to get in a 14".  About the best you can get is an H-rated 
tire...much better than an S-rated, but still not great.  A set of sticky V-rated tires improves the overall driving/handling of a Corvair tremendously.

2. Corvairs are VERY sensitive to unsprung weight. Drive a car with lightweight rims and see what I mean. Amazing difference...more than about any other 
car I've driven.

My wife really likes the "stock" look with the mag hubcaps, so we moved up to a 14" GM rim and 14" mag hubcaps. Virtually identical to the stock 13"ers. 
Larry Claypool has a source for very cheap V-rated summer tires in a 205/64VR14 (a size extremely difficult to find in the US). The car drives better than 
stock due to the (somewhat) sticky tires, but the increase in unsprung weight does hurt the driving experience.

My Corsa went from GM ralley rims in a 14x7 running 215/60HR14 tires to a set of 13x6 Minilites running 205/60VR13 Yoko Intermediates (unfortuantely 
now discontinued). The difference was STUNNING. Next I went to a 15x7 Western Minilite copy with 225/50ZR15 all around. Ultimate grip was very 
impressive, but there was just too much tire on the front. I was going to downsize to a 205/55ZR15 for the front, but stumbed on a nearly perfect set of 
14x6.5 real Minilites which I just had to have... so I moved back down to a 205/60HR14. Not great but acceptable... very nice balance of ride and 
handling even if ultimate grip is lower...but so is the unsprung weight, so the overall driving experience is better than the wide sticky tires, but not as good 
as the very sticky 13's...

Bill Elliott

>But Ron, you  can do both! Thirteen inch tires are getting harder to find, 
>so save yours for special occasions and get those 15" Torq Thrusts for 
>putting on the miles and looking cool :o).

>Marc Sheridan

>> Due to overwhelming support of the stock wheels/wire covers..... I am
>> going to stick with them.
>>
>> Thanks all.
>>
>> Ron

> _