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Tires

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regularman

regularman

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This is just something I have noticed boys and girls. The 13 inch tire is getting rarer and rarer. A couple weeks ago while towing my camper to Myrtle beach, I had a tread separation happen on it and put on the spare. Its a small camper and I have been running just regular car tires on it for around 40k miles of towing, but the tire was old with good tread.
Anyways, there was only one place in the entire town(which had a least a dozen places) that had a 165/80/13 tire. I bought it but that started me to thinking about 13 inc tires.
I have been running 175/70/13 tires on my midget and they seem to be one of the ones that are still available in several places. They used to be everywhere for 155/80/13 for cheap and now many places don't stock them. The place I got that tire from said that was the last 13 they planned to stock.
What suppliers do you use for tires? Just looking through cars that a 1-3 years old, there is only one toyota that runs 13 inch tires. How long before we can't get them any more? I ran into this problem with my wife's festiva running 12s. They are very difficult to get now, so I went to 13 inch wheels and 165/70/13 tires but there is only one make of those that I know of.
 
Kim,
I feel your pain and I've been trying to fine 14" 'classic 8' style wheels to fit my Bugeye without success. VTO does not have them yet and them ones I've found on Ebay UK are not cheap. Walmart and Sears still have the 13" variety and I'll get my spare wheels shod as soon as I get them painted.
Good luck, Rut
 
I talked with my tire guy when I was putting on my last set. There haven't been any manufacturers making new cars with 13" wheels since the mid 1980s. I was able to get Sumitomo HTR 200s from him but I had to special order them. They were the last "performance" 13" tire being offered anywhere, and I heard that in the year since, they too have become either unobtainable, or all but.
I too was going to go with 14" VTO's for this very reason, but needed them about a year before they were being offered. 13" Economy tires will be offered for some time to come, but 175/70 13s are already all but in the history books.
(https://www.buynewtires.com/)
These guys have the best selection of tires that I know of, with 36 different tires in 175/70-13, but I see NO performance tires there--maybe the Uniroyal Tiger Paw, the Sumitomo HRT4, or ???
 
Ill be needing tires for my B/E soon. I think it had 145sr13 on it.
What tire sizes are people running on theirs?
What is closest to original that is still available?

Fred
 
I work for Michelin. We still make 13s for the European market. We have them in the Uniroyal brand also. However, finding them in the US is difficult. In fact the smallest wheel size we are producing tires for in the US is 15". Our Greenville plant makes nothing smaller than 16s. The auto manufacturers are moving to larger rim sizes cross the board.

A very good source for tires is Tirerack.com.
I am running Kuhmo 155-13s on mine because I needed them quickly and they were cheap. I think they were less than $30 each at Tirerack.
 
I found 145/13's under the name Centred at a local discount tire store. Still a common size in South America is what I was told. They were $18/pc, blackwall and work fine.
 
Fred, my BE came with ancient 175/70/R14 Michelins on it, and because that's what was on there that's what I replaced them with. No complaints, although I should mention that I have the stock suspension front and rear. Charlie
 
I've been thinking about this too, because I'll likely resurrect the '73 parts Midget I just bought. It's too nice to chop up so I'll probably stick my spare 948 in it (I bought this '73 for the 1275 engine it had......to be used for my race car).

Anyway, I found several 13" choices ~HERE~
 
Someone (maybe on this forum) said the General Altimax was a decent choice.
 
Issues in the selection of 13 inch tires include:

overall diameter vs original so the speedometer reads correctly

Whether they fit without rubbing fenders, especially at max turn in/ out, mostly a function of width.

How do they perform: treadwear, speed rating, etc.?

Finally how do they look on the car, preferences will vary of course, but how close to original?

Fred
 
I recently talked to a fellow at a car show with a Lotus Elise. He was telling me that the super low profile tires on the Elise cost $360 apiece! Now if the tire industry can make tires like that then I see no reason we can't get good 13 in tires even if we have to pay more for them. I have a feeling that, like so many industries in this country now, there isn't enough competition left in the manufacture or distribution. I recently fitted the Sumitomo all seasons now that the performance tires are not available any more and I don't care for them. Happy to pay more for good performance tires.
Ideas???

Kurt.
 
If you have a limited number of tires available, the thing I'd suggest is to get the lowest number UTQG you can find (this would be the softest tire). Higher number (ie-more than 500) are rock hard and will dry rot before you wear them. There's no reason to run such hard tires on our lightweight cars......it's inappropriate especially if you're just driving a few thousand miles per year. The UTQG system isn't perfect but at least it'll give you a rough idea of tire life.

I've seen several 13" tires in the mid 300s that are probably suitable. The tires on my MGB are 350 UTQG and, at about 2000 miles per year, will be too old to use before they have any real wear. For reference, the Toyo 888 race tires I run have a UTQG of about 80.

By the way, Hoosier makes skinny 13" A70 racing TDs that would be great for moderate street use. They're about $120 each. Technically, they're not street legal, but it's unlikely that anyone would notice. You'd probably get about 5-6000 miles on them.....but that's plenty if you don't drive that much per year.
 
Very good info and I appreciate that. The issue I have with the Sumitomo's and I imagine what else is available now is that the side walls are so soft. They're "squirrely" even with high inflation pressure. Sure would like to get tires with some substance in the side walls. The old Yokohama's I have on another car are a joy to drive comparetively.

Kurt.
 
Tire Rack search results

175/70/13 (20 tires to choose from)

185/70/13 (2 tires to choose from) RWA cars only

For you all running 14" alloy wheels
185/60/14 (20 tires to choose) this size offer some very good perforamcne sizes

All the above sizes are near the original OEM tire sizes rolling diameter.

Hope this helps.

Here's the deal on tires at your local tire dealers these days, no one hardly stock anything anymore, I was tire dealer for many year, this industry has now developed into not stocking tires , due to the enormous amount of size these days, and they just put in daily orders from their local wholesale distributors, so they may not have it in stock or very much on the shelf, but they can get it for you pretty quickly.

I just got back from a 2 week vacation in Italy, lots of small cars, mostly well under 2 litres engines, a good many of them diesel, lots of Fiats, Renault, Citron (spelling ? ) Lancia, and a few Chevys, Hondas, Toyotas, Kias, Nissans and Minis sprinkled in, lot of 12" and 13" tires. The 13 inch tire market will come back to the US as we get into the smaller car market like Europe.
 
So if they're in Europe why isn't someone importing them? I'm thinking no competition amongst distributors myself. Looks like maybe some sports car specialists ought to go looking??? Or maybe there are good options available but just not the ones we are used to.

Kurt.
 
Regulations and certifications.
 
Actually, the correct tire is 145R13 but:

145R13 = 22.13 diameter, 4.56 sidewall

165/70/13 = 22.09, 4.54

175/70/13 = 22.64, 4.82

185/70/13 = 23.19, 5.09
 
JPSmit said:
Actually, the correct tire is 145R13 but:

145R13 = 22.13 diameter, 4.56 sidewall

165/70/13 = 22.09, 4.54

175/70/13 = 22.64, 4.82

185/70/13 = 23.19, 5.09
Click to expand...

Yeah, but how wide?
 
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