[71SportRagtop]

When I bought my 68 Firebird it had a set of 15X7 Torque Thrust D's with 215/65/15 Goodyear Eagle GT's. The 65's were small in my wheel wells and I didn't care for how it looked...see below.



I was going to hold off until winter to decide whether I wanted to go back to Rally's, keep my Torque Thrusts, or go with an entirely different wheel/tire combo all together.

My buddy has a 67 Camaro which we all know is basically the same car as my 68 Firebird. He has 15" Chevy Rally wheels with a small set of BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires. He wanted to fill out his wheel well too so he bought a set of brand new Cooper Cobra tires online. He got 235/70/15's for the front and 255/60/15's for the rear. Then another buddy who has an 87 Gran National decided to sell the 16" chrome Torque Thrusts and tires from his car. So my Camaro buddy bought the 16" rims and offered me the brand new Cooper Cobra's for a really good price. I paid $375.00 for all 4 tires and they were brand new, never mounted.

I mounted them on my 68 Firebird yesterday and now I'm experiencing some light rubbing on the front tires. I thought the 235/70's might be a hair big but my buddy's research said that they'd fit his Camaro so I assumed they'd fit my car. You all know what they say about assuming!

Here's the Cooper Cobra's on my car.



While they fill out the wheel wells much better than the Goodyears, I don't like the rubbing. I'm thinking of selling the set up of Torque Thrust and Cooper Cobra's as a set plus the Goodyear eagle GT's as a set and taking that money and buying a whole brand new set of wheels and tires for my car.

I found a guy on ebay selling a set of 15X7 and 15X8 polished Am Racing Torque Thrusts with 225/60/15 and 255/60/15 Br Goodrich Radial T/A's for $1200.00 mounted, balanced, and shipped to my door with center caps and lugnuts. Seems like a good price.

I'm wondering what other combo's you guys are running? Some pics may help me in my decision.

[Gator67]

I'll be following this thread, for I too am considering wheel/tire options for my 68 Firebird. The 205 60 14s on the car now are just too short.

[Cammer-6]

I tried running 225 70 15 off a 78 TA(when new) on front and it didnt fit.

235 60 15 is about the right size all around

[keith k]

235 70 x 15 is definitely too big for the front of these cars.

A couple other things to keep in mind.... 1) Not all tires that are labeled wth a certain size (say 225/60 x 15) are dimensionally the same. It will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The association that assigns guidelines for tire sizing allows quite a range in dimensions for a given size. 2) Not all cars are the same -- these cars had huge dimensional variability from side to side and car to car, so what "works" on one car might not work on another.

I've run all kinds of sizes on 15 x 7 rims, and found that the "sure bets" are 215/65 x 15 and 225/60 x 15. You can probably get away with a 235/60 x 15, too.

Another thing to keep in mind is the effect of rim width. Mounting that 235 tire on an 8" wide rim instead of a 7" wide rim makes the tire about a half inch wider at its widest point.

[hojs69]

M&H 390 / 45 R15 and 185 / 75 R15. Budnik Arrowhead wheels in 15 x 12 and 15 x 4

Stock width differential and DSE minitub.

You have a nice car.

[tjdjr]

front size ? rear 255/60/15 rims are specialty wheels charcoal w/ chrome

[Sporter]

17x8 Centerline Sabres all around with 235/40-17s up front and 275/50-17 M&H Drag Radials in the rear. I plan on mini-tubbing and going to 390/40-17s in the rear.

[frankyboy455]

Originally Posted by 71SportRagtop

When I bought my 68 Firebird it had a set of 15X7 Torque Thrust D's with 215/65/15 Goodyear Eagle GT's. The 65's were small in my wheel wells and I didn't care for how it looked...see below.



I was going to hold off until winter to decide whether I wanted to go back to Rally's, keep my Torque Thrusts, or go with an entirely different wheel/tire combo all together.

My buddy has a 67 Camaro which we all know is basically the same car as my 68 Firebird. He has 15" Chevy Rally wheels with a small set of BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires. He wanted to fill out his wheel well too so he bought a set of brand new Cooper Cobra tires online. He got 235/70/15's for the front and 255/60/15's for the rear. Then another buddy who has an 87 Gran National decided to sell the 16" chrome Torque Thrusts and tires from his car. So my Camaro buddy bought the 16" rims and offered me the brand new Cooper Cobra's for a really good price. I paid $375.00 for all 4 tires and they were brand new, never mounted.

I mounted them on my 68 Firebird yesterday and now I'm experiencing some light rubbing on the front tires. I thought the 235/70's might be a hair big but my buddy's research said that they'd fit his Camaro so I assumed they'd fit my car. You all know what they say about assuming!

Here's the Cooper Cobra's on my car.



While they fill out the wheel wells much better than the Goodyears, I don't like the rubbing. I'm thinking of selling the set up of Torque Thrust and Cooper Cobra's as a set plus the Goodyear eagle GT's as a set and taking that money and buying a whole brand new set of wheels and tires for my car.

