I'm making an eco 3 wheeler and I'm looking for some narrow wheels. I reckon 135s are plenty because at 200 - 220kg they must be about the same as 275s on a 440kg car. I've suddenly spotted that my donor car comes with 135s on their space saver spare rims. The T speed rating is more that my 3 wheeler's top speed so is there any reason I can't use them as my normal front tyres?

Space savers are normally limited to 50mph, but that is probably to do with them being an odd wheel on the car.

Citroen AXs have 145s I think for another option.

Most spacesaver tyres also run a silly high pressures.

Done 115mph in audi coupe quattro with space saver fitted when i was young+silly! think the speed rating is low more because it grip level is poor when fitted to a heavy tin top and law suites.

the T speed rating states that the tyre will be happy running up to 118 mph.

i'd imagine the available compounds would be pretty average though
tom

2CV wheels?

2nd 2CV 125 or 135 x 15 tyres

2CV wheels are a 3 stud fitting meaning you have to have 3 stud hubs. I want to use the hubs and uprights from my donor.

I was planning to use stock 145/70 13 wheels and tyres until I heard about the "sporting" space saver spare.

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Originally posted by minitici
Most spacesaver tyres also run a silly high pressures.

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The pressure is an interesting point and I've been thinking about it. Perhaps that is for heavy cars. A 135/70 tyre might have a contact patch of 130mm x 50 mm which is about 10 square inches. At 60 PSI the tyre can support 600 lbs or 272 kg which is a 1089 kg car assuming equal corner weights.

My trike will be about 300kg laden with about 55% over the front axle. 85.2 kg per wheel is 182 lbs or 18.2 PSI. That's not to say that the tyres rely on high pressure to hold up the side wall. The tyres on the donor's spare wheel are marked 44 PSI max which is about the same as normal tyres. I suspect I may be OK on the pressure front.

They only run such high pressures on a tintop as they are so narrow and high profile, and are temporarily doing the job of a much lower profile tyre almost twice as wide on a heavy car. You'll be fine on a light vehicle but you still might find it needs unintuitively high pressure due to the high profile. Like road bike tyres which also run high pressures.

You can buy 135/80-13 or 135/70-13 tyres with no real problems, though mostly budget brands.

Do a search on http://www.mytyres.co.uk or http://www.camskill.co.uk

I think the speed restriction on spacesavers is to do with the silly pressures which are required to support a car full of people and luggage on such a narrow/large sidewall tyre. Pressuring down for a 200kg car shouldn't be a problem though how low you can go may depend on the sidewall construction.

The style of the steel wheels may look better on a retro style design though I can't recall seeing the spacesavers on a cinq.