Custom Wheels and Tires

[Paradox]

what persay are "cool tires"?

[R U INJRD]

what persay are "cool tires"?

imxc7461.jpg

[Paradox]

I don't think I would trust every day driving on something like that.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Those are cool.

I run 255/45/15's on my car, and they have been unavailable for several years now. I got a flat the other day, so now I'm f*cked. There's is nothing else out there that works with my suspension setup and body work, so now I have to rebuild everything from scratch again, lol.

[Uglybastard239]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?width=225%2F&ratio=45&diameter=15&x=69&y=11

Don't know if these will work for ya, but figured it was worth sending the link. You may want to try some of the other online tire suppliers for your hard to fit tires.

Just a thought.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Sorry, 225's wont stretch safely on to 10" wide wheels. They need to at least 255-265, but if you get any taller than a 45 series, they get too tall and my car wont lay out all the way on the ground and they won't clear the front fenders. Plus they start getting too tall for my personal taste.

Trust me, I've been looking at replacement tires for over 5 years now, because I knew this day would come eventually (ever since they stopped producing the 255/45/15's about 10 years ago). I guess not enough people drive Lamborghini Countach's any more, since that's what fits on those too, lol.

My options are:
1) find some of the remaining 265/50/15's and then rebuild all my suspension to lay out and clear everything again. (and then end up in the same predicament in a few years again when they stop making those too)
2) Go to a set of 17" or 18"x 10" wheels, and some lower profile tires, and then rebuilt everything to fit and clear those. (the problem is, I still like a tire with some meat too it.)

I guess that's the price you pay to be cool, lol.

[hotroddwayne]

I thought of you last night Creepy when this ad was found on Craigslist locally... hadn't seen 295-50-15" tires NEW for $100 apiece pop up for sale in years but these won't get you by either.

http://mansfield.craigslist.org/pts/1926415604.html

As a last resort, try these guys. They buy & sell obsolete tires & may be able to help you find a set

http://www.newenglandtireservice.com/index.htm

[Creepy Cruiser]

Thanks for the links.

The biggest problem with finding the tires I have now, is that I'm not the only one looking for them. There are guys all over the world actually trying to find them to put on their exotics and their race cars. To give you an idea, there was actually a set on ebay about a year ago, and they went for over $2000, and they went to some guy in Australia. It's funny how many people are actually looking for them for their lambo's and BMW's. You would think with so menay people looking for them, that somebody would pick up the molds and do a few runs here and there.

The other problem with finding those, is they are pretty old now and getting pretty dry, (since they were manufactured so long ago), and putting them on a car so heavy, isn't exactly the safest thing either.

[Paradox]

organize a group buy and most places will do it for you.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Some how, I think it would have to be one hell of a group buy, to get Yokohama to bust out the old molds, lol. (you never know though.)

I actually talked to the main US rep for Yokohama at SEMA, (and I told him about the big want for these tires all over the world), and he basicly told me, they had no intention of producing anything under 17", other than just basic passenger car tires.

[Paradox]

reps never know anything but if you get the right person you can have anything done... even 1 ofs. I know a bunch of people on the saturn forum have things made that way by big companies such as AMR. I think the lowest group buy number you have to get is 25 otherwise you have to pay like $800 for the mold to be done then the price of the tires. You can also buy the molds. You might want to try a bunch of different companies. I know some people that own really old and rare cars that have to have tires custom made every time they order. One guy has a car that only 12 had been produced and only 2 are known to exist. It has 3 spark plugs per cyl. It is a 6 cyl and is 9.9L. It also has 27in rims I think. If I run into him again I can find out how much tires cost to get made but it is not cheap.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Yep, I know quite a bit about what you're saying too (since I actually own a fabrication biz). I have a couple of my cars that have one off wheels on them, because nobody made exactly what I wanted offset/cut style/etc. I'm still kinda on the theory, that just submiting the the newer style might be the smartest idea. (did I just say that out loud?, lol). Just about everything I own, is one off fabricated, because I can't leave anything the way it is, I always have to make it fit my own personality. Sometimes though it just gets to a point, where it just isn't worth the cost anymore to stick with old technology. I've been building and racing Datsun 510's for over 25 years, and I was just at a crossroads the other day on my personal one. I could spend crazy amounts of time and money to build up a crazy (old technology) motor and get pretty decent numbers out of it, or I could just do a complete (modern EFI, etc.) motor swap, for way less time and money and end up at the same numbers. So, I did the swap, and it's killer. I love the old school, but sometimes it's worth it to go a little more modern, lol.

Here it is. Now it's time to tear the whole car all down, for paint, polish, and powder coat.




Ok, I'm stating to get off track for this thread though, lol.

[Paradox]

powdercoat the entire car? O.o

[Creepy Cruiser]

No, no no, lol. But it could be done now a days with all the new technology out there.