I found a guy on ebay selling a set of 15X7 and 15X8 polished Am Racing Torque Thrusts with 225/60/15 and 255/60/15 Br Goodrich Radial T/A's for $1200.00 mounted, balanced, and shipped to my door with center caps and lugnuts. Seems like a good price.

I'm wondering what other combo's you guys are running? Some pics may help me in my decision.

getting the car to stock height would probably fill your wheelwells more than installing bigger tires. It looks to me like your car sits quite a bit higher than it should. By the way, Team Camaro has a few threads on wheel and tire combos. Might be worth taking a look at. Frank.

[mogeo]

here is mine. Ride height, for me, is just about right. When I rebuilt the front end, I left the factory springs. I like that it is a little low.
Ralley II 15" with 235/60/15 at all four corners.

[Squidward]

I had 235 60 15's all the way 'round on mine, on a set of Cragars of unknown backspacing.

I had to go to a 215 60 15 up front to keep from rubbing on the front subframe rail on extreme turns. The 215 gave me just enough room. I later added a 3/8 wheel spacer on the fronts to give a little more room at the inner wheel edge with the spindle/tie rod. A wheel balance weight was rubbing.

[Squidward]

Originally Posted by frankyboy455

getting the car to stock height would probably fill your wheelwells more than installing bigger tires. It looks to me like your car sits quite a bit higher than it should. By the way, Team Camaro has a few threads on wheel and tire combos. Might be worth taking a look at. Frank.

I kinda like it. It's not jacked up to the sky like we did in the 80's, but I think it's alright.

[Captainofiron]

Originally Posted by mogeo

here is mine. Ride height, for me, is just about right. When I rebuilt the front end, I left the factory springs. I like that it is a little low.
Ralley II 15" with 235/60/15 at all four corners.

Attachment 295079

that looks really sharp.

Im thinking about sticking with my Rally II 15s and was kicking around tire sizes in my head.

Do you have alot of room in the back?

[geeteeohguy]

Gator67, try some 70 series tires. I'm running 222/70/14's on Rally II's on my '67 GTO, and they fill the wells nicely, and they ride and handle well, too. 60 series tires are too short, IMO, unless you go for the monster sizes.

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

Gator67, try some 70 series tires. I'm running 222/70/14's on Rally II's on my '67 GTO, and they fill the wells nicely, and they ride and handle well, too. 60 series tires are too short, IMO, unless you go for the monster sizes.

I run 225 70 14 on my GTO as well, Jeff....redlines on original HURST wheels. This weekend I'll switch them out with what I have on the Firebird so I can see how they look.

[ksnuclear]

Hi All,

I recently purchased the 69 and had to replace the ancient Goodyear STs that were on the car. I threw some 89-92 GTA wheels on the car while I took the rallyIIs to the tire shop and I like the look.

These are a set of fronts with a 4.75 backspace. The tires are 255-50-16. I didn't drive the car with these on but it looks like they will work fine in the rear but the fronts would rub on the fender lip. I may look for a pair of the rears (5.25 backspace) for the fronts.

John

1969 Firebird 400
4 speed
3.90 posi
numbers

[mogeo]

captainof iron- I dont have much room in the back. tires are close to the spings, and exhaust. cant reallu go much wider.
ksnuclear- i likes the gta wheels on her. looks great

[keith k]

Originally Posted by ksnuclear

Hi All,

I recently purchased the 69 and had to replace the ancient Goodyear STs that were on the car. I threw some 89-92 GTA wheels on the car while I took the rallyIIs to the tire shop and I like the look.

These are a set of fronts with a 4.75 backspace. The tires are 255-50-16. I didn't drive the car with these on but it looks like they will work fine in the rear but the fronts would rub on the fender lip. I may look for a pair of the rears (5.25 backspace) for the fronts.

John

1969 Firebird 400
4 speed
3.90 posi
numbers

Those wheels look good on just about anything, IMO!

Here's a pic of my old '67 Bird, taken in 1985, wearing '75 T/A 15x7 honeycombs and 225 / 60 VR15 Goodyear Gatorbacks. I think I was one of the first guys to pony up for such serious tires, the best available back then, on an old muscle car. Ignore the dents in the car... that's just the way most of them looked back then

[Donovan]

depends, I believe the Firebird did have a slightly wider track.

also depends on disc or drum front brakes. The discs push the rims out about 1/2" inch I believe. It did when I converted mine.

[boater bill]

Originally Posted by Captainofiron

that looks really sharp.

Im thinking about sticking with my Rally II 15s and was kicking around tire sizes in my head.

Do you have alot of room in the back?

Here is the rear of my 15 x 7 Rally II's with 245/60/15 BFG's. No rubbing with '81 WS6 rear springs a KYB Gas adjust shocks. Fronts are 14 x 7 with 235/60 14 BFG's

[keith k]

Originally Posted by boater bill

Here is the rear of my 15 x 7 Rally II's with 245/60/15 BFG's. No rubbing with '81 WS6 rear springs a KYB Gas adjust shocks. Fronts are 14 x 7 with 235/60 14 BFG's

Are you sure your fronts aren't 14x6's....? Those front tires look mighty "squeezed".