Re: Many Tire Q's

[Erik R Addy <erik@aero.und.edu>]

re cooper winter tires:
I don't know what these are going to cost you, but I really think
you would be better off buying a major-brand tire.  Several people on
the list have gotten very good prices on the Dunlop Graspic series.  I
myself am partial to Nokian.  To get a good tire recomendation we need
to know more about where you live and what your driving needs/priorities
are. 

re snow tire size for 88 80q:
185/70-14 is NOT correct.  I would go with 185/65-14, but if you are in
a very snowy area, 175/70-14 might be a good idea.

re summer tire sizes:
225/60-14 is NOT correct.  On a 14" wheel, you could go 205/55-14, but
there are not many choices in this size, and I'm not sure this would be
an improvement, particularly on the stock (narrow) wheels.  A good
performance upgrade would be 205/50-15's on 15x7" wheels.

HTH
erik@aero.und.edu