Subaruist Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Ok... I want slightly bigger tireson my Brat. I want touse my original rims. As you probably know, the range of available tire sizes for 13" rims is abismal. However, I can get EXACTLY what I want if I get trailer tires and find someone to mount them. QUESTION: I know why one shouldnot put regular car tires on a trailer. But what would be PHYSICALLY wrong with putting trailer tires on a Soobie ??? Trailer tires have thicker sidewalls, and that is a plus as far as I am concerneed. I don't care about warranty, liability, "Street legal" or anything else like that, I am only concerned with practical and safety matters. So... is there any real physical/safety concern regading using trailer tires on a soobie??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 (edited) Well, trailer tires were never designed to have thrust/drive put through them they are only really designed to handle static weight and side loading,Hence the thicker sidewalls. The problem is those sidewalls are so thick that the tire won't be able to properly conform to the ground so traction and handling are compromised. They will be more prone to spin or slide under acceleration and braking.You can pretty much forget accelerating or braking while in a turn as well. Depending on the tire the speed rating could be drastically lower than the car tires, most trailer tires are rated at about 65 mph.However, on something as small and underpowered as a brat, I'm not sure how much of an actual effect would be noticeable. Edited December 5, 2014 by Uberoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratman977 Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 My buddy bought a pickup off of a shady used car lot that had 10 ply trailer tires on it. You couldn't keep it on the road it was all over the place, it wandered, and was downright scary on any turn. Changed the tires out and it was fine. This is one of those things that seems like a good idea until you actually go do it and you will immediately ask yourself what was I thinking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 I would think it might be okay if you were just using them off road if you could find some that had some nice clean out. Aside from that though I could defunatly see issues with handling and on a slick road. it would probably be a recipe for disaster as all year or round tires 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84 Bruiser Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Amazon Maxxis 185-80-13 $ 99 But it's a white wall 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84 Bruiser Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 24.7" OD Same as 195-70-14 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Trailer tires are designed to hold up a determined load, AND,,,, follow the tow vehicle. They are not meant to handle the "LOADS" that "Street Tires" see. I used Street tires as a cover-all for automotive tires. If,,, you just hit light trails, Baja around the farm, don't do any freeway driving... They "may" suite the cost. Other than that. not worth the risks....... Consider if you will, house trailer/modular home tires. Lot of people buy the axles to build what ever type trailer out of, but never consider the tires that come with them. Those tires are made for a, "get it from here to there", short life. Not intended for long-term use. Then they want to complain that they got ripped on the tires because they failed in someway. TRAILER TIRES ARE NOT MEANT FOR PROLONGED USE!!!!! PERIOD!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l75eya Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 And despite that it was stated that this question is without regard for any liability from using said tires, can you imagine how screwed you would be if you got in to an accident involving a fatality with those tires installed? Sheesh. That would be very bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tincan Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 The wheels I got from a guy nearby had 185/70/13's on them. Granted they were rotted from sitting ten years, but none of them had fender scaring. They were on a wagon, too. But no, absolutely not trailer tires. As many have already explained in several ways, they're not meant for a car. On the other hand, you can, however, put four 'donut' spares on. They are DOT approved, for highway use (under 55mph), and since they are so narrow, in theory, they will improve your gas mileage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I never thought of that... I have enough donut tires to do that. But, no I won't because I'm not going to sTay under 55 on the highway. I but the rpms will be higher for a given speed as they are significantly smaller diameter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I never thought of that... I have enough donut tires to do that. But, no I won't because I'm not going to sTay under 55 on the highway. I but the rpms will be higher for a given speed as they are significantly smaller diameter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratman977 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I would expect donut tires to be equally as dicey to run as trailer tires. Plus the tread on those donuts are pretty much worn out in less than 1000 miles. Any fuel mileage savings would be spent up in rubber unless you had an endless supply of donut tires and nothing better to do. I have seen the demo derby guys run tall skinny bar lug tires on a donut rim and get amazing traction though. I could see that being fun in the woods but probably not so much in deep mud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subarubrat Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Back in