Thread: ** Radial Rear Tires For A 32 Hiboy**

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Does anyone make a tall blackwall radial tire (29" dia. or taller) that isn't very wide? I've heard that 215/85R/16's are fairly tall and not too wide. Is anyone running them, and if so, what brand? How many inches tall are they and what is the tread width?
I have some old dry rotted Firestone L78-15's that are 29' tall, but I can't find any 15" radials that are 29" tall.........they all seem to be only 28" tall.......and in my opinion not quite tall enough for the rear of a traditional looking 32 hiboy. In fact I think 30 or 31" tall rear tires would look even better.
Can anyone help.....Thanks

PS. I am going to wait until I hear nothing but praise from lots and lots of rodders before I try any more bias ply Coker tires.....I like their looks... but not the bounce.

BF Goodrich TA radials used to have very good sizing and tire height selections, have you tried them????

P235/75R-15
6" tread width
28" tall
6" x 15" wheel


31 roadster on 32 frame.

Look on the Tire Rack web site - they list height, tread width, cross section, revs per mile: http://www.tirerack.com/

Here is a Pirelli: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...e1=yes&place=1

Please, DON'T buy Coker unless you are into restoration and need an exact copy

I agree with Dave. T/A's have the best selection out there I've ever seen in the 13 to 16 inch rim size. They do have those raised white letters though. Many folks blacken those and put 'em on the inside.

Speaking of raised white letters, it seems like us 70's era generation rodders like 'em but the 50's, 60's and 80's era folks not so much?

Kitz

BF Goodrich 285/70R-15.

On 10" wheels.

Tires are 30 1/2" tall.

Wider than you want, but gives an idea of what a taller tire looks like.

Some days I think they're ok, other days I think they're too big....

That's what I bought also.

C9 I like the looks of your wheels any day!

Kitz

Originally Posted by kitz

That's what I bought also.

C9 I like the looks of your wheels any day!

Kitz

Thanks.

Here's a close-up of a very familiar wheel along with a fairly familiar hubcap.

Not seen together too often....

Originally Posted by C9x

BF Goodrich 285/70R-15.

On 10" wheels.

Tires are 30 1/2" tall.

Wider than you want, but gives an idea of what a taller tire looks like.

Some days I think they're ok, other days I think they're too big....

I run BFG P285/70R-15's on my deuce. I like the size. And I run only 20 lbs of air in them because of how light the rear end its (25 lbs. in the fronts). But if I was to do it over again, I think I would consider 17 inch rims on the rear keep the 15's on the front. I don't like big rims, but 17's would fill out a tall tire a little better.

C9,

How'd you get those 15" tires to fit on 10" wheels?

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

C9,

How'd you get those 15" tires to fit on 10" wheels?

They're made of rubber.

I thought an experienced guy like you would know that....

So Dave......for the uninformed, what's wrong with Coker?

Originally Posted by Hidebinder

So Dave......for the uninformed, what's wrong with Coker?

A Bone was the one who didn't want Cokers. Never have run a Coker myself. Last time I looked at their site it was primarily bias ply tires.... No reason for me to look any further, I like radials. Always have had good luck with TA Radials and Goodyears. Friend of mine sells Yokohama tires now, good selection on them, too.

C9, I would say that's about a perfect tire and wheel combination on the rear!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

C9, I would say that's about a perfect tire and wheel combination on the rear!!!!!!

Thanks, getting the car down an inch, maybe two in the rear would help.
Trouble with that is, I didn't "C" the frame so right now I'm stuck with what you see.
You can bet that the 31 is "C'd" in the back and notched in front.

I do have several modifications in mind for the 32 once the 31 is up and running.
Whenever the heck and darn that will be.

Doesn't make too much difference, having the 32 to drive helps . . . a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"have you guys noticed how in the 40's & 50's many roadsters rode with white walls on only the back or only the front (and solid black tires on the other 2 wheels)... I wonder why they did it that way back then..."


NTFDAY is pretty much right on the money.
One thing to keep in mind when discussing modifications and trends back in the day is that your town would be a little different than what guys were doing in the town down the road a ways.

The V-Dub 5.50/15's were a popular size to run on the front.
Nice part was, the car could be down in the front pretty good and the 5.50's cleared everything quite well.

8.20/15's (about 28" tall) were the tire of choice for most who were pursuing the "Dago" look, but many opted for a gentler rake with less front end drop and used 7.60/15's in the back.
One advantage here was, the 7.60's fit the fender wells in most cars a little better.
True with the Shoebox coupe I ran.

Interesting part was, when I did the first Olds Rocket Motor swap into the Shoebox, I had a pair of 8" wide slicks for it.
At the time, my daily was a 51 Plymouth 4 door with 37 or so Dodge floor box and requisite tall chrome plated shift lever.
It was dropped in front and looked like a hot rod, but it only ran the flat six.

Somewhere along the line I needed a couple of rear tires for the Plymouth and stuck the slicks on it.
Aside from being fun to drive in the rain - - and getting sideways bad enough to watch oncoming traffic through the passenger window, the big (for the time) slicks fit the Plymouth's fenderwells with no problems and room left over.
Not so for the Shoebox.

A couple of years back 1998 - 2003 or so I owned a stock 50 Plymouth coupe.
Looking at the rear fenderwell space a little closer and remembering how easily the 8" old style hard slicks fit, it looks like the Ply coupe would take 10" slicks on an 8" and probably 10" wheel with no problems.

Long answer to your question, but the basics on the mismatched front and rear tires - aside from the deliberate choice of bigs and littles for added rake/Dago - was usually economics.
The end of the 50's was when blackwalls started getting popular for hot rods.

Hot rodders tended to replace tires in pairs simply due to they'd rather spend the money elsewhere.
Usually the engine.
Horsepower was the thing most of us strived for and there wasn't a whole lot of sitting around with a car that looked hot, but really wasn't.

We had drive-ins we frequented, but there was not such thing as a 'rod run.'
You showed up, checked out the cars and if nothing was happening and it was a Friday or Saturday night, you'd take your date somewhere more interesting.

We raced our cars, on the orange orchard two laners and the dragstrip.
Dragstrips were fun and it was interesting to find how fast your car really was, but most times you ended up on a lonely country road when it came time to race for the "fastest car in town" title.

Fun times and fondly remembered....

Back ... 235x75x15..BFG WWW from Coker ....... :-) ..Front ... 165Rx15