E-Body Tire Combos

[HP2]

Have you looked at what 15" sizes are readily available in your desired sizes first? If you have some boutique size that is a low demand odd ball, chances of it being discontinued sometime in the near future are very good. You'll want to stick with sizes that have a good chance of continuing in  production for some time. This means 235/60, 255/60, 275/60 and 295/50 are your best candidates.

I run something close to a 255/50-15 on the front of mine (its actually a 26x10). I've done it with a 4.75 backspace rim and it was close enough to the fender lip to motivate me to roll the edges in a couple of places. With a 4.5"ish" backspace and a 60 series tire, you are putting yourself in position for some conflict. It isn't impossible, but it may require either a narrower rim, like Carlwalski has shown above, a narrower tire, a shorter tire, or some fender mods.

If you start running short wide or tall narrow tires, you end up with unusual combo in the rear that may look out of place.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

Have you looked at what 15" sizes are readily available in your desired sizes first?

Has anyone used Mickey Thompson S/R's?
http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/street.php?item=SportsmanSR
26X8.00R15LT & 26X10.00R15LT (26 inch diameter, 8 & 10 inch wide tread, 15 inch wheel)

Why would you want the exact same tire size front and rear?

The only problem might be that with a 275/60R15 is the diameter changes proportionally to the width.  With the MT's, you can maintain the same diameter, and increase the width without doing a lot of mathematics! 

Now, i just need to buy me some to put on my Minilites!

[HP2]

I've got the MT SRs on my car now. 26x10 front, 26x12 rear. Using metric specs, that is close to 255/50 front and 305/45 rear. Once I get it motivating under its own power again and use up some tread, I may switch the rears to 28x12 just for a more proportioned look.

This is how I know that a 255 tire up front  is one wide mother that is going to require a bit of manipulation and a fairly precise wheel offset.

[mysil bergsprekken]

So 26x12 fits the rear and also 28x12.
Could you also go for the 30x12 mickey thompson in the back, or will that be way to large diameter for using with stock suspension?

[HP2]

So 26x12 fits the rear and also 28x12.
Could you also go for the 30x12 mickey thompson in the back, or will that be way to large diameter for using with stock suspension?

They can be made to fit. How stock is stock would be my question.

Here is mine with the 26x10 up front, 26x12 out back. Front wheel is 8" with 4.75" backspace. Rear 10" with 5" back space, springs moved in one inch per side and with a '67 B body housing. Also might be worth mentioning that I have oval track springs with a super stock hanger. This has moved the axle centerline back .5 of an inch, so I may be able to put a slightly taller tire than others.  I don't doubt a 30" could be put into the wheel well, but ride height and passenger would be a important consideration. For a drag car, no problem, for a street car, I don't know.  Somewhere I have a picture of this car with a 295/65 BFG Drag Radial installed, which is around 30" tall. It is a huge tire that may rub the inner wheel well in a street application where you have bumps, dips, and driveways to deal with. On a track where everything is smooth and you only have a driver, no big deal.

[SBDave]

I almost went with 26x10 Mickey Thompson S/R's on 15x8 Bassett's but ended up going 16x8 Mini Lite replica's with 255/50R16's all around.  I'll try to get a picture up next week.  I thought $212 per tire for the MT's with out being able to find any performance reviews was too much.  Aaron Beck is also putting MT SR's on his 'Kuda' project but I don't believe he has run them yet.

Dave

[HP2]

I look at it this way, the MT SR is a carcass design that has been made in the last decade to fit differing rim sizes from 15 to 20. This automatically puts it a step above almost every other 15" tire that has its design roots back in the 1990s.  Add to that its H speed rating compared to most 15" S or T ratings, and it has better high speed ratings. I did call MT and talked to them about tread life and they said they have reports of mileage in the 15k range with average driving  ( no burn outs ), which tells me its a fairly soft tire so grip should be decent. Only real drawback to them is the two ply sidewall that will allow more flex, but when required, I think that can be boosted with additional air pressure. In my expeience, radials  are very stable about holding their diameters at high temps and high pressure levels, so there is no fear of growing its size by running them up to 40 psi, which would be a benefit to sidewall stability under stress. I'll have to see what high pressure does to its footprint, but I suspect it will shrink it some, so it will become a tradeoff between grip and support.

[KillerBee]

Just installed 245/60-15 up front with a 15x8 wheel with 4 1/2 rear spacing.

No rubbing anywhere but the car is sitting a little high right now and will be lowered a bit which doesn't look to be a problem with clearance.

Although not shown, the new rears with be the same 15x8 wheel with same backspacing with a 275/60-15

In the side view picture the different Weld wheel on the rear is the exact same size tire and rim as what will be replacing it to match the front.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

Nice '71 R/T Killer! that is my favorite year challenger!  A question for you: Would you rather keep the tall 275/60R15, or go with a 275/50R15? the 275/50 height is approximately 26 inches, and the 275/60 is 28 inches tall.  both have the same width.  just curious.

[KillerBee]

Nice '71 R/T Killer! that is my favorite year challenger!  A question for you: Would you rather keep the tall 275/60R15, or go with a 275/50R15? the 275/50 height is approximately 26 inches, and the 275/60 is 28 inches tall.  both have the same width.  just curious.

Thanks.
 
To me 50's series tires just seem too short with less sidewall...I've even had 295/50-15's on the back of one of my Challengers before and it looked nice and wide but just too short.

The 275/60-15 has a bigger sidewall and just seems to fill out the wheel well the best but still keeps the tire under the quarter panel.

I also have 3.91 gears in the 71 R/T Challenger with a 4 speed so I would like to have a fairly tall tire to compensate for the taller gears and help keep the car more steet friendly.

[MizzouRT]

I have the Hotchkis TVS and torsion bars, and not surprising that lowering the car reduces the room for bigger tires.  BFG T/A's with 235/60/15 up front have never rubbed (was advised 245/60/15 would so didn't try them).  255/60/15 in back rubbed with even minor bumps on the street before rolling fender lip.  Now it takes a big dip or bump to get them to rub in back. 

[KillerBee]

I have the Hotchkis TVS and torsion bars, and not surprising that lowering the car reduces the room for bigger tires.  BFG T/A's with 235/60/15 up front have never rubbed (was advised 245/60/15 would so didn't try them).  255/60/15 in back rubbed with even minor bumps on the street before rolling fender lip.  Now it takes a big dip or bump to get them to rub in back.

What size are your rims and what backspacing are they?
If your 255/60-15 rear tires are rubbing on the quarter panel lips I'll bet the offset on the rims is not right or your car is sitting really low.

I've had the same huge 28x12.50 ET street tires on the rear of a few of my Challengers and have never rubbed with lots of suspension travel.






Here is my 71 R/T with 275/60-15 radials on a 15x8 wheel with 4 1/2 backspacing.


Took a quick trip out to the garage, sorry for the crappy phone pics hopefully it is visible that there is plenty of room between the tire and the lip.

[KillerBee]

Duoble post

[SBDave]

XV level 1 suspension, Cordoba 11.75 front rotors, Wilwood calipers, AR engineering adapters, Dr diff 10.7" rear disc brake kit, 16x8 VTO mini lite replicas with 4.5" backspacing, Toyo R888 255/50R16.  And if you're wondering, yes it is missing a drivers side fender.  It got hit while parked on the street.

72Challenged, The last photo shows the passenger side with tires at full lock, 0.300" clearance.

Dave

[HP2]

295/65x15 BFG G Force Drag radial rears on a 15x8 with 4.5 back space.