Tires for 80's cars

https://jalopnik.com/yokohama-brings-back-a-1980s-tire-so-you-can-make-your-1819844548

I hate to hotlink that site but sounds like some good news for those of us that don't want to "upgrade" to 17 inch wheels.

whats wrong with japloink? i only ever read stuff thats sent to me, none of it seems terrible but none of them seem incredibly dumb. only slightly at times, mostly when i disagree with them

17's?  That's so last year.  Go 24" wheels, y0.  And maybe some spinners?  Do they still do that?

That 185/60-13 looks "interesting" in a Europa kinda way.

Yes!!! My celica needs this so much! 

Wonder what the pricing will look like. The recently reissued Pirellis are not exactly cheap.

Dr. Hess said:

17's?  That's so last year.  Go 24" wheels, y0.  And maybe some spinners?  Do they still do that?

 

 

Last I heard, spinners were replaced with "stationarys". 

Think hubcap. The wheel and tire spin, but the part of the wheel you actually see stays still.  Heard about in 2014, never actually saw. 

That tread pattern is..interesting. More for period correct looks than performance?

I think the 195/50/15 would look pretty nice on my miata, even if it's not the intended target vehicle. 

TurboFocus said:

whats wrong with japloink? i only ever read stuff thats sent to me, none of it seems terrible but none of them seem incredibly dumb. only slightly at times, mostly when i disagree with them

Nothing, really.  But hating them is a popular activity on many parts of the internet.  

Nice to see 944-friendly sizes, too.  Had I been able to find decent 15" tires, I wouldn't have had to buy wheels, studs, and spacers.

Yeah, not to get off-topic, but I too have rarely had an issue with Jalopnik. And some of their stuff is really damn funny (In an intentionally funny manner)

What's the performance of these tires? As an NA owner there's still a few choices for 14" wheels but my buddies FB RX-7 certainly did not have many choices.

All I want in life is a 195 or 205/50R13.  Consider my hopes dashed yet again.

Blaise said:

What's the performance of these tires? As an NA owner there's still a few choices for 14" wheels but my buddies FB RX-7 certainly did not have many choices.

Considering that it sounds like a reissue of a 1981-spec tire, and not a new tire that looks like a 1981-spec tire, I would say that compared to most modern tires, it's not too impressive in a performance-regard.

The size that's really needed is a 205/60X13!

This was the tire size that I used on my Capri and it's what worked quite well.

It fills the wheel well and was still correct for wheel size.

For pure performance a 15 inch wheel would be used but for the street the vintage look of 13's is what you want.

Burrito said:

All I want in life is a 195 or 205/50R13.  Consider my hopes dashed yet again.

Hah! I remember racing on 205/60-13s waaayyyy back in the day, and thinking that going to 14" 50s would be a massive improvement...

All I want in life is a 195 or 205/50R13.  Consider my hopes dashed yet again.

Ahh, just one of the many sizes of the sorely missed (by me) Sumitomo HTR 200.  

Also, if the 225/50/15 are at all reasonable in price and performance it would do a lot of good for the 80's Dodge community i've been around for so long. 

Also also, the Yokohama tire design that is nostalgic in my personal timeline is the AVS Intermediate. 

Tom_Spangler said:

TurboFocus said:

whats wrong with japloink? i only ever read stuff thats sent to me, none of it seems terrible but none of them seem incredibly dumb. only slightly at times, mostly when i disagree with them

Nothing, really.  But hating them is a popular activity on many parts of the internet.  

Nice to see 944-friendly sizes, too.  Had I been able to find decent 15" tires, I wouldn't have had to buy wheels, studs, and spacers.

Jalopnik is the TMZ of auto reporting.  Many hate it for this reason alone, which is reason enough, but a while back they went out of their way to utterly wipe out the community they created, ditched many great writers for short attention span and poorly written or outright tabloid like "articles" among other changes to go after every penny available on the internet.

When the folks that helped build the site felt they were being shown the door after someone set the place on fire and actually had the gall to complain about the fire to the new management, things got ugly quickly.  Needless to say having the new editor tell me to "Go berkeley yourself" after I asked some questions about the new direction for the site, I decided I'd not darken their doorstep ever again.

Now that they are out from under the Gawker banner, perhaps they'll get better, but so far no one on that site has thought to think about where the site came from and perhaps reach out to some of the folks that were lost along the way.

If you think I'm being a bit thin-skinned, imagine if someone took over GRM from the Tim and Margie, then killed the message board and started posting click-bait or worse, listicles, instead of the writing and in-depth stories you're used to.  Wouldn't that stick in your craw a bit?  What if the new people told you to "Go berkeley Yourself" if you asked any questions about the new content.

205/60 13 Federal 595 has been the spec tire for Legends cars since 2011 or so.  I have heard of some supply issues, as I think Federal has gone the way of the Dodo bird, but another rumour I heard was that American Racer had bought the molds and what all, and they were to continue the supply.  I don't know if that is actually true, but there are a lot of pavement legends out there, and INEX doesn't want the speed of a slick on those cars.

The are not a traditional look, but they actually work pretty well.  They do tend to overheat a bit on a heavier car...like a Civic, after a while.

Oh God, I love this! Yokohama A008Rs were the first ultra high performance tire that I ever owned, but I only used them for autocross. I never had the guts to run standard A008s (non-R) on my daily driver back then, but I would absolutely do it today.

Now I need to find a car that uses one of those sizes...

Those sure look a lot like 008s I have on my Mini in the popular 10" size!

In reply to Blaise :

If you have a non-5-letter first-gen RX7, you're pretty limited for wheels and tires. While it's cool that Yokohama is re-releasing these, it appears to be more for the "vintage look and feel" than as a legitimate performance tire. Aside from slicks, there isn't really anything out there for 13's.

These tires would look right at home on my friend's SA, on some vintage 13" 4-spoke wheels.

Stefan said:

Tom_Spangler said:

TurboFocus said:

whats wrong with japloink? i only ever read stuff thats sent to me, imagine if someone took over GRM from the Tim and Margie, then killed the message board and started posting click-bait or worse, listicles, instead of the writing and in-depth stories you're used to.  Wouldn't that stick in your craw a bit?  What if the new people told you to "Go berkeley Yourself" if you asked any questions about the new content.

Nnnnnnnnnnnnever may that be! Long live GRM! Long live GRM! Long live GRM!

While it's cool that Yokohama is re-releasing these, it appears to be more for the "vintage look and feel" than as a legitimate performance tire.

What are you going off of? I don't know either way, i'm just curious. It seems like if it's intended for low-miles indoor-storage types of cars, there's no real downside to having a very high-performance compound.  

In reply to Dr. Hess :

They're called floaters now. 

TheRX7Project said:

In reply to Blaise :

If you have a non-5-letter first-gen RX7, you're pretty limited for wheels and tires. While it's cool that Yokohama is re-releasing these, it appears to be more for the "vintage look and feel" than as a legitimate performance tire. Aside from slicks, there isn't really anything out there for 13's.

These tires would look right at home on my friend's SA, on some vintage 13" 4-spoke wheels.

Looks like I'm lucky that I can still find a good 14" tire for my street NA. I've had a few sets of Azenis and Star Specs.

Which are the only ones left. Sigh. Luckily still lots of great choices in 205/50/15 but I realy like the bone-stock look of my '97.

This thread needs more Goodyear Gatorbacks and BFG Radial T/A's!

Radial T/A's were THE tire back then for anything slightly muscular. The Gatorbacks came on lots of 80's performance cars as well. I still have some Radial T/A's on my T/A in a fat 255/50/15 size. 

Don't forget the original Goodyear Eagle GT!