Hot Rods Tallest, skinniest READILY AVAILABLE radial tire

EV's are insanely heavy compared to our cars. Tesla Model X long range EV is 5,000lbs. I bet they would have a super stiff side wall and hard long wear compound.

 

unfortunately, believe it or not those one 85–16 would be too tall lol but, I am writing them down and will definitely use them for something at some time

As for used tires… I have a couple tire distributors, so “normal sizes” it just doesn’t make sense to try to save the money. Plus, I only have access to a static balancer, and believe it or not it works about 90% of the time, but 0% of the time if the tire is used. Coincidence? Maybe… But I have balanced so many new tires successfully with that balancer – we are talking probably 120 tires – there’s got to be more to it than coincidence

Yes electric vehicles are slightly heavier, keep in mind a Tesla model X, though, is a midsize SUV. You would be surprised if you googled the weight of a similar sized Honda pilot. I bet it’s about 800 pounds difference at most. I am not a fan of this forced electric, by any means, but it affects me at work so I am up on it…

 

I've got 500/16 front and 700/16 Excelsiors on my fendered deuce pickup.

 

Bias ply of course?

 

Chucky thanks for those! I have been considering them as well.

I think for all things considered, I am going to run 15s with 165r15. I am shocked I didnt get those for my 1950 sedan back in the day, as they are WAY narrower than my 205/75r15s

On the truck, id need to buy 16s (what it came with) and then go crazy for a tall enough, narrow enough tire. I am just going to rock the 15s with 165r15. Literally almost the exact perfect width, the perfect height, and more rubber/less rim (better ride) I am sold. I will likely order a set for the seday as well

 

Well this tire linked earlier seems kind of well, expensive.

 

A 165 X 15 seems awfully small for what you plan to use it for.

 

When I purchased the EV tires about 8 yrs ago for a Pre War vehicle ,
I hope I did not suport the EV agenda!!
The vehicles I drive now daily and pleasure are early 90s & older , To me ,I shake my head seeing Vehicles sitting plugged in sitting inside on phones for 45- 1 1/2
hrs waiting to drive

 

NoboD it’s actually 28” tall! And 6.x” wide. That’s more than what the cars came with believe it or not. I can always check the load rating but I suspect it will be dandy

Sglethargic I understand. I know how the internet is (really just less restricted human nature than face to face) but it’s ok if we don’t agree. We likely see the same tangible things with our own eyes and have a different take. It might make one of us right or wrong but it doesn’t make either of us a monster or anything. Either way, peace to you sir

 

Looks like a lot of 165r15 are 1168lb load range. 205/75r15 (currently on my 1950 sedan) 1477lbs

even with 500 lbs of people (unlikely) the sedan only needs 925 lbs per tire ***uming it’s 3200lb car. It’s going to be more like 2900 with the new style 6 and an aluminum trans


The truck…. Likely just the wife and I or one 1 kid. Plus maybe a few hundred in the bed. No reason I can’t use those 165r15

I like more tire for the truck, but I don’t want power steering. Which means pretty ideal to have the narrowest tires possible. Could always just run the bias ply it came with. If I do go wider radial 40psi helps with the steering.


I have been in business long enough to know why there aren’t simply 175r15 with a 96 load range available for $78 cause I want them ahahaha supply demand compe***ion and volume. ALLLLLL against this endeavor haha

 

But a 165 only has about four inches of thread. It's your car, do what you want. I would want a little more maybe a185.

 

They have a decent amount more road contact than the 600-16 that came with it… and way stickier as it’s a radial

 

But perfect for a VW bug.

 

Thats what they are sourced from haha (dont tell anyone!)

Im wondering why I didnt put them on my 50 back when I built it. Probably because 205/75r15 was $45 per tire and we were broke

 

I found 195r15 and 185r15 by the way. Both of them are 8 ply truck tires. Ironically too big for my application.... 185r15 is a little too tall but strong.

 

SAD update.

one would ***ume 165r15 meant 165/100r25 but it doesn’t. That would make them 28”. They are only 25.4. So back to the drawing board

For the truck, I’ll likely run a narrow truck tire. For the sedan I’ll likely just piney up the dough for 205/75r15 wide whites. Or maybe even the bias look radials.

 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...M500XLOS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes
Tall, skinny, and cheap. But, you will have to go to 19" rims.

 

What the ?!?! I cant even imagine what those are for... I do know toyota made a 20" rim thats SUPER narrow like maybe 6" or 6.5 for the new prius but this is just strange. Thats a lot of sidewall for any 19" thats not on a truck! But its narrow. Strange! Cool find

 

I bought these when i was building my 31,its a 215/85/16 that i mounted on a 16x4 1/2 ford wheel.Found them at Pep boys.

 

Those would likely be a perfect fit BUT I wonder if the extra plies make the ride brutal?

in a car with power steering I’d just under inflate but certainly not in what I’m building haha

 

^^^^^ Those 215/85/16 side walls look like Snow tire's ,, for Me that would be alot of Grinding & buffing to remove lug's off side walls!!

 

Eddy once you grind the tire how do you make it smooth again? How do you buff a tire?

 

I do not know how to copy / past a link here from HAMB,
Thread ***le
SMOOTHING TIRE SIDEWALLS, REMOVING LETTERING,

Its a method thats been around since 60 that I know of , do not know when it began

 

Been running these on stock 15 5’s.

 

Smoothing sidewalls thread mentioned above:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/smoothing-tire-sidewalls-removing-lettering.848043/

 

BMW I3 electric. I saw one on the road and they do look weird on a modern car. I plan to use them for road trip tires on my speedster. On widened 19" chevy wire spoke wheels. Save the Cokers with Flaps and tubes for around town. IF I get time, Ill put one on the rim and post a picture.

 

Kinda lost track of which pizza-cutter-tire you're planning on running... but if you're gonna use the Blizzacks, be forewarned that while they're probably the best thing on ice/packed-slicked-snow/fresh snow ever made, they'll wear fast when it gets warm. Not quite like leaving sticky tire tracks down the road, but not far from it. I use them as "bad-season" tires here in MN. Change happens ~ Nov15 & Apr15, from/to "summer-types->soft-winter-types". Doing that, I can get ~ 4+yrs out of each set. Mostly hiway travelling, no burnouts/autocrossing/etc, & that was @ 25k mi/yr min. I actually have bead-leak issues from salt/magnesuim-chloride road "coatings" before tire tread wearing out. I've also learned that since they have 2 rubber-compounds, the last ~1/4" is a harder rubber, so they get used as reg tires then. I've used them as summer-type tires, but they're less than happy at 70*+, tread-wear shows. They are very good quality tires. Close-out price is a screaming deal, get what you can.
Just a note on probable compromises.
Marcus...

 

The tread pattern is not my favorite, but this seems like the only reasonable way to get modern tubeless radial performance in this size tire. Admittedly, the tire wear is not ideal. Another detail is the rim geometry. The old rims don't have the same shape to grip the bead. I am looking at using the 19" donut spare rims to replace the existing ones. Instead of inserting a strip for widening, I will just add half the donut rims on each side of the spokes. I will still have two welded seams, but no insert strip. I may just test them as is on a trailer to see how they work. I feel better testing custom wheels on a trailer (before paint) so I can inspect for any problems.

 

Once you get all that stuff figured out, add this to the mix:

Skinny 16s for the front and slightly wider 18s for the rear. Same brand and model series preferred.

I've just about worn out my computer trying to find this combination. No hurry though, I'm trying to find a pair of Wide 5 18s that I can afford!