Hello I have a 1969 buick rivera I wanted to put some BFGoodwrich Radial T/A tires on it pretty soon. I was thinking 255x60R15 in the rear and 215x60r15 in the front. Do you think every thing would clear all right also is my stock ralley rim 15x7? thanks, will
On the rear tires it say for the suggeted rim width it should be seven inches wide could I still use this tire in the rear? thanks, will
I had 15x6 ralley wheels on my 69 Electra and was running P235/70r15's all around and tried for P245's and they simply would not fit between the wheel opening and the drum. We tried putting the car up on a lift to get max suspension travel but the tire was just too fat to even get to try to mount on the lug nuts. This was without the fender skirts obviously but I don't know how much room the Riv has in that dimension. Just to get people thinking, may I point out that your "contact patch" with the ground is not only wide but long as well. A P235/70R15 will have more tire touching the ground than a P235/60R15 tire since the area touching the ground is still 235mm wide but since the 60 series tire is smaller in diameter the contact are is shorter than the 70 series tire. I got in many an argument with people when I told them a P235/75R15 tire has more traction than a P225/50R15 tire. They seem to think that a 50 series tire is fatter than a 60 series which is fatter than a 70 or 75 series tire. But all 235 width tires are 235mm wide. All P225..... tires are 225mm wide. However a lower profile does mean less sidewall flex and therefore better handling. A P235/60R15 will handle the curves better than a P235/70R15. But the P235/70R15 will give more traction for a drag race than would a P235/60R15 because of the larger(or should I say longer) contact patch. Just my 2 cents.
Otter what you said is true and good info. Some other things that people are often considering is wider with the same tire height keeping speedometer & odometer correct. Also since the gearing is often very tall on the boats and finding lower gears to help acceleration is hard to find they often want to help the gearing with shorter tires.