the day, I had a set of mud tires for trailers mounted on a BRAT and I *THINK* they were Buckshot brand. They were outwardly just like the other buckshot mudders and handling was about average for a mud tire, I don't have any idea what their construction was and as a teenager at the time I didn't ask or care. I have seen several folks run big fat ATV tires and wheels on scoobies offroad and they seem like a superb solution as some of today's ATVs are getting big and heavy. For offroad use as a second set I would say anything goes, so just buy a second set of wheels and swap them out at the off road destination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaruist Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) Amazon Maxxis 185-80-13 $ 99 But it's a white wall What a coincidence, I have found tha same ! I have a post regarding a list of rims that will fit on older Subarus where I have toiled over the nightmare of getting what I need for a "STREET" look Brat. I wanted a "STREET" look, and wated to stay away from any off-road look. I did not want to drill holes in 6 lug rims, as that wouldnot look good for a 'street' look, I did not want anything more than a 14 inch rim, again, because I want a street look, not off road, and did not want to have to get an overall lift kit. I did not feel right drilling and adding lugs to my hubs, no matter what assurances there are that it would be safe. I did not want aluminum rims, so Peugeot rims were out, because steel puegeot rims look like crap. I did not feel right about adapters, aside from the fact that they would be tyet another additional cost to tires and rims, not to mention shipping from austrailia. I really did not want to have to get rimas at all, because the ones I have are good enough and could be painted up to look great, and what I really needed was slightly larger TIRES. After struggling with this in every way, and getting all kinds of grief from a couple people who thought I was just being difficult, I spottted a picture, like so:... Which gave me a lead. I searched out the words on those tires and found the same as you mentioned, and two or three others from same company (Maxxis), and further inqueries lead me to also find similar tires with the brand "Milestar" I believe both brands have sizes 175/80/13 and 185/80/13. Thus, finally, despite the difficulties and nay-sayers, I found my answer !!! I now have THREE, - no, FOUR choices: I can settle for the very affordable, yet somewhat mediocre 185/70/13's, or spend the bucks for what I REALLY want, and get either 175/80/13's or 185/80/13's, but this last weekend I found a deal on a set of nearly new, good quality 175/70/13's, which I am running now for $75. I couldn't pass them up. So now I can take my time finding a deal on the larger tires I really want, upto a year or more at the extremes, and in the mean time start getting my tires changed with the ones I just got and having the rims sand-blasted and painted up to look real cool. I will probably do something easy for painting the rims that can easily be repaired if/when a tire ship scratches them up mounting the bugger tires. Likely some cool looking metallic Blue spray paint I have noticed. The 185/80/13's are probably about an inch two big (radius) to fit into my spare tire space under the hood. Howver, one of the guys mentioned something in passing that might be a reral option. They suggested that the only way to fit such size of tire in there would be to keep it flat, thus reducing its diameter, and maybe they meant that it could be fit/deformed into there as well. - I did try to find that suggestion to give him the credit for his idea, but was unsucessful. Since I have a really good old-fashioned trucker's 12v air pump, I could consider keeping the spare flat, and inflating it if its needed. Further, I am considering maybe installing a ratcheting tie-down, bolted securely into the spare area so that I could, if I had to, pull the tire in and away from the carb vacuum parts and oil filler spout, as well as being another way to secure the spare, although not necessary. The only real serious down side to this I can think of is that (1) If the bead broke on the spare, that could be a real problem once I needed to inflate the spare, and (2) Ratcheting in the spare to squeeze it away from the carb and filler tube would slightly deform the shape of the tire over time, which may or may not be any issue in the end. If at all possibe, I do want to keep my spare in the space intended for it under the hood. Edited December 12, 2014 by Subaruist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 there's probably a situation for trailer tire use - a short and slow commute to get by and try them out. otherwise i'd avoid them too. i've run spares for extended periods of time on short commuter cars and they did wear fast and were prone to leak for sustained daily driving. i'm not super familiar with trailers but my trailer tires wear out quickly which doesn't give me confidence for using cheap ones on a vehicle. the age of many spares would deter me, a lot of them are old. regular tires can start blowing due to age around 7 or 8 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I feel like this would be better in the "members rides" section... Ya know.......since you aren't really asking questions or taking advise.........in fact you kinda seem to not want any advise. good luck getting those tires. I'd be very surprised to see them in the states. You forgot one more option.....probably you're best......Scorpion wheels from Australia. 