Tyre contact area can make a surprising difference to steering weight.
I run an eclectic Morris Minor van that came, 30 years ago, with saloon rims and Jaguar Mk 2 seats. The latter had necessitated a sporty 13 inch steering wheel and skinny thighs. I relatively recently ditched the rusting saloon wheels in favour of the slightly wider van/pickup rims, retaining the same tyres. The very slight increase in contact area made a massive difference to slow speed manoeuvrability, basically there now isn’t any. At higher speeds, and it’s capable of a surprising turn of speed, it’s still just like riding a bike and it will out corner many modern cars
By the way 411 wheels (if you can fit them) do permit the use of modern asymmetric tyres designed for the SUV market. Tyre design has come a very long way in terms of reduction in tyre noise and tracking.
|