So...seeing as 13" tires are on the way out...

175/50-13 is readily available at least since it's used on Minis. There's Federal, Achilles and a couple of others available here but don't get great reviews. I was just looking yesterday at 165/65-13 tires for my 600 Abarth project and I'm thinking I'll get them from Europe. I've got a set of Yokohama 175/50-13 tires I was intending to use on my Abarth 1300/124 or 600 projects but they're not the size I want to use now. What do all the other vintage car owners out there do?

dcioccarelli said:
There are still plenty of 13" tyres available thanks to the popularity in Japan. Examples include:
  • Yokohama A539
  • Toyo Proxes R888
  • Nankang NS-2R
  • Falken Ziex ZE914
  • Toyo Proxes CF2
... but this is looking from Europe. Maybe availability is more limited in the US?

Cheers,
Dom
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Would you be able to name some suppliers in Germany or Europe? I bought some tires in Germany a few years back off ebay and shipping wasn't that bad. If someone wanted to set up a bulk purchase, the shipping cost could be brought down a lot if you could find the right freight forwarder. The alternative is buying off ebay. Waay more choice of quality tire brands in 13" in Europe than we have here.
 
Looking around for a set of 185/55 14" tires. There's a set of YOKOHAMA ADVAN A052 at Tire Rack, but they're a bit pricey. Nothing at Tire Kingdom. Any other sources I should look at? For the few miles I put on my car, I'm not concerned about tread wear. They are more likely to dry rot before I wear them out. If nothing else available, I will get the Yokos.
 
Has anyone got a source for Federal or Achilles 185/60/R13 tires. I’ve looked around at all the US sellers and can’t find them anywhere. Have only seen Toyo Proxxes, which seem to be abundant. May be because they are costly and not necessarily the ideal choice for a street car. But if these are going to be the last gasp for this tire size, I may want to stock up despite the cost. Do folks have links for Japanese and European sellers that might have options for our cars?
 
Thanks, Daniel. I just signed up for a Demon Tweaks account because I found the list availability of Yoko A539s in the correct size. But then I saw in another thread that Demon Tweaks supposedly doesn’t ship to the US. But on their website they make it look like they do. Can anyone resolve this confusion for me? Or do I just need to contact them directly? I don’t know anyone in Canada to serve as an intermediary. Thanks everyone.
 
This discussion has me thinking. I wonder if someone who really needs tires would be able to convince one of the US based tire sellers to order them through their channels.

For quite some years I’ve shopped online for 13“ tires, finding the options very slim, and deciding these tires just aren’t made anymore. Here we have folks reporting they are made We just can’t get them here.

Last set of 13” tires I bought early this year were BFG 205-60-13 for some 13x7 wheels. Walked into Wal-Mart and asked, since I saw online they could get the 185-60-13. They said no at first but eventually tried an order. They were delivered free by Fedx in 2 days.
 
mishrikj said:
Looking around for a set of 185/55 14" tires. There's a set of YOKOHAMA ADVAN A052 at Tire Rack, but they're a bit pricey. Nothing at Tire Kingdom. Any other sources I should look at? For the few miles I put on my car, I'm not concerned about tread wear. They are more likely to dry rot before I wear them out. If nothing else available, I will get the Yokos.
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Plenty of choices still around in that size. Just look around. For example Yokohama S drives:

Yokohama S Drive 185/55R14

Here we go again.... As most of you know.....finding decent tires lately for our X1/9s has become difficult. In 13"....current offerings in a 185/60R13 seems to be ( well aside from racing type tires ) limited to some Federal SS595 (look at first glance to be okay but real life feedback is...
xwebforums.com

A great high performance quality tire. But might be tough to find state-side now. Problem is...even on clearance at only $59 per tire with free shipping...nobody here would buy them. Note only myself and Karl had any interest. So no market here for them when crappy $52 tires are available.
 
rx1900 said:
Problem is...even on clearance at only $59 per tire with free shipping...nobody here would buy them. Note only myself and Karl had any interest.
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The fact that only 2 people were interested is not surprising to me at all. You need a set of 14" wheels to be interested in the tires you were discussing in that thread. The vast majority of X owners have 13" wheels.
 
I have found most places can't mount anything smaller than 15 inch, the newer tire machines won't do smaller than 15 inch. So that can be another issue. I have found one place near me with a older machine that can do 13 inch, but it is just one place in the area.
 
ted83x said:
I have found most places can't mount anything smaller than 15 inch, the newer tire machines won't do smaller than 15 inch. So that can be another issue. I have found one place near me with a older machine that can do 13 inch, but it is just one place in the area.
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I have mounted and balanced 3 or 4 sets with the manual tool from HF. It is a work out for sure, but you've paid for the tools after mounting one set. The HF bubble balancer works remarkably well for how simple it is.
 
I think 13" looks best on X1/9. Lots of options for that are available in Sweden. I previously had Yokohamas that didn't work well on track. I need tyres that work on street AND track on dry summer days. As I don't drive much when raining I went for Nankang AR1 185/60 13. They look nice, good performance and not very expensive. If driving for fun in nice weather I can absolutely recommend them but they can be dangerous in wet conditions.
IMG_20200427_182456~2.jpg
 
78paesano said:
I guest my hoarding of cool 13" wheels are gonna be useless soon? Damn
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I'll take a few of those useless 13" wheels off of you 😃


I think that the future will actually be better for 13" tires. Yokohama still makes them (they have a vintage series) and while not cheap, they are a great tire in my opinion. I have A539, on my second set now.
 
ted83x said:
I have found most places can't mount anything smaller than 15 inch, the newer tire machines won't do smaller than 15 inch. So that can be another issue. I have found one place near me with a older machine that can do 13 inch, but it is just one place in the area.
Click to expand...
Odd.

my local Costco with very modern equipment had no trouble mounting my 186/60 13s.

they were blown away by how light the wheels are and how little the tires I provided need in terms of weights.
 
engelme said:
Thanks, Daniel. I just signed up for a Demon Tweaks account because I found the list availability of Yoko A539s in the correct size. But then I saw in another thread that Demon Tweaks supposedly doesn’t ship to the US. But on their website they make it look like they do. Can anyone resolve this confusion for me? Or do I just need to contact them directly? I don’t know anyone in Canada to serve as an intermediary. Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
FYI, I received a reply from a representative of Demon-Tweeks confirming that indeed they do NOT ship to the United States. I’m bummed, as I was really looking forward to acquiring a couple sets of A539s. Great tire. Great grip. Truly bummed. Both Mia and Louis Need new shoes.
 
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