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TR2/3/3A 165/80/15 Nankang tires fit?

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Kleykamp

Kleykamp

Jedi Trainee
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OK. I searched and read several post about the spare tire compartment on a post 60K TR3. Some said YES, a 165/80/15, will fit the spare tire well. As I was about to resolve it was OK to buy the spare for my car, someone else said the 165/80/15 will NOT fit the spare tire well. Does anybody have a post 60K car that uses Nankang tires or at least a for certain 165/80/15 tire that can say for certain that it will fit. I am certain my car has not had a pre 60K rear end grafted onto it and is a real unmolested post 60K car, with original trunk and spare tire pans. Just don't want to buy a spare that has to sit at home in the garage. I don't want a space saver on a steel wheel. Thanks,Joe
 
You should be able to get the specs for that tire. I was researching a Nankang 185/80/15 for a frieennnd to use in his vintage Corvette and found on the Ebay tire section that the 185/80X15 had a overall diameter of 25" and a total width of 6 1/2 (which works for him). Assuming you know the size of the TR opening you should be able to figure out if that 165/80X15 tire will work.
 
I was trying to avoid the cold garage by asking the question, but the best way to find out was to take one of the wheels off my car and try it in the spare tire compartment. I can say for certain now that a Nankang 165/80/15 WILL fit in the spare tire well. It goes in easily....coming out ... not so much. I would recommend putting some kind of strap around the whole diameter of the tire to pull on when taking it out, as someone mention in one of the post I searched, or a little less inflation as someone else suggested. It would also be reasonable to assume any 165/80/15 should fit as well, but would be best to do your research as tire dimensions could vary.
As a side note: Those looking for tires for a driver car might have an interest in the Nankang tires. They are reasonably good quality and a fraction of the cost of the name brands and classic tires. Tires for these cars in the correct size are getting harder and harder to find. Just wanted to add the comments in case someone else did a search looking for the same answers.
 
Hello Joe,
Glad to see you are still hard at the TR3! I've got the 165/80's in both my car trunks. One (the red one) fits only if you let most of the air out, the other (the black one) fits fine with no problem. The only difference between the two is that the red one has a new 60 spoke 15x4.5" wheel and the black one has a NOS 15x4" 48 spoke wheel. I concluded that it isn't so much the tire size as the wheel width. But I'm just guessing. Come on by and visit sometime. Pat
 
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