Sometimes, we need old things to support the other old things in our lives. Frank’s S13 has been running 235/40/17-sized tires for years. But unfortunately, this previously-common size has become an endangered species. Only a few models offered in this size come to mind — Dunlop Z3, Yokohama Advan Fleva, the Federal 595-series, and select others. According to one of my tire distributors, new cars these days simply don’t use that size anymore. So, many manufacturers choose not to make them.
Though the selection is small now, at least there are still some options. This time around, Frank decided to run with the Advan Fleva.
According to him, this relatively normal-sporty tire is nice and grippy, but it has good tire life as well. It’s a nicely-balanced tire for daily driving, tracking, and doing some spirited driving.
Here’s how the fitment of the new tires look on his 17×9 wheels. Nice! But, there was one “bug” regarding the valves on the wheels. This old school wheel uses a 90-degree bent valve, and it’s a discontinued wheel. Frank bought new generic valve stems, and unfortunately they didn’t fit. If you ever run into that problem, sometimes you can get help from the manufacturer (assuming they still exist), even if the wheel itself is discontinued. In this case, we’ve got a wheel that was made by SSR, and it’s possible that one of their current valves might work here… MAYBE.
For the time being, we opted to use shortened rubber valves, just to get him on the road without leaks. It’s going to be slightly inconvenient to check/add air to the tires, but it’s an OK compromise for now.
Frank was nice enough to let me borrow his Snap-On electric impact gun for this job. I really need to get myself one of these. Ahhh, one of these days.
The following weekend, Frank and his S13 hit the track at Streets of Willow, and the tire setup worked great. Unfortunately, after some clutch issues, Frank had to retire. This probably won’t be the last we see from this car.
