good 165R15 tire * slim enough, spare tire compartment

[kirschwagen]

hi all. read some threads. didn't find solid answer.

i'm looking for a spare tire skinny enough to fit in the spare compartment on my 1968 squareback. many have been discontinued since previous posts.

early 2005, lucked out and got cooper sportmaster glt 165R15's all around (now discontinued). but can't find recent similar replacement in 2011.

sourced the spare late 2005, and ended up with a roadking widetrack 165R15. unfortunately, like others have found, got home to find that it only barely fits spare wheel well at 20psi or so. and i really have to pull hard and shake the car to remove. so search continues.

in my area i can go to strauss discount auto, discount tire center easily. kellys look the thinnest at 4.55" wide. a new firestone F560 vintage radial might work too? or a nankang CX668 by kumho?

only want to spend around $60

who's got a properly inflated spare tire in their type 3, and what is it?
[the last one i got to fit well was a well worn michelin xzx with a leaky valve that was fixed but ended up still leaking anyway and is a garage paperweight]

only talking modern radials here, no bias ply with inner tubes.

help! thanks!

[Bobnotch]

My newest spare is a Monarch 165SR15. I've had it in both my late Notch, and my early one as well. Drops right in.
Is it possible that the front of the car has been hit?
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[kirschwagen]

where did you find the Monarch 165SR15? [do you know the spec width on it...for example a kelly 165 is 4.55" and a kumho is 4.5" but a cooper is a fatter 4.70". the widetrac could be close to 5.00"]

i don't think it was hit, then again my hood looks like it was hammered out underneath as prep before paint by previous owner and the drivers side hood corner always sticks up a bit. always just thought that was a pinched seal misaligned. and that the hood was just salvaged if the original was rotten.

anyway, the original vintage michelin xzx DID fit super easily even being a 165. BUT the sidewalls did not bulge out nearly as much as the cooper sportmaster or roadking widetrack radials do. so literally, that's the rub.

[Bobnotch]

[kirschwagen]

just wanted to add some of my own research i just found on autofarm.net
to footnote the old 2004 post including much smaller cross section widths for some reason around 4.50" to 5.00" range...

autofarm lists "cross-section widths" of various 165R15 tires tested on 4.50" rims:
kelly metric=6.55" cross, 25.45 diameter.
kumho 771 euro metric=6.60" cross, 25.40 diameter.

dayton daytona metrics= only 6.00" cross, 24.50 diameter!
michelin xzx (by coker)= 6.40" cross, 25.40 diameter.

so by those stats looks like dayton daytonas might fit best as a spare, if i can find them!

[Mike Fisher]

My old Remington Cushion-Aire polyester C78X15 fits in there perfect & I've needed it a couple times!

I have a set of 4 Monarch XZX clones in the barn.
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'68 Karmann Ghia sold

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[kirschwagen]

thanks guys. good info.

but after a call to my local etd discount tire, found that all the firestone/bridgestone sub-brands and 165 molds (that's monarch, roadking, dayton, firestone, etc.) were sold off to coker. and as we know that means $100 or $200 per tire now. as official 'antique' reproductions.

strauss discount wasn't much help either. could order any of 8 brands, but couldn't tell me specifically what the warehouse would send over. if a 6.25" wide something, then good. if a 6.50" wide kumho or nexen, then it won't squeeze into the spare compartment once again. just like my current roadking.

cip1 lists nankang cx668s as 6.25" cross-sectioned, nankang advertises 6.40" instead. still getting to the bottom of that. either way though, it looks like that might work out, as my old michelin was 6.40" supposedly.
found DiscountTireDirect here on samba too.

anyway, that's really the only widely sold option for us right now. the nankang cx668 or the nexen sb802 both 165/80 R15, if we want to stay under the $100 each mark - shipped both are about $75.

hope this helps someone else out there. i've read too many numbers for one day

[Tram]

These guys have all kinds of obscure stuff tire- wise at great prices:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-Nankang-CX668-T..._710wt_682

Nice quality stuff, too. I bought a little hand tire changer and a bubble balancer and am doing all my tire work "in house" now.

just TRY to get whitewalls anywhere... I got a quote of $1000 plus shipping, mounting, and balancing for 5 175/80R13 whitewalls for a Mercedes restoration I'm finishing up. I got five nice Milestars from these guys for just over $300 shipped.
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[ZylaJr]

I have a solution for you. BF Goodrich makes a 155/80-15 that is 10mm narrower than the 165 and should fit perfectly. I can drop ship them anywhere in the 48 states for free. They run $86 each.

[FastyinaField]

I used a donut spare from a heavy fullsize 'merican car. Switched it onto the VW rim, and fit nice. It's one of those temporary spares, but if it can hold up a much bigger car at 60psi, it should do fine on the VW at 45psi.

You can get donut spares for free from junkyards, and they're well preserved.

[ataraxia]

[Tram]

[ataraxia]