14" steel wheels made for older subarus. And likely easier to get than those 13" tires. So many more easy options in 14", and they would look more "street" with some lower profile rubber (195/60/14) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I think you need a set of 22's with spiners, brah That should give you street look, brah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaruist Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 I feel like this would be better in the "members rides" section... Ya know.......since you aren't really asking questions or taking advise.........in fact you kinda seem to not want any advise. good luck getting those tires. I'd be very surprised to see them in the states. You forgot one more option.....probably you're best......Scorpion wheels from Australia. 14" steel wheels made for older subarus. And likely easier to get than those 13" tires. So many more easy options in 14", and they would look more "street" with some lower profile rubber (195/60/14) I see what you are saying,but it seems that what I have been saying is getting lost in translation or something. When this little nightare of mine started, I just wanted slighhtly bigger tires, That's all. - and that became the problem. I did consider every idea and suggestion, believe me, over and over again, for months now. If I was building an off-roader, this would have been much easier and quicker and likely wouldhave been done some time ago. This particular Brat is 'my baby', its my mechanical love of a lifetime. Regradless of the details and parts of how I arrive at the final design and look, I know what I want, and believe it or not, I know what the hell I am doing. The question has been how to make that happen. If adapter plates were the answer, they wouldalready be in the mail coming to me. I was at one point two breaths away from buying new 14 inch 6 lug rims and having them drilled. The simple truth is that I don't need rims, the rims I have willwork fine. What I need are the right tires, as I keep saying. As far as availability, yes, they are morte than available. I have three different retailers so far with them ready to send if I so decide, I found them on Amazon, as did '84 Bruiser' also, I have found them on Ebay, etc. I know I can get them, there is no queston or issue on that. Now that I have a set of good tires to carry me for the time beingI can take my time and decide exactly which size to get and find a good price on them, while in the mean time, I put a priority on repairs. I just needed and wanted bigger tires, and when I could not find them,it was a problem for me. I knew there must be specialty tires out there, so I held out, and I have found them.Problem solved.I don't need to invest in this, that, and the other thing and/or start making unnecessary modifications, etc. I really don't see why people cannot understand such a simple thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Point taken. Hopefully you can get what you want. It's alot of fun to drive a Brat any way you get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I am running into this problem with the Justy. I was talking to Tire rack about the situation on a related phone call (insurance claim on the outback for a flat tire). I asked them what if I had replacement insurance on the Justy and the tires in that size was no longer made by anyone. They said that they would pull out their spec sheets and find out what tires wold fit on the 13" rims that are 14's. They said some 14's are like plus sized 13's. Explains why I have seen people struggle with some brands 14 getting tires on wheels and other brands just go right on. I didnt dare ask them about 12 inch tires I wasnt that brave. Maybe I have to get them Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratman977 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 (edited) If you need 12" car tires you can get them reliably from here: http://www.7ent.com/categories/wheels-tires/tires.html?sort=featured&page=1 Edited December 16, 2014 by stratman977 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaruist Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 I am running into this problem with the Justy. I was talking to Tire rack about the situation on a related phone call (insurance claim on the outback for a flat tire). I asked them what if I had replacement insurance on the Justy and the tires in that size was no longer made by anyone. They said that they would pull out their spec sheets and find out what tires wold fit on the 13" rims that are 14's. They said some 14's are like plus sized 13's. Explains why I have seen people struggle with some brands 14 getting tires on wheels and other brands just go right on. I didnt dare ask them about 12 inch tires I wasnt that brave. Maybe I have to get them Europe. I'm not sure where the idea of 12" rims or tires came into this,unless I did a typo or something. I'm not sure, but are you saying that some 14" tires can actually be put onto 13" rims ??? That would be interesting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Give Tire Rack a call, tell them the situation. It used to be before narrow sidewalls you had a 13, 14 or 15 inch ruim that took a 13 14 or 15 inch tire. But now tires or RIms of X size and tires of Y size with various sidewall widths. There are also (i may have the wrong term) minus sizes, where you get tires for the car that have wider sidewalls (different rims then stock) because a narrow sidewall is not always a good thin for a cars ride or handling, if you drive on real potholed roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratman977 Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I think the 12" tires was unrelated to the orig thread it was just a passing comment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Yup just a passing comment, related to where in heck do i buy tires now?!?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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