# 5.20x13 and 5.20x14 history



## Erik G (Feb 24, 2007)

I've been reading the Premium Sportway thread, big props to bringing these back and doing it right. I've never really liked anything from coker

As I'm reading, I keep seeing people bringing up that the 5.20 was originally for a vw bug, and I even seen it on livin the low life I think, OG's talking about how they were originally vw bug tires.

Thats not true. VW Bug's were never on 13's or 14's. 16's in the early 50's, 15's from '53 until the end in 79. 5.60x15 on bias, 155r15 when they started using metric radial. Same with the Ghia. VW bus was the same until 1964, they used 14's but they rolled on 7.00x14's. The squareback, fastback, notchback rolled on 15's it's whole life. 6.00x15's. 

I know some of yall especially Skim are real big in the VW game too, so you can back me up on this


So really my question is, what was the 5.20 really used on back in the day? The Corvair? (I don't know enough about them) The Valiant? I'm not out to step on any OG's toe's, but I know my VW's and it wasnt from them, so now I'm curious as to what they were really for originally


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## DanielDucati (Jan 11, 2007)

wasnt the 5.20 tire originally designed for use on trailors.............I heard the same thing that vw's use to roll on them.....dont know how true that was or is........


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## ABRAXASS (Oct 20, 2009)

DanielDucati said:


> wasnt the 5.20 tire originally designed for use on trailors.............I heard the same thing that vw's use to roll on them.....dont know how true that was or is........


Remember that one dude on here who tried to pawn off some 5.20 trailer tires, said they were "rare." Bahahaha. Wasn't it Lowasame or some chit like that...


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## Skim (May 26, 2005)

5.20s were never used on VWs because VWs eric as you know came with 16" then 15" rims so thats a crock of shit. Corkey Coker said that shit and thats a lie. Plus VW's came stock on 5.60x15s until they went to a radial 165


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## BIG RED (Dec 6, 2005)

Was there ever a 15 inch 5,20? 

They could be talking about that but again how would one relate that to lowriders?


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## LITO (Aug 2, 2008)

Bought my first set of 5.20 x 14 in 1975 for 20.00 each. Don't know how they became associated with VWs but that's what i remember them being called. Back then my neighbor was from Suave Bugs he used 5.20 x 13s with Rocket Wheels.


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## Skim (May 26, 2005)

LITO said:


> Bought my first set of 5.20 x 14 in 1975 for 20.00 each. Don't know how they became associated with VWs but that's what i remember them being called. Back then my neighbor was from Suave Bugs he used 5.20 x 13s with Rocket Wheels.


yep lito there were plenty of bugs rolling them on the 13 rockets back then but stock vw rims they all came on 5.60x15. hey do you have any old pics of Suave from back then?


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## 1229 (Sep 16, 2002)

Skim said:


> 5.20s were never used on VWs because VWs eric as you know came with 16" then 15" rims so thats a crock of shit. Corkey Coker said that shit and thats a lie. Plus VW's came stock on 5.60x15s until they went to a radial 165


Corkey Coker is the fuck face of all fuck faces. That guy is full of more shit than a septic truck.


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## pancho pistolas (Jun 13, 2011)

BIG RED said:


> Was there ever a 15 inch 5,20?
> 
> They could be talking about that but again how would one relate that to lowriders?


 premium sportway wasn't the only manufacturer of 5.20s in the 50s or 60s , 13s , 14s or 15s . I know V.W.s used them as a replacement tire and V.w. s weren't the only small car back then , Nash , Metropolitans and chevy Corvairs used the 5.20x13s. Corvair had a factory 5 lug 13 inch wire wheel , hard to find now and they had a 5 x 4.75 bolt pattern . I flipped a couple (resold) of metropolitans and they all wore 13x5.20s. oh yeah I grew up at a filling station/tire shop. Whys everybody mad at Coker tire?


