our tire size getting scarce?

Post by **amblerman** » 21 May 2023, 16:36

Hi Folks

From time to time, I price out tires for my 99 s70.

I think I"ll need tires this year or next.

I have found that the selection of tires from different vendors in 196 60 R15 seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

I've look at Firestone, Costco, tire rack, etc and the number of options available seems to be dwindling.

Anyone else notice this?

-A

Post by **volvolugnut** » 21 May 2023, 16:59

Yes, I have noticed this several years ago. 14 and 15 inch tires are now rare in stores because most cars no longer use these sizes. They may need to be special ordered from a distant warehouse. I think they not yet at the point like my 1977 Ford F350 with extra wide rear 16.5 inch wheels. I had to wait several months for a factory to make a new run of that size.
volvolugnut

V50M66 · Post by **V50M66** » 21 May 2023, 19:47

There are still some base model economy cars using similar sizes (the base Kia Forte uses 195/65 R15, for example), so they won't be completely gone for a long while, but there are starting to be less options in 15" sizes since the market is moving away from that. Original 16" wheels are somewhat easy to come by used as well for not much money so that's an option you could go with as well if tire options got really scarce.

Post by **abscate** » 26 May 2023, 04:31

Generals , Goodrich, Cooper, Yokohama, Sumitomo, vredestein, Firestone all available in 15s at Tire Rack

How many options do you need?

Post by **scot850** » 26 May 2023, 09:49

Up here in Canada, Canadian Tire has only 1 option listed for that tire size for all season. Loads of winter tire sizes, but maybe the tire suppliers all decided to drop the 15" tires this year due to lack of demand? Costco has 0 listed for that size, only winters.

1010 Tires only lists 4 of with 2 are a brand called Lionhart??

Strange thing is they list 65 winter tires in that size??

PMC Tires in Quebec has a whole bunch listed, but I don't know if these may be older stock?

https://pmctire.com/tires

Neil.

yanga001 · Post by **yanga001** » 26 May 2023, 10:07

As said by others, i got by with 195/65/r15's. Same tires as mid 2000's toyotas so there will be many available. I miss how cheap the 15 inch tires were compared to 16 inch tires. Local tire vendors or chains may be best for Canada. Cannot comment on the states.