145/80R13 snow tires

[Ryland]

I just bought some 145/80R13 vredestein snowtrack 3 snow tires and installed them today.
Stock size for the civic vx is 165/70R13 and these are about as close to the same revs per mile as you'll find, from my research the vredestein snowtrack 3 have great ratings including a "5 star" fuel economy rating on as review site that had thousands of ratings from all over the world.

They are as narrow of a tire as will work with stock alloy rims, and the sidewalls are about as wide as the outer edge, they look different.

We don't have snow yet, but my rout to work has steep hills and doesn't always get plowed for a day or two, so it's nice not getting stuck half way there, I've pushed snow with my bumper the last two miles a number times the past.

They are a little lighter then my Michelin Defender's (green x) and steering also feels lighter, they roll nice, are very quite and have very aggressive looking tread.

[Miller88]

Got any pictures of them? One of the downsides of the focus not being able to fit anything smaller than 15 is I can get the super skinny snows.

[herbivor]

I have Googled your rims and i think you will have 5Jx13 rims- the 5J means the rims are 5 inches wide (and the 13 is the diameter), this is perfectly acceptable fitment for a 145 section tyre. I have at times come across 135 section snow tyres but these are becoming more sparse now due to the decline of the 13" rims

[Ryland]

[Ryland]

I was impressed with the selection of tires on eBay and sites like www.tire-easy.com

[fbov]

Sorry, but you missed the single most important spec on the sidewall, and purchased the incorrect tire for your application. That no one has mentioned it is troubling.

A 145/80-13 71T can only carry 761 lb. Honda says you need 79T rated tires one that can take a minimum of 963 lb. There's an awful lot of latitude with tires, but none here.

And to those bemoaning the lack of narrow tires, this is why. Load rating depends on the air volume inside, so conventional small tires can't carry heavy loads. Make it a larger wheel, and the narrow tire now has some internal volume, and load capacity.

The 155/60-20's on the BMW I3 have a rating of 80Q. It can be done.

Have fun,
Frank

[Ryland]

The Civic vx is hardly 2,000 pounds, well under the load ratings of these tires.
When Honda Civic were first imported 145/80R13 was the stock size for the hatchback that was close to the same curb weight.

[fbov]

You're full of wrong thinking, of the type that's fatal.

The required tire load rating is whatever the manufacturer specifies. The smallest tire I see for mid-90's Civic is a 165/70-13, a tire with a 79 load index. Using a tire with a 71 load index in that application is all sorts of stupid.

When the ignorant do this calculation, they miss things, like safety margins. When engineers to this calculation, they use things like historical data to calculate required safety margins.

You got any historical data, or are you flying blind? Ignorance is curable, but you gotta wanna.

HAVe fun,
Frank

[Ryland]

Fully loaded, with 5 people and cargo the civic vx needs a tire with a load index of 722lb or higher, so these are well within the design of the car, just l like the wider tire that came on some of the other trim levels were also within the design specs of the car.
I looked at all of this before ordering tires.

[fbov]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Fully loaded, with 5 people and cargo the civic vx needs a tire with a load index of 722lb or higher....

That's not true. The correct answer is on the door placard.

What you have tried to calculate is a tire load. I'll wager you divided curb weight + passenger/cargo by 4. That gives you the wrong answer.

And that's only static tire load... what's the tire load at speed? When cornering? When braking? On rough roads? You want an estimate of peak load on any single tire.

Then add a safety margin for things like tire pressure, ambient temperature, vehicle speed, etc.

The correct answer is still on the door placard. Ignore it at your peril.