RUMOR or NOT

[Alexander Feiman]

While visiting a friend we were discussing the fact that he was converting his suspence to nandle bigger tires and wheels. He told me that initially he planned to go to 15" but said that the place he gets his tires and wheels from told him that major tire companies have stopped producing 14" and would soon stop 15". Has anyone else heard this?

[52-fan]

If they stop producing 15" tires they will be cutting off a lot of business. There are still many cars and trucks that have 15" wheels. The 14" wheels fell out of favor a long time ago. I wish the wagon wheels that some of the older cars have been fitted with would go away.

[Chris Pile]

Many tire companies are not making and selling smaller tires right now.
Forget finding 14's and 15's may soon become rare.
Coker Tire might still have some as specialty tires, but they're not as affordable as top brands.

[ddub]

Our Prius has 15" tires. They can't be totally obsolete.

[skyway]

"Our Prius has 15" tires. They can't be totally obsolete."

If it goes the way of 14's, you'll be able to find 14's but they will be in small sizes.

My '66 Fury runs 14 inch wheels and needs all the tire it can get.

For some time its been impossible to find anything larger that 225's and precious few of those to choose from.

[PackardV8]

Plenty of 15"s still in the catalogs and will be for the foreseeable future.

Tire sizes are more about styling than best suspension and handling science. Tires started out thin and tall for max ground clearance on muddy roads. The Fords came with 21", then 19", then 16", 15" for many years and then in the late '50s the stylists pushed the very bad idea to put 14" on big cars and 13" on small cars to make them look lower. Naturally, Studebaker followed the leader for a couple of years. (The original Mini even had 10", but there was a very good engineering reason for that.)

Then, as horsepower and weight went up, 16" came back on Corvettes, Mustangs and Camaros. Stylists got back into the act, thought bigger, wider tires looked butch on SUVs and crossovers, so we're up to 19" on mommyvans. The rap-star wannabees have to have 20" and 22" dubs, even though they ruin the ride, handling, braking and bend at the slightest impact when that 6000# Suburban hits a chuckhole and there is no sidewall cushion. Those who never thought about tire prices when buying a vehicle with 19" wheels get a rude shock when they go to replace four of those - about twice to thrice the price of any 15".

As long as there is demand, 15"s will be made by tire companies, albiet, not in the variety of the more popular 17" and 18" sizes. Bottom line - why does it surprise owners of obsolete cars that odd-size tires are only available from the specialty companies such as Coker? Can't buy most of the other wear parts at the local FLAPS either.

jack vines

[raprice]

I just bought a set of 15 in. Cooper radial whitewalls for my '59 Lark. No problem getting them and they were reasonable.
Rog

[jclary]

I just bought a set of 15 in. Cooper radial whitewalls for my '59 Lark. No problem getting them and they were reasonable.
Rog

what size did you buy?

[Gunslinger]

What will happen is certain sizes in 15" will slowly be discontinued or only limited runs made. There's too many cars still being built with 15" tires for them to go away anytime soon.

One of the most popular muscle car tires...the BFG Radial T/A in 60- and 70-series sizes, is only produced in runs on a scheduled basis...it's not made continuously. That results in occasional shortages in some sizes, but the overall demand isn't enough for continuous production.

Tire companies certainly aren't in business to lose money or to make tires that don't sell for lack of a market. They track sales quite closely and see where the market is heading and plan production accordingly. As some sizes become discontinued due to lack of sales, specialty companies like Coker, Diamondback, Lucas, et al, will pick up the slack. Yes...the price for specialty tires is higher, but these companies fill a niche that the big companies find unprofitable as they're into high volume, fast moving products.