[ts3189]

68 Gto 235 -60-15 tires rub when backing into driveway. Need new tires have 14 inch and 15 inch rims available. Ordering new diamondbacks to replace whats there, looking for recommendations ?

[ts3189]

No advice?

[OG68]

Front or rear tires are rubbing?

I used to run 245/60 x 15 front and rear with 15 x 7 GP Rally IIs on my 68. Required a small 1/4 notch in the lower front fender for clearance. But they never rubbed otherwise.

I'm currently going back to stock with 225/70 x 14 on 14 x 6 steelies.



The car came new with 205R x 14 Goodyear radials




General Altimax tires modified (3/8" white stripe) by Diamondback.




https://generaltire.com/tires/passen...saAoq1EALw_wcB

[ts3189]

Fronts are rubbing only when backing up. Can’t notch anything just came from body shop fresh paint rf fender and mouldings just barely touches. Don’t want ride height any lower due to headers. Was thinking 225- 70-14 but don’t have any tires to check fit.

[ts3189]

Rubbing on front of tire not rear

[b-man]

Exactly what wheels are you using?

Many aftermarket wheels have shallow backspace and make rubbing a big problem.

[ts3189]

15-7 rally 2 I also have 14 inch rall2 the tire just barely rubs the new wheel opening mouldings. I need new tires just want to get right size to prevent rubbing

[ts3189]

Image attached

[OG68]

Location of 1/4" notch.

[ts3189]

I think I will just order the 225-60-15 .

[locomotivebreath]

How did the 225’s work out ? I wish I would’ve seen this thread earlier . I ran 215/65/15 on my 68 , with fresh bushings etc . And they cleared fine . I wish I would’ve went with the slightly taller 215/70. They are close though and as mentioned , I think it’s more of a backspace issue .

[ts3189]

I haven’t bought tires yet. I suspect the backspace is an issue,probably 4 inch. I think the 225with the 9.00 section width will provide the clearance over the 235 section width of 9.50. Need to refinish the wheels then order tires. Won’t know results till spring.

[RFCOLEMAN]

Like you, I had tire rub on the front under specific circumstances. I am running 215 / 65 / 15 on the front.
Turned out I needed lower control arm bushings. All is good. 68 GTO.
Something to check, Bob C.

[north]

There are car to car variability issues here. Even assuming that all suspension components are up to snuff the same wheel tire combo can work on one 68-69 GTO and not on an other. Ride height and or alignment variations plus frame and body variations can all effect clearances.

My experience was that even a 225/70/14 tire may rub if mounted on a 14x7 rim instead of the stock 14x6.

[locomotivebreath]

I’m running repro 15x7 rally 2s . I really don’t think that it has much to do with height . My car originally came with 14x6 rally’s and G77-14 tires . I don’t know what a G77 works out to but it has to be around 27” . I was concerned that the 215s would look too skinny but they don’t . I’ll try to get a pic of my fender clearance to post soon .

[north]

Ride height will impact fitment. If the body sits higher the pointed bottom edges of the front wheel opening get closer to the widest diameter area of the tire. If the body sits lower the closer the tire gets to rubbing when hard turning into the upper areas of the tub.

[ts3189]

Anybody running a 225-60-15 with rally 2 and 4 inch backspacing? Any rubbing issues?

[68ragtop]

I would take the alignment into consideration. Not saying its out of alignment, but the alignment does effect the wheels position in the fender opening. When I aligned my 68, I squeezed as much positive caster as I could get out of it, when I was done the drivers wheel rubbed just a bit on the back of the wheel molding when turning left so, I had to give up a degree or two towards neutral & then it cleared & I was still able to have a little bit of positive caster.

yours is on the front a realize, but maybe it has more negative caster than is typical? I don't recall the specs off the top of my head, but I think I may have a post on this topic.

Just a thought anyway.

Also possible you have a worn control arm bushing that is letting the wheel drift forward when you back up?

[68ragtop]

Found it!

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...ight=alignment

I am running oem size tires for what its worth. I didn't really mention the rubbing on the topic, as it wasn't a big deal & I knew what was causing it.

spec was -1.5 & I was able to get +2.4 Alignment machine didn't like it though. I think I settled at +1.5 so I had no rubbing issues after.

[ts3189]

Will check control arm bushings. It has always rubbed a little when backing uphill into driveway with the tires that are on it now. Will be replacing tires due to age anyway so if the 225 would cure that it seems like an easy fix.