Tire size question

[jonnyslick]

My Cutlass is still bone stock (not lowered) and still riding on the 14 inch factory rallys. Are they 6 or 7 inches wide? I'm not sure.

Anyway, I have to get new tires (just some all season stuff, nothing fancy), but I'd like to get some bigger meats on it all around. Right now it's got like 195/70/14's on it. Here's what I was thinking:

rear: 235/60/14 on factory wheels
front: 215/60/14 on factory wheels

What do you all think, will those fit without rubbing and will they look good? If you all have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks.

 

[jonnyslick]

Also, would the 235/60/14's fit on front and rear with no rubbing on a factory wheel?

 

[yourownself]

i'm running 255/60/15 out back and 225/60/15 up front on stock suspension with no rubbing.

so long as your shocks are okay, and your springs don't sag, you'll be fine.

 

[jonnyslick]

yeah but i'm using the factory 14's so i can't find a 255/60/14.

what i've found so far is:

215/60/14
225/60/14
235/60/14
245/60/14

All are BFG all-season tires.

 

[supercrackerbox]

Your wheels are 6" wide. I would try putting 235/60s front and rear, you should have no clearance issues. The 215/60 is going to be a very short tire and will leave a lot of wheel gap. I was running 245/60s on my old Regal, but that tire is just too wide for a 6" rim- even at 26psi the centers of the tread wore out very quickly.

Or better yet, start hunting for some 15x7 rims from a 70s car or 80s 442. Your tire options will open up immensely. Swap meet season is coming soon.

 

[jonnyslick]

Cool. I think after all I've read and looked at on tire calculators this morning that the 235/60 is the way to go. And it'll be about an inch and a half wider than what's on there now, so it should look a wee bit better.

 

[bigdan]

the 68-72 era cutlass had 14 x7 rallye wheels
gives you more choice of wide tires
Dan

 

[jonnyslick]

So I found a set of 70's 15 inch Olds rally wheels locally for $100. They're not perfect, but I can repaint them. Are they a 15x7 or a 15x6?

If I get the 15" Olds wheels what would be a good tire size then?

 

[supercrackerbox]

Excellent find. Should be 15x7, I know the Buick Rallyes were. Personally, I plan to run 235/60/15 Firehawk Indys on the Regal (for street tires anyway), but like others have said, you'll be able to go as big as 255/60 on the rear. Keep in mind your speedometer will be off either way. I would think there's recalibration kits to fix this, although I haven't looked into it yet.

If the wheels you found are the ones I'm thinking, the chrome inserts should come off easily by bending out the tabs on the back of the wheel. Then you can paint the whole wheel without masking. A small dab of JB Weld under the tabs will keep them from rattling when you snap them back in, if needed.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... 5FHI500RWL

This is the tire I'll use. Absolutely excellent tire all year round, much better than the BFG Radials.

 

[jonnyslick]

Well I should be going to pick up the 15's this weekend. I hope then to run some 255's on the rear and the 235's up front like you all suggested. Hopefully it'll look better than the 195 14 inchers I got on it now. 8)