dpb wrote:
On 6/11/2012 9:23 PM, David Lesher wrote:
writes:

Let's face it, the American Car is _almost_ totally metricized
now, so
that it can be manufactured anywhere. So there's a lot of need for
metric.

What is left in SAE?

Tire rim diameters for one. I've not checked the lug nuts,
specifically, recently...

AFAIK, tire sizes on all cars are some *******ized mix of SAE&
Metric. But they all follow the same spec.

My meter tells me the rims and tires are drawn/manufactured in metric
to meet the inch dimension specs for diameters; it's just the nominal
dimensions for them are still inches whereas afaik all the section
data for tread width, etc., has gone metric. (You don't find an old
6.70-15 nylon cord other than perhaps in the restoration catalog any
longer. )

One thing that is allegedly universal is the tire Schrader valves.
(If I can believe Click& Clack...)

That is so at least in the US. Even the large ag tires use the same
valve stem dimensions so valve cores are interchangeable.

I don't know the thread sizes, though...so whether they are still SAE
(or ever were) I don't know (and didn't feel like looking up ).

--
In the UK and I expect elsewhere in the world you can get solely metric
dimensioned tyres and even in the UK be sitting down when you get told
the price, often about 3 times that of a similar sized inch diameter tyre.