Five year old article on the "15 inch tire problem"

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MRGTX

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It's from 2017 but certainly still applies today.

Throwback Rollers: The 15-Inch Tire Problem - Timeless Muscle Magazine

There aren't many surprises in the article but there seems to be one annoying theme here. Tire manufacturers see a trend of muscle car owners looking for performance oriented tires, transitioning over to 17" and 18" sizes, so this is where they are dedicating their resources.

This seems a lot like the transition to SUVs and CUVs in the car market. More and more people are buying them because that's all they make!

Is there any hope that a company will see this gaping market niche and make an actual sticky/non drag dedicated 15" tire in the 25"-28" range?

Avon Tires makes a performance tire called the CR6ZZ in this size range and it's supposed to be pretty good but forget about them if you live in North America. IF you can find them in stock anywhere, they will run you about $500 per tire after importing them, etc. Does anyone think they could be encouraged to stock these tires in the US/Canada or is there some reason they've never offered them here?
 
15s ain't nothing, try 13" or 14"!

My Mom's 65 Mustang 6 banger has 13"
 
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15s ain't nothing, try 13" or 14"!
I had a hard time finding 14s for the front of my dart I have 15s on the back. I ended up finding some really nice used ones locally they wasn't the size I wanted but close enough. I bought 2 new matching (brand) in 15s for the rear so all 4 tires are the same brand and style
 
they wasn't the size I wanted but close enough
what size were you looking for?

cooper makes 215 70 14 that fits 67 stock (5.5" wide) wheels and fender - front and rear well

upload_2022-1-15_11-50-21.png
 
Tires are made in production runs. Only so much time to make so many tires in any size. Only so much production space/tooling.
Modern wheels/disc brakes won't clear a 15" tire/wheel. So demand for 15" tires in "our" sizes is in the thousands annually. Demand in other sizes in in the millions.
Not rocket science. That is the reason that companies like Coker purchase old tire molds and contract to small companies who rely on short runs of specialty tires. Also why the unit price is high. Always will be.
 
Unless cars start coming with 15” rims again, you will only see tire availability for 15” rims decrease. Like has been said, not hard to figure out. Current car production doesn’t have much, if anything, in the way of 15” rims. Certainly not with anything wider than 225 unless it’s a truck, and even then not much. So yeah, there just isn’t the demand to justify making that many sizes. And it will get worse, not better. BFG and Cooper only have options because they’re filling the demand for every single muscle car era classic there is. As that continues to wane, your only option will be Coker.
 
Unless cars start coming with 15” rims again, you will only see tire availability for 15” rims decrease. Like has been said, not hard to figure out. Current car production doesn’t have much, if anything, in the way of 15” rims. Certainly not with anything wider than 225 unless it’s a truck, and even then not much. So yeah, there just isn’t the demand to justify making that many sizes. And it will get worse, not better. BFG and Cooper only have options because they’re filling the demand for every single muscle car era classic there is. As that continues to wane, your only option will be Coker.

All of the above goes without saying.

So there are thousands of muscle cars rolling around on BFG Radial T/As, Cooper Cobras, Mickey Thompson SportsmanS/T, Masterctaft Avengers, etc. It’s not necessarily a growing market but it supports quite a few competitors, all offering rock hard 400 treadwear rubber! If ONE performance tire was offered in muscle car size ranges, it would almost certainly grab a sizable chunk of that market and they could charge 2x the price. It might even pull back some of the 18” guys if the grip was at least passable.

I suspect that the offerings are steering the market rather than the other way around because of some bean counters at the tire companies who don’t get car culture.
 
Another offering that I thought was long gone…did they bring these back?

Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 Performance All Season Tire

They advertise them as “performance” tires, but their S speed rating and 500 treadwear say otherwise.

C06F34D5-F4F0-4184-ACC7-E927B7B93F58.jpeg
 
Another offering that I thought was long gone…did they bring these back?

Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 Performance All Season Tire

They advertise them as “performance” tires, but their S speed rating and 500 treadwear say otherwise.

View attachment 1715853680
I do like the white letters, very nostalgic. I wasn't a fan of Firestone in the good old days. And anybody can call their tires "performance" . Unless you do a monstrous burnout every time you take the car out, those will time out long before they wear out.
 
I see this 225/50/15 street tire. Probably more grip than a 245/50/15 BFG. Maybe even more than a 265/50/15 BFG.

upload_2022-1-15_20-44-25.png
 
All of the above goes without saying.

