The internet has not been of any help, or perhaps I am just clueless. The original manuals and brochures for my 250 GT PF (1959) specify a tire size of 6 x 16. Simple question: What is the modern metric equivalent? Thanks a lot for any help! Cheers, Julio
Hi Julio, Things were a little less complicated in 1959..... I believe your manual is suggesting a 6 inch wide tire on a 16 inch wheel. There isn't a metric equivalent for a 16 inch wheel....you'll have to stick with 16 inch tire choices. A 6 inch tire is roughly a 165 metric tire (if I'm recalling correctly). Tires were pretty skinny in 1959. What isn't specified in your manul is aspect ratio....60 series or 70 series or 80 series for example (the "aspect ratio"). Most tire were pretty high aspect ratio in 1959 too...probably your car came with something like an 80 aspect ratio (the "height" of the tire as a percentage of the width). Just a rough guess but I'd think a 175/80/16 would be about right. You can get some of these older/odd sized from Coker tire here in the US: www.cokertire.com. They may have distribution in the EU as well. Good luck!
Julio: Cliff is correct that the original tires were undoubtedly 80 or 82 series, though that aspect ratio generally does not appear in the size of even modern tires as it is considered to be "standard". Vredestein shows their Sprint Classic as being available in a 185-16. This will likely work (and has an appropriate appearance), but will depend on the width of your wheels. When measuring rim width, take the dimension from the inside of the rim, where the tire bead seats. I think that a 185 tire would require at least a 5 inch (127mm) rim width. Tubeless tires work fine with inner tubes. Just make sure that the installer applies a coating of talcum powder to the inside of the tire before installing the tube to prevent chafing. http://www.vredestein.com/Banden_Bandgroepen.asp?UsersessionID=26372492&BandgroepID=5 Dan
Following up on the Coker Tire idea, here are their radials in 600-16: http://store.cokertire.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=600R16 and here are their bias plys in 600-16: http://store.cokertire.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=600-16 I'm sure they're familiar with shipping worldwide. I note that some of these tires have differing overall heights. It seems that aspect ratio wasn't a consumer consideration at the time!
Thank you all for your very helpful answers. I am going to look for some 185-16 Vredesteins here in Spain. Cheers, Julio
I'm sure that you found this... http://www.vredestein.com/Dealerlocator_Results.asp?UserSessionID=26372492&LandID=11&city=&postcode=&Submit.x=56&Submit.y=10
