Evening all. I am facing a quandary with my Sprite and could do with some help or advice.

The car is a '69 square wheel arch car which is getting a 210+BHP V6. As such, it will almost certainly need some sticky H or higher rated tyres. However, the 185 section tyres I have don't fit in the standard arch, so the widest I can use is probably a 165, maybe a 175 section tyre on a 14" wheel (unless I can find a tyre with flat side walls). But I can only find the usual range of good tyres for a 14" wheel down to a 185 width. The nearest I have found so far is the Yoko A539 in a 175/60/14. Every other performance tyre I can think of only comes in a 185 section.

So whilst I know I can open the arch up if I really have to, and I would rather not have to it, does anyone know of a good tyres in a 165/175 width for a 14" wheel? Or am I getting the long levers and bits of wood out to try stretching a double skinned wheel arch out?

[Edited on 4/9/14 by DIY Si]

I have a similar problem with my Anglia front arches, What about these, maybe a bit low profile though - http://www.camskill.co.uk/m115b0s8759p0/Track_Day_Tyres_-_Trackday_Tyres_-_Motorsport_Tyres_-_14_inch_R14_inch_-_165_55_14_165_55R14

HHmmmm, they're definitely worth a look! They seem to be getting pretty good reviews and they're not too expensive either.

Is the problem the actual width of the arch? I am sure many people use wider tyres on sprites?
Can the problem be solved with a different offset?
The issue with a rare tyre is that they seem to go unavailable.

The problem is the shape of the arch more than anything. Wider tyres can fit and are used, but only on the round arch cars. The offset is pretty much fixed at the ET36 I have now as that's what puts the wheel central in the arch for my suspension. The only other option is to cut my wings off and swap to a round arch version, which I don't want to do.

I can feel your pain on this one. I have similar problems with my Anglia arches which are original, most guys cut the front edge back to get larger tyres in them but I don't really want to do that. My wheels will be 14x6 so looking at 175/50s possobly 185/50s. This is a pretty good site to compare fit www.willtheyfit.com