Trailer Tires on a Geo Metro ...

[320touring]

The original Austin Mini came with 12" wheels on later models.

there's a fairly good network of tyre suppliers for them over in the UK/Europe- sourcing a set shouldnt be too difficult..

[Christ]

You can still get DOT legal super-wide 12'' low-profile tires on eBay.. that doesn't really help you, but it is what it is.

[rubenova]

Trailer tires on a car is a good question. I had a 72 Nova with a tired 307 and TH350, 2.73:1 and 14" tires. My 20 year old mind came to the conclusion that a close ratio Muncie 4 speed would boost the mpg and while I was at it a new stock 350 would give a little more torque. The 350 bolted up no problem. Going from an automatic to manual was not so easy. Anyway the old combo was good for 15mpg and could be outrun by 4 cylinder front wheel drive imports. The 350/4speed could go 60mph in 1st and 21mpg on the interstate. The weird thing was in town the best it would do was 11mpg...and tricky to launch...bog or spin were the options from a standing start. A buddy of mine worked at an aluminum horse trailer builder and had access to tires...cheap. Soon there were 8ply bias ply's on all four corners. It didn't hurt the mpg but would flat spot overnight and thump along for a few miles until warm. Another trait was that there was almost no sideways grip when turning. This was actually pretty fun in the rain and I could walk the car sideways around corners at 20-40 mph with complete control...I believe the kids now call this "drifting." I killed them on a trip to California where running about 100mph from just east of San Francisco to LA on I5. They developed an imbalance that couldn't be balanced out. My advice is run them if you want but understand ...they have almost no adhesion to the road, braking, turning or accelerating!

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by rubenova

Trailer tires on a car is a good question...... Soon there were 8ply bias ply's on all four corners. It didn't hurt the mpg but would flat spot overnight and thump along for a few miles until warm. Another trait was that there was almost no sideways grip when turning. This was actually pretty fun in the rain and I could walk the car sideways around corners at 20-40 mph with complete control...I believe the kids now call this "drifting." I killed them on a trip to California where running about 100mph from just east of San Francisco to LA on I5. They developed an imbalance that couldn't be balanced out. My advice is run them if you want but understand ...they have almost no adhesion to the road, braking, turning or accelerating!

To expand on this: Trailer tires are commonly restricted to 65 mph. They are also built more like LT tires - tires for heavy duty pickup trucks. They have no provision for traction.

Using trailer tires on a car or truck is a terrible idea.