Greetings from Portugal!

My name is Ricardo and I've recently bought a yellow 98 Punto Cabrio S.

When I bought it, it was desperately to be saved.

In the mean while, I've replaced the hood manual de mecânica, overhauled the mechanics and even installed a 6 speakers sound system with amp and, as a proud item, I've installed the fiat momo steering wheel.

The next issue I want to resolve is the ugly 13 inch wheels it came with.

My question for you is:

Because my cabrio has no power steering, what are you recommendations for wheel and tire size?

I was hoping to install a set of 15 inch, but I'm worried that, because of the lack of power steering, it becomes very heavy.

Thank you guys

welcome to FF! :wave:

Its the contact patch on the road that will make it heavier, should be ok if you dont get really wide tyres. It will of course end up heavier but its a light car with a light engine - i wouldn't worry myself. Just gonna be heavy to park, once you are moving it will be totally fine and light

165 70 r14

Thank you for your feedback

Are here any guys with manual steering mk1 14? And what tires do you have?

i'm on 165 70R14, only gets tough when i'm parallel parking and maneuvering at very low speeds (basically when 'dry steering').

other than that it's fine, and besides not having power steering really gets the muscles working! (although I'm quite tall and would like to think I've got decent enough upper body strength haha)

165 should be the correct width for the car, the best compromise between performance, economy and steering effort. I would suggest 165/65 instead of 165/70... they will not look too big for the Mk1 shape and they will not distort the gearing so much. 165/70 was for the Mk2 Puntos with a lower final drive, 165/65 was a common Fiat size in the 90s (like on my Tipo).

The ideal wheels would be the "spoked" 14" alloys from the Mk1 Sporting 1.6 / 90hp.

bluejohn125 said:

165 should be the correct width for the car, the best compromise between performance, economy and steering effort. I would suggest 165/65 instead of 165/70... they will not look too big for the Mk1 shape and they will not distort the gearing so much. 165/70 was for the Mk2 Puntos with a lower final drive, 165/65 was a common Fiat size in the 90s (like on my Tipo).

The ideal wheels would be the "spoked" 14" alloys from the Mk1 Sporting 1.6 / 90hp.

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Although the 14" Sporting/GT alloys that I think you're talking about would make good fitment and were designed for the car (albeit ones with power steering), the wheels in question are very heavy so might be better going with a lighter alloy.

If you have to pass an annual test in Spain or Portugal then save the standard wheels and tyres, because they will fail the car if the wheels on the car at the time of the test do not correspond to any of the specified wheels in the technical specification document belonging to the car. Then you can fit them just for the test.

My 1999 Mk1 1.2 8V has 165/65/R14 on standard original alloy wheels. I have no power steering and is OK on the move, slightly inconvenient when parking.