Help with tire decisions...

Hey guys,

I currently have 205/75R15 white wall tires on my 91 with side skirts. I really wanted to go with a more aggressive looking tire and run far far away from the old man white walls. I drive this in the winter so I don't want anything too wide so that I turn the tires into skis. I also want to stick with the 15" steelies. I dont want to put too much into it. Thinking of maybe huntin down some 94-96 hucaps. They almost look like alloys. Anyways. Any suggestions on tire size/brand? I was thinking of 225/70R15 raised white letters. Maybe some Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's. Good tread life, good traction, and I can get them for $61 a piece. Are the raised whie letters too hillbilly? Should I just stick with blackwall? Whats the widest tire that will fit with my side skirts? Thanks for the info.

Hey guys,

I currently have 205/75R15 white wall tires on my 91 with side skirts. I really wanted to go with a more aggressive looking tire and run far far away from the old man white walls. I drive this in the winter so I don't want anything too wide so that I turn the tires into skis. I also want to stick with the 15" steelies. I dont want to put too much into it. Thinking of maybe huntin down some 94-96 hucaps. They almost look like alloys. Anyways. Any suggestions on tire size/brand? I was thinking of 225/70R15 raised white letters. Maybe some Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's. Good tread life, good traction, and I can get them for $61 a piece. Are the raised whie letters too hillbilly? Should I just stick with blackwall? Whats the widest tire that will fit with my side skirts? Thanks for the info.

225/70-15s are good overall, but you will have to recalibrate your speedometer to use them. They're a little smaller in diameter than the 205/75s.

225/70-15s are good overall, but you will have to recalibrate your speedometer to use them. They're a little smaller in diameter than the 205/75s.

Actually the speedo will barely be off. Not even 1 mph. I found a great tire height calculator.
http://www.net-comber.com/tirecalc.html

maybe 17" impala wheels and tires

Your Tire size is limited by your front tires. you can fit up to 265's w/o modifications. I am using 225/70/15 tires now.

for those of you who dont know, to get the size of your tires heres how:
take the first number, it is the width in mm.
multiply it by the second number divided by 100
(if the second # is 70, multiply by 0.7)

this gives you the width of the walls of your tire in mm

now multiply by 2 since you have two sidewalls

divide by 24.5 to get inches, then add the last number to get the total overall outer diameter of your tires.

when buying new tires, try to stay within .3 inches, the closer the better.

My 1979 caprice calls for P205/75/R15 tires. But I liked the look of a more aggressive P225/75/R15. Car looks better, and I think it handles better too.

But I noticed the alignment is a bit off now cause the tires wear a bit more on the outsides than they used to. So I'm guessing if you put a wider tire on (than spec), you might have to get the allignment done. I never bothered, since the pre-mature wear of the tire really wasn't that bad. Probably shortened the life by 20%, but even than I just moved them to the back before they wore all the way down.

As for your speedo, don't worry about it for a 70 vs 75 aspect ratio. You're talking no more than 1-2 mp/h. Everytime you buy new tires, the extra 1/2 of tread on a new tire can influence your speedo by 1 or 2 mp/h. Not enough to get excited about. Plus you've got an excuse to use if you happen to get a cop who tickets you 1mp/h over the limit!