Tire question

[mike561]

Im in need for new tires soon, but i want to go with the ones that have the white lettering on them instead of just the white stripe. is there only one type of tire that fits onto these rims or are there a few different tires that will fit on without interfering with the wheel well too? my rims are 15 inch by the way.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by mike561

Im in need for new tires soon, but i want to go with the ones that have the white lettering on them instead of just the white stripe. is there only one type of tire that fits onto these rims or are there a few different tires that will fit on without interfering with the wheel well too? my rims are 15 inch by the way.

If you have 6" wide rims (most of these cars had these stock), you can run up to a 235 wide tire. If you have 7" wide rims, you can run 255-265 wide tires. Remember the 28" diameter to keep the sidewall height in check.

I've run 255-60R15 tires with no issues (these are actually a little smaller in diameter than the 225-70R15 the car is spec'ed for).

[GreyGoose006]

i think what you are talking about are firestone indy 500 tires.
they can be had in many sizes.

stick with an overall Outer Diameter of no larger than 28 inches and no less than 27

width wise, i have 225s on my car and they look too thin for my taste, but are more than adequate in terms of grip.

[mike561]

yeah i think the indy 500 are the ones i was thinking of, ill take some measurements, i forgot what the width was of the rims. i found some on this site that look like they may work http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....ehawk+Indy+500

[mike561]

I just checked with the tire place today, i currently have 205/75/15's but i will probably go with 225's with the white lettering. there shouldnt be any clearance issues then right?

[463]

i just priced out b.f.goodrich radial T/A tires in Minot North dakota at wal-mart for my 86 caprice with the 225/70/15 tire and the price was $85.00 each + ball & install. not to bad a price.

[mike561]

yeah thats about what i got for the same brand at costco too

[ddax]

'83 Caprice Classic with Indy 500
Cragar S/S - 15" x 8" all around
235/60 up front, 275/60 rear









We bought the Indy 500 as we wanted a different look from the BFGs you see everywhere. However, I would not buy them again. We've had very poor tread wear and lots of 'chips' of rubber coming out of the tread on a couple of the tires. My tire guy has many years experience and believed it was a manufacturing defect but Firestone would not replace them.
I did find out when buying them that you don't get usually get very good wear out of the big meats nor good traction compared to a narrower tire.
But hey...ya gotta look cool!

[mike561]

your car looks really nice like that! reminds me of the one in this video http://youtube.com/watch?v=s9OtY38VGes

[mike561]

heres my new tires i just got today, just the kind i wanted, ill get a better pic in my signature:

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by mike561

heres my new tires i just got today, just the kind i wanted, ill get a better pic in my signature:

AAAAGH!!!!

I hope those last you! Those Futura GLS tires - I've had 12 over a 3-year period. 11 of them failed, three catastrophically, and the remaining one was 'recycled'.

They look great and perform nice, but have a penchant for rapid decomposition. Maintain those air pressures!

BTW, 6 of the 12 were warranty replacements. I gave up on the rest and took the loss. I had to replace two fenders, beat out a quarter panel and pray that I didn't wreck during the 3 catos.

[mike561]

so basicly they blow easily lol

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by mike561

so basicly they blow easily lol

They blow if you look at them wrong. All of the failures I had with them were tread seps - three times, the treads separated explosively leading to damaged fenders. The left rear tire blew on me Memorial Day Weekend 2003, smashing the quarter panel immediately behind and most importantly, sending me sideways at 70MPH on a freeway filled with people towing boats (we were on the US60 over Signal Butte Rd, on our way to Canyon Lake for the holiday). I somehow regained control without hitting anything, how that happened - I to this day don't know. Another failure was about 3 years ago, sending me across two lanes of I-10, although it was a Sunday morning and no traffic. That one upset me because it killed a fender that had been on the car for two weeks at that point.

They performed well for anywhere from 1 to 2 years. The most mileage I ever got on one was close to 20k.

They're dangerous and I will never buy them again. The ones I had were 255/60R15.

[mike561]

Ill just see what happenes with these, ill keep an eye on them. my old tires were even worse as they were starting to severely crack so it was kind of a last minute thing too. the size these new ones are is 225/70/R15's

[PeteA216]

The ones I had were 255/60R15.

How do you fit tires that wide onto stock 15 x 7 rims? I've got 225/75R15 on all fours of mine and those seem kind of wide for stock rims.