A e-mail I received from Patrick Wilson regarding 13 inch tires:
One useful note… P185/80R13 automotive tires are going out of production. They will be available, from now on, as a trailer tire - but not automotive. As of last week Canadian Tire had 20 left in stock at $46.00 each. After that its Coker tire at $212.00 each! I bought four to put away till next year.
If your tires are getting close to ten years old it’s probably wise to replace them. I just bought a used Mercedes and was surprised to find a warning in the drivers handbook about not operating the car with tires that are over 6 years old!
Back a couple years ago I did some research on 13in performance tires but could only find good one's in Europe so I decided on upgrading to 14in. After my 14in upgrade I noticed that they are starting to limit that wheel size as well so my suggestion would be to find what you want and double the order so to speak.
I wish there was a good 13in tire option out there when I looked because I have a nice set of LoCort wheels that need a set.
Good luck, let me know what you find.
I know what you mean about the 13 inch rims, I am now on the lookout for some 14 inch rims as there are still okay tires for them out there. I think Miatas run 14 inch stock?
I wonder how costly it would be to bring tires over from Europe?
I just bought 10 Bridgestone 185/70R13 Potenza RE740's
from tires-easy.com for $56 + shipping.
13's & 14's are going away,so you need to buy them when
you find them.Just be sure that the tire (date) code is fairly cur-
rent.
I think that you'll still be able to buy 13" tires for quite a while,
but the high-performance ones are going away.Another part of my
Childhood gone.....
The rims I currently have are the Capri Rostyle so I though that if I am replacing them I might as well try to get some 14 inch Minilite/Panasport style wheels, I would even use steel rims if the offset is good. These with 185/55/14 tires would keep the rolling radius down. There is still a variaty of 14 inch out there. Now to find the rims at a reasonable price?
I decided on the 14in Panasports because there were more options for hi-por tires being available than 13in but yes they will eventually go away until some off shore tire company will again produce them. I believe Sumitomo tires from the Tire Rack have them still.
I decided on the 14in Panasports because there were more options for hi-por tires being available than 13in but yes they will eventually go away until some off shore tire company will again produce them. I believe Sumitomo tires from the Tire Rack have them still.
I decided on the 14in Panasports because there were more options for hi-por tires being available than 13in but yes they will eventually go away until some off shore tire company will again produce them. I believe Sumitomo tires from the Tire Rack have them still.
canadianmk3 wrote:I always had a feeling the 13 inch tires would be heading out, which is why my Mk3 has 16 inch rims/tires
As for the age, its illegal to have tires more than 6 years old (atleast in BC)
I have thought about going from 13 to 14 or even 15 inch, but at 15 I would have to use a 50 series or lower tire to keep a simular rolling radius. The rims available will help me determine this.
Here is a good web tool for tire size calculations and it gives you a visual appearance as well other useful info. http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual ... calculator
Unfortunately my little 100e Anglia will be limited to 5.5 inch wide rims on the front and 6 to 6.5 on the rear. That is certanly enough rubber for a car it's size and I probably won't do any track time with it anyway.