Eric at 64 etype
Did you replace your spare with the 205/70 tires you put on your car?
If so, any issue in the boot?
205/70 probably isnāt going to allow the fixing bolt to go in, or the boards to be replaced. I keep the original wire in the boot with an original tire on it. I expect the driving experience would be positively awful if itās pressed into service. Itās literally only there for the worst kind of emergency.
We should do a survey of what people are running on 6". I suspect most are in the category of āmore tire optionsā, which would tend to make the car harder to steer. Iām on 205/65 (previously 205/70) and it is noticeably heavier than Jerryās car when he let me try it. Iām pretty sure he was on 5" with original profile.
What makes it harder to steer is a larger contact patch. Iāve driven E-types with both 5" and 6" wheels running Sprint Classics, and there is no difference in steering effort. Iāve also run 205/70 on my 5" wheels, and they made it considerably harder to steer.
Jerry had both 5" and 6" wheels. His street tires were Sprint Classics on 5", while his auto cross tires were some wide, super-sticky 50-series tires on 6" - Yokos, IIRC. THAT was fun to drive in an auto-cross. The handling was phenomonal! But you had to be really careful driving it on the street to avoid scraping on the bottom!
On my Series II at least a stock 5" wheel with a 205-70 tire on it does fit in the spare tire well and the fixing bolt works as normal. the covering board fits without interference. Use a 6" wheel and the bolt still grabs a bit of thread but the tire sidewall interferes with the cover board.
I think itās possible a 205 tire on a 6" wheel may fit in the space and the cover fit without interference if the spare were carried uninflated; in which case just carry a small 12v powered pump,
OK, Iāve always ran 205s on my E-types, both the 2+2 and FHC. I never found the steering to be āheavyā maybe in part because I knew it wasnāt power steering and thus, never expected it to be light. Itās worth noting that the tread width on 205 tires can vary tire to tire. The previous set of tires on the FHC were Dunlop Signature IIs in a 205 section width. The tread width as measured at the contact patch was 6-1/4". Measurement of the tread width of the Hankooks that replaced them revealed a 5-1/5" tread width. What I didnāt measure was the total sqin of the contact patch. I can state that , subjectively, less steering effort was required with the narrower tread width tires.
6ā wheels on the car with 205 70 15. Orig 5ā wheel with a 205 70 15 under the boards in the trunk. Boards fit but tight. Probably would fit better if it was a 6ā wheel in there as tire wouldnāt be so ballooned. I made a hold down as the stock would not fit and the later SIII hold down was a problem, I forget why.
You do NOT want to run two different size tires on the Posi diff.
Thanks for the input