[drmach]

I have a 68 Fastback that I need to put new tires on. Currently my car has Goodyear Polyglass GT F60-15's on it that are like brand new. I want to upgrade to radials. My rims are 15x7 and with these tires the wheel wells are filled with tire and it looks great. I want that look again with the radials but I definitly do not want them to rub the fenders. What size tires do you recommend?

 

[sharkmouth]

I am a 69/70 guy, but I'd imagine 245/60-15's would be good.

 

[Laurie_S]

That's what is on Trouble's rear wheels right now (except they're 14s) and they work fine. That's the size I'll be getting (with 15x7 wheels) when we're done.

 

[70sportsroof]

Will you be running the 245/60 15s in the front also, or only in the rear? I am running 225/60 15s on a 15x7 wheel in the front and 235/60 15s in the rear. Today my body shop friend told me that the 225/60s were too wide for the 15x7 wheel (huh)? JohnPro has great looking 275s on the rear of his 66 coupe, but I don't know his wheel size 15x? I was thinking that the 235s would not fit in the front, which is dropped about 1.75 inches. don't know.

 

[Laurie_S]

I'll be running the 245s in the rear only. On the front, I'll have 225x60s, which fit without having to flare the fenders. I had those wheel and tire sizes verified for best fit by John's Mustang in San Diego. Their body person said those are the best I can do sizewise and not to go with the 15x8s on Trouble, considering the changes in suspension on the car and my not wanting to flare the fenders.

 

[70sportsroof]

Thank you much for the info. We both are running the same size on the front (225/60 15). I'll have to check with JohnPro and learn whether he went with 15x7 or 15x8 in order to fit the 275s on the rear. My body shop guy suggests the lower profile tire (is that a 50?), but that would require slamming the car to the ground in order to avoid having big gaping holes in the wheel wells. Can't do that with long tube headers. I like the idea of 245s though. I'll have to check into that. If you have been tire shopping in between your bouts with the physical terrorist, I mean therapist, have you noticed that the really aggressive tires with the silica compound and big speed ratings don't come in 15s, or maybe in just one or two sizes of 15s? I'm having a dandy time trying to find real road handling tires that will fit a 15x7 wheel. Pirelli Nero - nope, the new goodyear eagle - nope Dunlop - nope. I think Nitto has something, but I've read bad reports from someone who had them on their stang. I think I found something in Yokahoma. Thank heavens the websites for these tire companies (and the Tirerak) have a search function by size and by brand. Best wishes in your rehabilitation!!!

 

[johnpro]

Couple clarifications ... The 275/50's are on 15x8 wheels on the back of my '69, not the '66. There's no way they'd fit in my '66.

I know that I could go with a bigger tire than the 225/60's that I'm running on the 15x8's in the front of the '69. The only reason I stuck with the 225/60's is that I wanted to keep the diameter no larger than the years. The 225/60's have a 1/2" smaller diameter than the 275/50's. I would rather have run 235/60's in front, but they would have actually been slightly taller than the 275/50's. One thing to keep in mind with outside diameters of tires, is that a wider weel will actualy reduce the overall diameter of the tire as it spreads it further.

When choosing my tires, I went strictly by the measurments I took with a tape measure, then chose my tires from BF Goodrich's website, based on the width and height of the tires using 15x8 wheels (they tell you the calculation to use for reducing/increasing overall diameter based on wheel width on their web site). Using my measurements with their charts, they came out PERFECT.

The '69 has 620 1" lowered springs in front with the Shelby drop. So far I have not rubbed a single tire ... but then again, so far I have about 1 mile on them (no, that's not a typo ... ONE mile, because I haven't installed the seat belts yet).