Hi everyone, just wondering if there's any shared wisdom on where to find 165 SR (or HR) 15s for the "originality-minded" type of person. A couple web searches turned up some Korean brand, but I'd like a well-known brand tire if possible.

jens

165 SR 15 are NLA (at least here in Europe) - they got replaced with 165/80 R 15
[exactly speaking, 165 SR 15 would be the same as 165/83 R15]

for example some available tyres:
Continental CT22 165/80 R 15 87T
Firestone F560 165/80 R 15 86T
Hankook Centrum K702 165/80 R 15 87T
Toyo 330 165/80 R 15 T

in Europe they are between EUR 35 - 55 for one

sorry, no personal experience with these tyres ...
I still run Marshal 165 SR 15 - bought them about 4 years ago ...
my spare tyre is a Marshal 165/80 R15 - but I don't know if it's still available

maybe that helps ?

Gustl

oh man ... sorry, just forgot to say:

I recall hearing that Coker Tire was carrying Michelin XZX's but I don't know if it's actually true. Worth looking into.

Coker Tire's website still lists Michelin 165SR15 XZX tires! Amazing. Kinda pricey at $130 each plus shipping, but still.. nice tires. Got an early birthday coming up?

Their website shows Vredestein 165HR15 tires, too, at $80 each plus shipping.

Coker.com has 165HR15, 165SR15, and 165R15. You can even get whitewalls! Now there's a look for you.

I bought a 135SR15 Michelin for use as a spare from them. It's fresh.

Not cheap, but where else can you go?

Cooper tires

I may have one sitting in my son's garage that came with my 72. If I recall correctly, it was in near perfect condition. I'll check tonight and let you know what I have.

I second the Cooper Tires vote.
I got them for a superbeetle...no problems, and cheap...

Rich

$130 a pop? . discount tire. you should be out the door for or under $200.

k

Coker buys up the tooling for old tires, and specifically targets the vintage market. That's why the tires are expensive. If you want something that's "period", they're the people to go to.

Thanks for the replies (and the welcome), I'll check out Cooper and Coker tires. I'm having this done "remotely" by the seller before buying the car, the seller is a good guy and I don't want to overburden him with having to go and special-order tires...

Cooper tire is a 165R-15.

I can get them local (they're out of Ohio I believe) mounted, balanced and new stem for $80.ea. Canadian

I had the same problem when I bought my teener from a guy in LA. I had him throw on some cheapo Kumhos (<$35ea) on the stock steel wheels for the drive up to San Jose (still have them if you want them but shipping likely more than they are worth). After arrival I put some ES100's on 2.0 Fuchs for driving and the period correct Coker Michelin XZX for the concours. Just sold the Michelins and the refinished steel wheels since now I'm going to 5 lug with another car.

I wonder if the new rubber compound is better, worse or the same as the original tires???

It's likely they're using a different compound, and perhaps even different construction. Since they're primarily focus on the CW market, the actual performance of the tires probably isn't all that important, just the looks. Run the Coker clones for the show, then swap to your regular tires to actually drive the thing.

Coopers make good tires ....third set on my truck


Oh...and welcome too

The tire that was in the pile of spare parts when I bought my 72 is a new, never been mounted Michelin 165-380/165-15X Radial. The Michelin web site is of no help when I tried to see when it was made. The serial number (?) is EFC52218T,
also has a number "301" plus CA. Anyone know how to read the manufacturer's
numbering codes?

Wow, Coker has 165 Michelin XAS's for $185!? Not that I can buy them somewhere else, but jeez.

My Pirelli CN36's are only 28 years old & have about 6000 miles on them - do you think they're OK for auto-x?

Had a set of these for about 15k miles (way back) & couldn't wait for them to wear out - so I threw them out! Hell, they were cheap. I need tires, but a grand for a set for a 4-banger garage queen? I don't know......

That's what I'll end up doing, except it won't be as cheap The seller found Nankang tires () at some local shop and they quoted him $260 mounted and balanced. Ah well, gets me on the road. Wouldn't want to do the cross-country drive home on the 30 year old tires it is on now, right?

For the future I'm planning on getting a good set of those original late model steel rims, and then I'll look at better quality tires again. It's on Rivieras right now. Maybe someone wants to do a wheel swap some time