<VV> The End of 13 Inch Tires

[Tony Underwood]

At 12:02 PM 4/16/2010, Ken Maxwell wrote:
>Hi Guys,
>
>
>
>Well, it's finally happened. I can no longer get the P185/80R13 tires for my
>Corvairs. I work for a large tire company with a huge warehouse and we are
>direct with all major manufacturers. Firestone informed us yesterday that
>their FR380 tire is on national backorder and "there are no plans for future
>production".



...I just recently bought two 185/80r13 Firestones from the local 
outlet.   Now I wonder if I oughta go buy a few more.


>The future isn't much better for those of us that have 14 inch tires either.
>Tire makers are dropping those sizes as fast as they can. There simply isn't
>enough of a market to make it worth their while to manufacture them. The 13
>inch tire used to be the entry level size but now the 16 inch tire has that
>position.



Now:


What about those couple million or so Neons and Escorts out there 
wearing both 13 and 14 inch tires...?   If all these tires disappear, 
what do the Neon and Escort drivers do for tires?   And once those 
Fiats start showing up here (many of which use 13/14 inch tires) what 
are *they* gonna do for tires?

One of the 'Vairs here got two of its tires off a wrecked Neon... 
still have the other two tires on Neon rims in the shed.    The 
daughter's Neon also has 13" tires on it (14s w/alloy wheels were 
optional, latest Neons used 14" std) as are a bunch of other 
Neons.   Again, why would tire manufacturers discontinue a tire that 
is still used by millions of vehicles still on the roads?   And Neons 
aren't the only cars currently using 13" tires...

I've never had problems getting 13" tires, local Firestone store 
always has them in either Primewell or Firestone brands.    I have 
Primewells on the front and Firestones on the back of my '60 
4-door.   I paid about 80 bucks a pair for the fronts last year, and 
90 bucks/pair for the Firestones a month anna half ago.   A look at 
the Firestone website shows these two 13" tires as available.

It also shows a Bridgestone 175/70r13 being available.


I'm gonna be calling the store tomorrow to check...




tony..