So there are thousands of muscle cars rolling around on BFG Radial T/As, Cooper Cobras, Mickey Thompson SportsmanS/T, Masterctaft Avengers, etc. It’s not necessarily a growing market but it supports quite a few competitors, all offering rock hard 400 treadwear rubber! If ONE performance tire was offered in muscle car size ranges, it would almost certainly grab a sizable chunk of that market and they could charge 2x the price. It might even pull back some of the 18” guys if the grip was at least passable.

I suspect that the offerings are steering the market rather than the other way around because of some bean counters at the tire companies who don’t get car culture.

I think you’re probably still overestimating the market. How many people that still run 15’s with those type of tires drive their cars less than 1,000 miles a year? And replace them once every ten years- maybe? I mean look at some of the threads on tire dates here with guys bragging about still running 20+ year old tires. They’re aren’t very many people running those tires that are putting up mileage numbers that would require a new set more than every few years at best. And how many people buying the current offerings would even switch? Especially if it was a more expensive tire that by design wouldn’t last as long.

Ten years ago I think you might have had a point about guys choosing to run a performance tire for a 15” rim if it was available. I would have. But now the cars running 17” and 18” wheels aren’t just doing it for tire selection. I couldn’t put 15” rims on most of my cars now because I run brakes that require 17” or 18” rims. The kind of performance those tires offer goes hand in hand with bigger and better brakes. And pro-touring is a whole style now too, and larger rims are a part of that even on cars that might not “need” them for performance.

I just don’t see any of the major manufacturers investing the time and money to come out with a new high performance tire for a 15” rim that would basically be a niche market within an already small niche market.

I see this 225/50/15 street tire. Probably more grip than a 245/50/15 BFG. Maybe even more than a 265/50/15 BFG.

View attachment 1715853718

Well they’re back ordered, so I dunno about availability. Maybe they’ll be available again, maybe not.

That’s also a 23.9” tall tire, which is super short. I don’t even look at anything under 25” tall for these cars. On my Duster that height tire and no other changes would put my header flanges at like 3” off the deck. I’d end up high centered on a speed bump at the local grocery store.
 
I ran 225/50/15 P-Zero’s once…

I agree.

Looked way too small. Lowered the car too much. But I had cast exhaust manifolds then. Drive from LA to Iowa once on them. Revved too much.
 
All sorts of 15" and 14" tires available on ebay and places like tirerack.

I've never had a problem finding either.

Some new cars are still made with 15" tires such as 215 65 15.
 
The huge popularity of smaller track oriented cars like the miata mean that there are lots of options for performance 15” tires in the sub 24” range. But as was already stated, not many people are willing to run tires that short. It might have performance advantage on track or the autox course, but that might not be worth the disadvantages on the street.
 
All sorts of 15" and 14" tires available on ebay and places like tirerack.

I've never had a problem finding either.

Some new cars are still made with 15" tires such as 215 65 15.

Right. If you stay with tires narrower than 225 there are some options. But they’re all commuter style small car tires, not really performance tires. Unless you get into stuff that fits Miata’s like Tom said, but those are also pretty narrow, short tires. If you want a set of 245’s, you get BFG T/A’s or Cooper Cobra’s. Which are all season, hard compound hockey pucks not designed for any kind of handling performance.
 
If you're looking for F1 tires, probably, but if the target is a tire similar to "normal" 100-118 MPH rated 4 season tires.....

Not really a problem.
 
If you're looking for F1 tires, probably, but if the target is a tire similar to "normal" 100-118 MPH rated 4 season tires.....

Not really a problem.

BFG’s and Coopers in 15” size are barely above 1988 Buick LeSabre tires in terms of handling.

Big gap between tires on a new Challenger/Camero/Mustang and the BFG/Coopers offered
 
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I wonder if these are still better handling than a BFG.

Nitto says to use the -RII in the rear of street strip car and run the -R in the front. Does that means they have a better sidewall for handling.

NT555R Drag Tire by Nitto Tires Passenger Tire Size 275/50R15

That’s a good question. I’ve run down that line of thought a few times. Obviously the compound is better. The only real question is the sidewalls. Are they that much softer than a regular tire that it would offset the improvement in compound? I definitely considered it at one point. But then I added 13” brakes, so 15’s aren’t an option anyway.

If you're looking for F1 tires, probably, but if the target is a tire similar to "normal" 100-118 MPH rated 4 season tires.....

Not really a problem.

See, that’s kinda funny. Because the speed rating has nothing to do with handling or traction. It’s literally just whether the tire comes apart or not. It’s tested by pushing the tire against a spinning drum to simulate load and then spinning it up to the rated speed.
 
Are they really BFG or are the Coker?

The traction, temp and treadwear ratings on the 14 and 15's that I buy are not far off of current standards. In fact, they are better than some.

But it sounds like some of you want $400 a piece tires in 14".
 
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