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General TR Tire Size

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smdichter

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Thread responses on wite wheel sealing petered out and I fixed that but I still need recommendations for tire size so I thought I might catch more responses with a more direct approach. The 185/70SR15 seem impossible to find. Mine were Vredesteins and 14 years old. so time for them to go out here in the Desert. What sizes are you using? What brands? Thanks in advance.
 
Might help if you were to remind us what wheels and what car, plus what your goals are. I've been running Bridgestone Potenzas, but they've been discontinued in my size so I'm going to try a pair of Kumho Ecstas next. But I'm also more interested in performance than being "correct", so I'm using size 205/55-15 on TR6 wheels.

I see TireRack has a few of the Potenzas left in 205/65, which might go well under a TR6. Still shorter than the stock tire but only by 4% or so (so at 70 indicated, you'd only be doing 67). Probably wouldn't clear the wheel wells on a TR3, though, and of course 5.5" is minimum wheel width.
 
FYI -- The OPs profile indicates a TR3A.

My most recent set (a few weeks ago) are Vredesteins in 165/15. The are readily available in the Sprint Classic design. Best price I found at that time was at Summit Racing.

I mix my tires around (also have a wider lower set on alloys) but I still enjoy the skinny tires for 'period' handling.

Also got a set of Vreds in 185/15 for my other car -- more period handling -- those were best price at Euro-Tire (online).
 
I also got my Vredesteins from Summit 165/15. Best price and free shipping, and they were new production, only a few months old by the date code.
 
165/80-15s and 185/70-15s were pretty common tires at one time, the 165/80s are often used on VW bugs (old style) so you could get them local and cheap but even that has dried up a few years ago, so unless you want to go with the specialty sizes mail order you have to go with a more modern low profile tire. The size Randall mentioned, 205/65, is what I have on my TR250, don't rub on anything, but definitely do NOT look stock.
 
I am currently running Nexen XB802's on my tr4. 165/80 R15. I have run them both on the stock steel wheels, and currently on Wires. My local tire guy ordered them for me. They handle fine on the street, and have a nice period look to the tread. They weren't expensive.
 
To complete this thread with the outcome:

I wound up buying Nankang (CX-668) 165/80R 15 tires from Discount Tire. I got them for $58 each, mounted and balanced.

They are,in fact, the size tires that were fitted on Volkswagens. They are mounted on Dayton 60-spoke chrome wire wheels. I sealed the leaky spoke with 3M Windshield Weld, the product recommended by Dayton Wheel. Very easy to do and it worked fine. Used a Dremel wire brush to clear the old sealant, Prep Sol to clean the area, then spread the sealant and let it cure for 3 days.

The spare is also a 165/80 15 mounted on a Dayton 48-spoke painted wheel. It has a tube because the tire needs to be stowed with not more than 8-10 lbs of air (and upside down) in order to fit in the storage compartment (the car is a pre-TS60000). Discount Tire is not permitted to mount tubes in tubeless tires, so I took that wheel, tire, and tube to a local tire shop and they mounted it for $10.

The car drives great with the new tires. A lot cheaper than Vredestein Sprints. Thanks for all advice.
 
Next time try Discount at Ray and Val Vista, or Baseline and Higley, they don't have a problem mounting tires with tubes. At least they didn't a couple months ago.
 
I too put a set of "Nankang" tires on my `61TR3 & since I don`t anticipate doing over "100mph"; They are just fine for buzzing around the back roads of SC. I pd. around $60.00.

Enjoy the Ride,

Russ
 
I have some very old tires on my '64 TR4. I've been delaying replacing them because I know it's going to be tough finding replacement tires. I bought these tires (Firestone, I believe) because they are radial white walls. Tough to come by. Anyone have any ideas where I can source new white wall radials? I believe the tires are 165/65R 15.
 
TR3driver said:
I might be just a bit late for the 2015 event. Will there be another one in 2018?
Click to expand...

Alas, The BEAT is no more. It died a couple of years ago.

I still run events (3-days to a week+) twice a year in the Southwest. Just did 4,400 miles in the E-Type this month -- that was two events (Montana & Colorado) that I was able to pair up.

As I recall there is a TR event out of Texas heading your way (and my way) next Spring -- I will PM you if I can find where I put the details.
 
Mark, for something like that I think your only option is the classic-car tire specialists, Coker, Universal, or Lucas. If you can live without the whitewall, there are still a few options, as discussed in this thread. Not a lot of options, but the longer you wait, the fewer there will be.

I had my eyes on the Nankang CX-668, but it turns out that my wheels are so far out of true that I'll just get a set of VTOs or something similar. That opens up a much greater range of possibilities. Also the wheels look much cooler.
 
Ok,you made me google the VTO wheels as I coudnt remember the specifics.
Too bad it seems 6" is the narrowest.
Tom
 
Mark said:
I have some very old tires on my '64 TR4. I've been delaying replacing them because I know it's going to be tough finding replacement tires. I bought these tires (Firestone, I believe) because they are radial white walls. Tough to come by. Anyone have any ideas where I can source new white wall radials? I believe the tires are 165/65R 15.
Click to expand...
Coker https://www.cokertire.com/tires.htm...tion_width_radial=11009&tire_rim_diameter=115 is the obvious source, but there do seem to be others.
Eg, https://www.universaltire.com/165r15-bf-goodrich-3-4-whitewall-tire.html
https://www.widewhitetires.com/american-classic-wide-whitewall-tires.html
https://www.performanceplustire.com...72O71ZYbC-lKPB6hMxtjmz7MKqOVBEQRoC0ekQAvD_BwE
 
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