165/80-15s as Frontrunners

I've got a 1967 Satellite that I've weighed and it weighs in at 3600 pounds with a 440 with iron heads, stock radiator, aluminum intake, manual steering, battery still in front. I don't know how much of the 3600 pounds is on the front end.

I've been using some 165/80-15 Kumho radials mounted on 15X3.5" Weld wheels as front runners. These 165/80-15s only have a load rating of 1201 pounds each. This is starting to seem like a dumb idea to me.

I've been thinking of getting some of the 8 ply Mickey Thompson frontrunner tires since they are rated at 1450 pounds each. I know a lot of people use the 165/80-15 radials as frontrunners but I'm thinking their cars' front ends are probably lighter than mine. This is for a street car that gets driven to the track a few times a year.

Any opinions? Thanks!

Probably 1900# - 2000# or so on the front axle. I wouldn't use a true non-DOT frontrunner on the street. I would use a DOT tire made for the heavier cars. If you race the thing, speed rating is something else you need to look at.

I have 165/80 15's on my 3150lb Valiant. I have 205/70 15's on my 67 Satellite, but my wheels are 4".

It looks and performs good although it is quite sucked in on the wheel. There just aren't any choices between the two tires.

I use a 185/80R15 , in either Hancook or Kumho . Korean brands
This is on a 68 Satelite

Tex

Not a commonly available size here in the U.S. Yeah, I looked in the past and came up pretty much w/ zilch.

Brad ,
not super available here either I order them in . can take a couple of days
mate of mine runs the MT radial fronts - but wow pricey
I would go 205/70 or 205/75 if there was supply issues , these are pretty common

Tex

This post got me thinking. I run the 165-80-15 basic VW tires on the Barracuda. I'm not worried about the weight but the 130MPH might be over what there rated for. Time to look for some front runners that are built for higher MPH.

I ran the 165R15 tires for a long time running mid 10s at 128-129 mph at 3700 lbs. I know a bunch of cars faster than that running those tires for years.
The speed rating on tires is for a sustained period of time, not short bursts.

I have 2 sets on run on my 65 satellite.Both at least 10 years old.Drive it onthe street and strip.The load rating is for one tire IE one side of the car.So 1200 x2 for both on the front.people way over think stuff.Oh yeah I did run Mickey fronts.Worst POS I ever had.Id take tires with bad belts before them.Wasnt the car either ran them on 3 different evhicles and they were trash.Maybe the new ones are better.Rocky

forever, my understanding of speed rating tires go through is for sustained speed, with heat build up at "xxx" tire load. as rocky said, one tire only. double that to see what any pair of tires will support. with that said, most reasonable quality tires start at around 112mph sustained speed [T rating ?]. even if going 9's at 130ish mph, the few seconds above 112 is virtually meaningless, because not much heat can be built up unless the tire[s] are very underinflated. just make sure the tire[s] can support the nose weight, and the inflation is at the maximum, or 5-10lbs. over, and you will have no trouble. now if you were 165-200mph, well, time to re-evaluate your front runner choice.

Thanks for all the input on this thread. After reading the replies I don't feel like it's as stupid an idea to run these as I had thought. And it will save me $300 or so I was going to spend on the MT front runners. I've been running 40 psi in the 165/80-15 radials but it sounds like maybe I should run even more air pressure in them.

I would run the max pressure listed on the tire when cold
I ran a set of 165x15R on my old pump gas Duster that weighed 3450 lbs. with me in it with a full stock tank of fuel, it had 50.25 % weight on the front tires. It would run 134.+ MPH in the 1/4 mile at 10.00

I know I'm late to this party, but back in the '70s I ran the VW tires on the front of my '57 Chevy street/strip car - maybe 3400 lbs - on some 15x4 Cragars for 3 years. Ran them 32-35 PSI. Never a problem on the streets or freeways...though with 4.88s the most it saw of a freeway was about 12 miles at a time, being 5000-some RPM.

As are the M&H radial fronts I ended up buying. Can't say how they work, yet, unfortunately.

I'd swap my 28" tall MT Sportsman fronts for a pair of their 28" tall front radials in a heartbeat if I had an extra $400 laying around. The radials drive MUCH better on the street.