Hard to get tyres.

[PeterH]

Hi everyone, it was time for new tyres on my 2001 HSE, it proved to be more difficult than I expected.
I had 3 tyre shops give an instant hard no, which I was not expecting.

As it turns out, 255/65 R16 is a very unusual size and hard to come by, even though I've never had any trouble getting that size in the past.
On my 4th attempt I did manage to find a shop that was willing to call around and found some Kumho tyres that will do the job.

I'm wondering in the future I might need to go to a bigger rim to make tyres easier to get.
I have 16" rims at the moment, I think P38's also came with 17" or 18" rims, which I might need to do in the future.

Has anyone else encountered this?
Thanks, Pete.

[Tins]

I was talking to a bloke outside my local indie last month with the same issue. Seemed to him that he could either go down to 245, or up to 265. He chose to go up. Looks better, tyres fill the guards better. Not sure on the legality though. D2 have the same rim size, I currently have 245 on mine but will go to 265 next time. Once again, not sure it's legal but I doubt it would be noticed.

As for different rim sizes, maybe this will help. The app comes from WheelSize.com. Mostly Yank based, but...

193205

[gavinwibrow]

Hi everyone, it was time for new tyres on my 2001 HSE, it proved to be more difficult than I expected.
I had 3 tyre shops give an instant hard no, which I was not expecting.

As it turns out, 255/65 R16 is a very unusual size and hard to come by, even though I've never had any trouble getting that size in the past.
On my 4th attempt I did manage to find a shop that was willing to call around and found some Kumho tyres that will do the job.

I'm wondering in the future I might need to go to a bigger rim to make tyres easier to get.
I have 16" rims at the moment, I think P38's also came with 17" or 18" rims, which I might need to do in the future.

Has anyone else encountered this?
Thanks, Pete.



If I recall properly? the P38 and D2 have the same rims, and of course the D2a has an 18" option.
EDIT - should have read Johns reply first

[PeterH]

Thank you for the replies, interesting to hear it's not just me!
I've always liked the look of the 18" hurricanes, that might be a good option for the future.
Cheers, Pete.

[p38arover]

These are the wheel/tyre options in the P38A Owner's Handbook:

WHEELS & TYRES
Road wheel nut torque 108 Nm
Wheel sizes 7J x 16 (use with 235/70 tyres)
8J x 16 (use with 255/65 tyres)
8J x 18 (use with 255/55 tyres)
Front Rear
235/70 x 16 radial
255/65 x 16 radial
255/55 x 18 radial
All load conditions 193 kPa 262 kPa
(28 psi) (38 psi)

[PeterH]

Thank you Ron, I didn't realize that was in the owners handbook, that's good to know.

[V8Ian]

I was talking to a bloke outside my local indie last month with the same issue. Seemed to him that he could either go down to 245, or up to 265. He chose to go up. Looks better, tyres fill the guards better. Not sure on the legality though. D2 have the same rim size, I currently have 245 on mine but will go to 265 next time. Once again, not sure it's legal but I doubt it would be noticed.

As for different rim sizes, maybe this will help. The app comes from WheelSize.com. Mostly Yank based, but...

193205
I'll stick my neck out and suggest it is legal. My HSE D2a came stock with 255/65R18. I fitted 16" rims to get a wider choice of tyres, at the time. According to my speedo they are the same circumference as the 265/70R16.

[prelude]

Since I switched to 235/85R16 I have not had to look for tyres in the original size yet but I reckon that they are getting harder to get since they were never a very common tyre size to begin with IIRC. My winter tyres for instance were 245/65R16 since that was the closest available size.

You got me curious though so I looked up one of the largest online tyre shops for Europe and still get a couple of dozen hits for them. Perhaps it is helpful to see what is available to begin with and see if a tyre shop close to you deals in that brand and can order them for you, at least then you have some options? Let me know if you'd like a list :)

Cheers,
-P

[130camper]

I have 1997 4.6HSE 8J x 16 wheels.

In December 2022 the Cooper tyre site was giving an alternative to the 255 x 65 tyres as being their 265 x 70 Discoverer SRX.

So I got my regular tyre chap and Cooper dealer, to fit them.

Done 10.000km so far and I think they are okay. Speedo is fractionally out but I have a digital GPS on the dash top to give an idea of the speed.

Andrew