Never trust Wikipedia for this fine detail things!!!
I also became a forced tyre guru for similar reasons as Derek!
To begin with, Tamiya did carryover old tyres for every kit previous to 1986 FW11. So some are accurate and some not. Rear balloon tyres are huge for FW07 and BT50. RE30B tyres are good for a T3 but not so for the '82 Renault. They should have more roundish sjoulders. BT50's front GY is nice and also useful for cars from mid 1979 (there was a size increase) to 1985. Wiki says that but what is true is that RULES were the same (almost). Though those were maximums, that tyre makers did not always take wholy. ALso rememver there was the dawn of 15" rims and tyres. Tamiya NEVER did any of those, and AFAIK, no plastic kit maker. S27 does have them, though not always acurate, as they are too big.
15" started in 1980, and was widely used till 1983, first front tyres, then all around. By Michelin, GY and Pirelli. They disappeared almost completely and all of a sudden by 1984. Though they would be seen sometimes.
Hard to find official data as there was a lot of trials. For instance, late 1982 Michelin tried narrower rears to improve top speed for Wattie and Niki. If you find a close up pic where the tyre specs are on the sidewall, keep it!!!
Anywa, what Derek said is correct and basically you can mix tyres from 1986 to 1992, from 1993 to 1997, 1998 stand alone, and then 1999 till the end of grooved tyres era.
Anyway when you have doubts, take a good side pic of a car, where yu can see sharply the edges of rim. MAke a rule-of-three with your target rim (usually 17.8mm for 13 inch) and voila you have tyre overall diameter. For widths, front pics where you van refer to front wing width (150cm till 1992, 140 onwards) will give you tyre widths. Same rear... not too hard to find rear wing width depending on year. 110cm till 1982, 100 from 1983 till 2008.
I'm referring to later Tamiya 1/20 tires. Can anyone tell me which of the following are interchangeable: Tyrrell 023, Tyrrell 020, Jordan 191, Benetton B188 and B192, March CG901B, Lotus 99T, Williams FW-11 and FW-13b, Ferrari F-189, McLaren MP4/4 and 4/5b, and Lotus 102B, 102D, 107, and 107B. I think I have enough to cover all my kits, but not sure what goes where. Thanks in advance for your help. 
