Price Difference between metric and regular???

[kvo]

Does anyone know why there is such a big price difference between the metric tires (235/255/265, etc.) and the regular tires (30/31/32, etc.)?

I could only think of one thing - there are more vehicles that use regular tire sizes! Could it be some other reasons? Just curious???

 

[Robert]

It has to do with how many vehicles use the particular size. That is why I switched from 255 70R16 to 265 75R16. My choices in the 255 size were very limited and much higher. There must be more vehicles using the 265 size (I know a lot of full size trucks and SUVs come with them) so my choices were better and it saved me about $15 a tire.

I could have bought 4 new steel rims and 31X10.5 for the price of 4 255s. I didn't want to get stuck with a set of wheels and tires I couldn't use so I opted to go with the larger tire for my stock rims.

 

[GJarrett]

I've also noticed that many tires such as the ProComps build their 15'' tires with a "C" load rating and the metrics with a "D" load rating. Don't know if that should justify the price gap or not.