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## pancho pistolas (Jun 13, 2011)

LITO said:


> Bought my first set of 5.20 x 14 in 1975 for 20.00 each. Don't know how they became associated with VWs but that's what i remember them being called. Back then my neighbor was from Suave Bugs he used 5.20 x 13s with Rocket Wheels.


 yep Lito I remember my grandpa couldn't understand why I would mount 5.20s and a doughnut steering wheel on my Bel-air . my granpa would say "those tires are for Volkswagons"


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## Skim (May 26, 2005)

pancho pistolas said:


> premium sportway wasn't the only manufacturer of 5.20s in the 50s or 60s , 13s , 14s or 15s . I know *V.W.s used them as a replacement tire* and V.w. s weren't the only small car back then , Nash , Metropolitans and chevy Corvairs used the 5.20x13s. Corvair had a factory 5 lug 13 inch wire wheel , hard to find now and they had a 5 x 4.75 bolt pattern . I flipped a couple (resold) of metropolitans and they all wore 13x5.20s. oh yeah I grew up at a filling station/tire shop. Whys everybody mad at Coker tire?


but a replacement for what VWs because until the watercooled rabbits and GTI, rabbit pick up came out, there were no such thing as a stock 13" rim for an air cooled VW. The VW bugs came stock with a 16' rim with a 600.x16 bias ply tire from 1938 until mid 1953. Then from the later part of 1953 thru 1978 VW introduced the 15x4.5 stock rim with a 5.60x15 bias ply until it was phased out for the new 155 & 165 radial tire. The 13" rim was never a stock option on the VW beetle, type 3 or karmann ghias. In mid /late 1964, the VW bus converted to a 14" stock rim that was 6" wide with a bias ply larger than a 6.00 series tire.


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## pancho pistolas (Jun 13, 2011)

Skim said:


> but a replacement for what VWs because until the watercooled rabbits and GTI, rabbit pick up came out, there were no such thing as a stock 13" rim for an air cooled VW. The VW bugs came stock with a 16' rim with a 600.x16 bias ply tire from 1938 until mid 1953. Then from the later part of 1953 thru 1978 VW introduced the 15x4.5 stock rim with a 5.60x15 bias ply until it was phased out for the new 155 & 165 radial tire. The 13" rim was never a stock option on the VW beetle, type 3 or karmann ghias. In mid /late 1964, the VW bus converted to a 14" stock rim that was 6" wide with a bias ply larger than a 6.00 series tire.


 dude this was back in the late 60s and early 70s and I never wrote V.W.s came out with 13s , nobody Lowriding used 13s back then . I didn't just HEAR about it I was there.


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## pancho pistolas (Jun 13, 2011)

I grew up in the Bakersfield Ca. area . back in the 60s , 70s very few people fixed up V.W.s and Pintos . there where some nice ones though and some "compact clubs only" , but it was mostly the big G.M. hardtops as petrol wasn't an issue back than. there wasn't a whole lot of convertibles done up back than either. I should of bought some when nobody wanted them . :rofl:


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## Erik G (Feb 24, 2007)

I hear ya, but still, the phrase "those are for volkswagen's" is wrong, cause it aint what they were for. Everyone wanted their vw faster, not slower. Bug's were on 5.60's, type 3's 6.00's, and buses 6.40x15 or 7.00x14


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## dameon (Dec 1, 2011)

i remember the first set 5.20's i seen a homie mounted them on 14 supremes. they looked like shit to me, and from the rear of the car they looked skinny. he mounted them on 68 impala said when he slamed the breaks the car kept sliding


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## pancho pistolas (Jun 13, 2011)

Erik G said:


> I hear ya, but still, the phrase "those are for volkswagen's" is wrong, cause it aint what they were for. Everyone wanted their vw faster, not slower. Bug's were on 5.60's, type 3's 6.00's, and buses 6.40x15 or 7.00x14


 Faster VWs , your probably talking about the cal bug era , in my opinion that had nothing to do with lowriding , that was in the 70s . Lowriders didn't want to go fast , its about stylin and profiling, low and slow. when I was a youngster VWs were for college girls. Lowriding was for picking up girls , racing is for getting away from them. :thumbsup:


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## jcsandoval (May 8, 2012)

I owned a Datsun Roadster a few years back and it had 5.20x14 tires on it, although car plaque says 5.60x14, here's a vintage ad.. and notice they weighed 2000 lbs, half of what a convertible Impala of the same year weighed!


