Hard to find tires
 

Has anyone had to buy new tires recently? I could only find tires after searching all tires shops in town. Dealer was even no help. Apparently the stock tires on my 02 P5 are not being used any more and without getting new rims I had to pay 125 each. Dunlap is the only company to make the size 195 50 r16. Anyone else go through this.

I totally agree with Protegé Menacé. I had to replace mine and I found mine at www.tirerack.com Even there, there arent' a lot of choices. I ended up with the Kumho 712's and am well pleased with them...they handle much better than the OEM Dunlaps but have moderately more road noise.....but they look really really great and are incredible in light or heavy rain, but beware, they are considered summer tires, and rightly so...terrible in the snow.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...4/fb6306df.jpg
Oh, I should add, these tires were not very expensive either...much less than the OEM tires.

I just moved up to a 205/50-16 tire size as the selection is much better and most of them do not have any issues with mounting on a 16x6 rim (recommended sizes for these are usually 16x5.5 to 16x7.0 from what I was able to see) unlike with a 205/45-16 tire.

I also agree with Protege Menace, if you look on-line or mail order you can get tires in the OEM size as well.

Looking at Tirerack they have 5 choices from 3 different manufacturers in the OE 195/50-16 size.

You can also check at www.1010tires.com and www.tiretrends.com for more choices. If you are ok with a not-sporty tire, check the Toyo Proxes TPT (grand touring), V speed rating, UTQG 400. My opinions: will work well in summer and just ok in winter.