TheSamba.com :: View topic - BF Goodrich Radial T/A 155 80 R15 as alternative to 165R15?

Thu Sep 02, 2004 9:55 am

There's not much selection for 165R15's, and in browsing BF Goodrich's site, I saw they have the Radial T/A in 155 85R 15.

http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/bfgapp/catalog/tires/radialta.jsp

I had Radial T/A's on my 1st-gen RX-7 a long time ago, and I had a good experience with them. Has anyone tried this tire in this size on their V-dub?

Fri Sep 03, 2004 10:25 pm

It's an inch shorter than a 165r15, but would be a good fit much like a 145r15

Sat Sep 04, 2004 12:55 pm

They are 80 series, not 85. Do not use these tires on the rear of your car. They are too short for freeway driving.

Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:37 pm

Too short for highway driving ? What does that mean?

Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:50 am

What that means is if you find an on line tire size calculator, you will see the difference in the number of rotations per miles. etc. Really not that big of a deal in this case - the difference in diamter is only 3/4" meaning that you have about 1.7 MPH difference from the stock size to the shorter one.

If you were running a LOT shorter tire can throw your MPH of quite a bit more - meaning that the engine has to spin lot faster at highway speeds. Like the tires I run on our 61 are 2 3/4" shorter in the front - my speedo error is 5 MPH.- So if I had those on the back instead - my RPMS would need to be about 7% higher (around 300 RPMS higher at highway speed) Hope I did my math right.

Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:16 am

Actually, if you look here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/45_conversionchart.html

the conversion of the original 5.60 - 15 tire is P155/80R15. The 165 is used mostly because it is readily available and 155s, up until recently, were not. If you're looking for more tread to the ground, yeah, run something else, but the 155 will fit and run fine. I have a set on my '67 Ghia and I have a friend that has run a set on his for a few years with no issues.

edit: You can go here: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html and plug in the numbers to see for yourself. The difference is small. In fact, they are adjacent sizes.

Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:03 am

So whats the largest or widest tire i can run on these empi rims i have bought http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sku/EMPI/Wheel/EMP0096828.html

Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:06 am

The tire sites will give you max tire width you can run. But what clears your car depends on what you have (stock or narrowed beam, how low, etc.)

Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:22 am

Back to the original posters question, why BFG? Unfortunately, most of the major mfrs don't make 165/15s - they've almost become specialty/vintage tires. Look at Coker or Lucas and you'll find several carrying the BFG (among others) that are made by Coker. However, doing a quick web search will result in the following list of makers of 165/15's Vredestein (sprint classic), Nexen, Federal and Classic (probably Nankang as well). They can run anywhere from $60/ea. to $125/ea. FWIW, I have Nexen's on my nonVW daily driver and they're fine. It really depends on IF you are looking for something specific.