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## jcsandoval (May 8, 2012)

Sorry, here it is:


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## Premium Sportway (Oct 26, 2011)

I will preface this with the fact that the few people we have talked (who are still alive) who have a somewhat direct or indirect involvement with the original Premium Sportway 5.20's, also seem to recall different details about how and why the Premium Sportway 5.20 tires came about. Also we didn't research too much into the 5.20-13 & 5.20-14 tires in regards to the size and what they were originally intended for, our research was specifically towards the Premium Sportway 5.20's. 

1. Again can't speak for what vehicles the 5.20-13 & 5.20-14 sizes were originally made for, but the best info we go was that the original Premium Sportway 5.20's were made as replacement tires for Fiats, when they were trying to break into the US market. Fiat failed at that so the market never really materialized, and their old stock 5.20's found their way into the custom car and lowrider culture. Lowriders especially took to them and they started making them again until finally the factory was sold (and shut down) and production was stopped. (Just a guess on our part, but the 5.20-13 & 5.20-14 sizes were most likely started in Europe for European cars and then brought here when the european car companies started selling cars in the US)

2. As far as we know, the 5.20-13 & 5.20-14 tire size was spec'd only as a passenger car tire, so their should never have been a trailer tire made in those exact sizes. Trailer specific tires carry an ST designation, and ST tires never or rarely (can't remmber) have the same exact size as a passenger car tire. They will be similar for a specific rim size but a trailer tire will be say a 180/70/14 or something and a passenger car tire would be a 175/70/14. 

3. Nowadays you almost always have the option of using ST trailer tires or LT (Light Truck tires) on trailers as their construction is similar. Light truck tires are like a combination of trailer tire and passenger car tire constructions. So you kind of get the benefit best of both worlds. Passenger car tires are built different. They are built for comfort and low noise. Trailer and truck tires are built to handle heavy loads and abuse along with the angular and off-balance load forces that come with trailer and truck loads which stresses the sidewalls. So noise and comfort take a back seat. ST and LT tires have thicker and stronger sidewalls and cords to handle heavier vehicles and loads, compared to passenger car tires. *[Note: Our new 5.20's are built on the Light Truck platform instead of the passenger car platform the OG 5.20's were built on, since considering the weight of the full-size cars used in lowriding, and the forces that hydraulics exert on your tires is similar to a trailer or truck when you are weight shifting by hitting the switches it made the most sense.]*

4. Never understood the VW thing, I always thought it was more of a sarcastic remark. Since 5.20's are so small and a VW is more along the size of vehicle they were meant for. In the 90's I remember guys saying they were Geo Metro tires, again since that is more like the size car they would be on.


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## Hydrohype (Jan 29, 2005)

I used to love my 5/20/14's back in the tru-spoke days... Then I remember seeing a coker 5/20/14 on a truck a few years ago at a show! (It's just me) but I did not like the re-pop, the numbers on the side said 5/20/14 but my eye's told me they looked more like 5/60/14's! Are premium sports really back? and how much are they?


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## Premium Sportway (Oct 26, 2011)

Hydrohype said:


> I used to love my 5/20/14's back in the tru-spoke days... Then I remember seeing a coker 5/20/14 on a truck a few years ago at a show! (It's just me) but I did not like the re-pop, the numbers on the side said 5/20/14 but my eye's told me they looked more like 5/60/14's! Are premium sports really back? and how much are they?


Yes sir, we brought back the original *Premium Sportway* 5.20's. Not what that "other" company that you are talking about is calling a 5.20. We have a thread in the wheels & tire section and you can order on our website www.premiumsportway.com Price is $140 per tire or $560 a set plus any applicable taxes and shipping.


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## Hydrohype (Jan 29, 2005)

Premium Sportway said:


> Yes sir, we brought back the original *Premium Sportway* 5.20's. Not what that "other" company that you are talking about is calling a 5.20. We have a thread in the wheels & tire section and you can order on our website www.premiumsportway.com Price is $140 per tire or $560 a set plus any applicable taxes and shipping.


:thumbsup:


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## dj short dog (Sep 5, 2004)

Premium Sportway said:


> Yes sir, we brought back the original *Premium Sportway* 5.20's. Not what that "other" company that you are talking about is calling a 5.20. We have a thread in the wheels & tire section and you can order on our website www.premiumsportway.com Price is $140 per tire or $560 a set plus any applicable taxes and shipping.


So has Jerry commented any now that these are back in production?


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