Good Tires for 1976 Buick Electra 225

[pastmaster]

HI Fellas, :beer

I thought somebody would like to know my experience with Kelly-Springfield Explorer 800 tires. They are the best tires I have had on this car, of any. That includes Uniroyal and Goodyears. :3gears:

They keep their balance and air pressure, no "radial pull" and even wear. I have used them since June ,1997. I paid $275. complete at Belle Tire, in Ann Arbor, MI. I was going to buy Michelins for $350., but they were in the 75 series only. The Kelly's were 235/70-15 whitewalls. That is the correct size for these big Electras, they drive and handle the way they should. The Kelly's are a very good tire and I would buy them again, if they will be available. You can't buy these big sizes in a whitewalls anymore. They are blackwall or raised white letters, for SUV's and pickups. :moonu:

[78ParkAvenue]

I bought cooper tires for my '76 and so far they have been good. They are 235/75/15 so I gues I have a little more sidewall than yours do. Before the car had like 3 different kinds of tires and they were all very bald. They still offer the cooper with a whitewall.

[pastmaster]

HI Fellas, :beer

I thought somebody would like to know my experience with Kelly-Springfield Explorer 800 tires. They are the best tires I have had on this car, of any. That includes Uniroyal and Goodyears. :3gears:

They keep their balance and air pressure, no "radial pull" and even wear. I have used them since June ,1997. I paid $275. complete at Belle Tire, in Ann Arbor, MI. I was going to buy Michelins for $350., but they were in the 75 series only. The Kelly's were 235/70-15 whitewalls. That is the correct size for these big Electras, they drive and handle the way they should. The Kelly's are a very good tire and I would buy them again, if they will be available. You can't buy these big sizes in a whitewalls anymore. They are blackwall or raised white letters, for SUV's and pickups. :moonu:


Mike, I meant to say that you can't buy name brands like Michelin, Goodyear, Uniroyal, Firestone, in whitewalls now.

I think Kelly, still makes them and am glad that Cooper, does too, still Made in the USA, too! :TU:

The 235/70x15 size, seems to make the speedometer read right on, where the 75 Series tires, may read a bit slow and you will be going faster than you think and you will be speeding; might save a speeding ticket. :3gears:

I am sure that either the 70, 75, or even the 60 series tires are better than OE, as they were always under-tired with 24psi, as the recommended air pressure setting! Maybe I'll try it, I might be missing something, like a few more miles per gallon! :Dou:

[78ParkAvenue]

My speedo reads about 5 mph low at 35 mph and im sure its more innaccurate at the higher end too, but I was unaware that the car was supposed to take 70 aspect ratio. I bought it with a mismatch set of 235/75/15.

[GoldBoattail455]

Kelly is owned by Goodyear and only Kelly makes white wall tires, Goodyear does not. :Smarty:

[Phil Racicot]

I have whitewall Goodyear tires on my Riv, they are 235-70-15 Eagle GA model that I got in fall 2003.
I ordered those with the small white stripe similar in size to the redline on the original Goodyear Speedway H 70-15 spare but when they arrived, they had a larger whitewall :( . I do like them however and think about ordering a new set with the smaller white line for my Riv and switching the larger whitewalls on my Electra to replace the old Michelin X 230-15 tires that are currently on it.
I also have Kelly tires (discontinued Navigator 800 model I think) on my Wildcat, they aren't bad either.

Any tire is good when I compare them with the Goodyear Custom Power Cushion H 78-15 tires I had on my 68 Wildcat when I got it. I couldn't believe how much radials improved the ride and handling when I switched to relatively cheap Goodyear Invicta GS tires (nice name!).

[78ParkAvenue]

im mad now... they said that the 75 was the correct size for my car (the must have just figured that because the old tires were 75's as well. i don't know how to decode the old way of tire measurement, but I dont like having to pay such close attention to my speedometer to make sure im not going too fast. When other people drive my car i have to tell them remember its 5mph off.

[pastmaster]

im mad now... they said that the 75 was the correct size for my car (the must have just figured that because the old tires were 75's as well. i don't know how to decode the old way of tire measurement, but I dont like having to pay such close attention to my speedometer to make sure im not going too fast. When other people drive my car i have to tell them remember its 5mph off.

Mike, the original size for the '76, was JR78x15, which translated to P225/75x15, when the letter designations were dropped. P225/75x15, is what I used for years for replacement tires, so the 75 series is correct, but they may have been a little undersized.

When I put the Kelly's on, the 235/70x15 tires really seemed the right match for the Electra, as the J78 and 225/75 tires, seemed to be undertired for this big old car. It drove and handled nicer, with the 235/70 tires, that's my impression. You aren't wrong with the 235/75x15 tires, but like you said, it makes your speedometer read a bit slower and use less rev's at cruise and maybe improve your fuel economy a little as a plus. :3gears:

[pastmaster]

im mad now... they said that the 75 was the correct size for my car (the must have just figured that because the old tires were 75's as well. i don't know how to decode the old way of tire measurement, but I dont like having to pay such close attention to my speedometer to make sure im not going too fast. When other people drive my car i have to tell them remember its 5mph off.

Mike, I found this in '72 Electra.com, site about our tire sizes.

Factory rims are on the 'big car' 5x5" (5x127mm) bolt pattern, 15x7" rim shared by the LeSabre, Riviera, again on the early 90's full-size Buick and Olds sedans and full-size GM trucks. Lugnuts are threaded 1/2"-RH. Rims for B-bodies are not interchangeable, being on a smaller 5x4.75" bolt pattern. The factory tire was a J78-15, equivalent to the metric size 235/70R15. Tire shops will sometimes substitute a 235/75R15, with a .4" taller sidwall, which will result in a speedometer error of 3.2%. 20" rims on a C-body look similar to 18" rims on a B-body.

Hope this clarifies things about the tire sizes. :3gears:

[78ParkAvenue]

I wonder how off my odometer is. I guess it would be the same as the speedometer, whatever 5mph slow translates to the odometer. It must have more than 141,000 on it then...