[John V.]

Bill, the treadwear indicator is VERY subjective IMO if you read how the tires get rated for treadwear. And assuming you don't plan to drive the car more than 4K per year, I'd bet you'll want to replace them based on age, long before any of them will wear the tread down.

The other UTQG ratings tell you wet braking straight line coef. of friction and temperature dissipation characteristics.

Both show temp rating B, essentially tied.

Wet braking favors the A rating but likely you'll keep it off the road in the rain and in any event, the rating doesn't tell you much about the wet handling, nor dry handling.

If it was me, I'd go with the tire I thought looked the best. Seriously. I might also hope to judge the tread pattern to gauge which one I thought would "feel" the best in handling and/or which one would be quieter on the highway and/or provide a less harsh ride feel.

I do like to look at the UTQG rating for a high mileage daily driver, because it does give some sense of the tread life expectancy. But I've found that the treadwear mileage warranty probably gives a better insight into how many miles the tire will last.

That said, I've had tires that I "wished" would wear faster cause I didn't like the ride feel after I bought them.

Probably making your head spin faster.

But to simplify, choose on looks and price and hope they ride nice. Treadwear is probably not going to be an important consideration.

[Andre]

Bill- u are cheating... you want a 1964 car. Get you some nice bias ply tires and you won't lose points at AACA shows, and it will feel like 1964 as you drive down the road. It should not be a problem since you won't be driving in the rain. No, I don't have any original style tires either.
I know you aren't too concerned about safety since you stuck with drum brakes.
I can't resist needling you cause no matter how hard we try to stay original, we gotta draw a line somewhere.
This is where shake my head at AACA for deducting points for radial tires on cars that didn't have them... so dangerous.

[Pecosbill]

Call me a cheater....no bias ply tires. I do plan on enjoying driving it; no trailer queen here. And, if it ever comes down to it, I've got the bias ply whitewalls in the first pic mounted and ready for show, even if they are over 30 years old.

[dld]

Originally Posted by Andre

Bill- u are cheating... you want a 1964 car. Get you some nice bias ply tires and you won't lose points at AACA shows, and it will feel like 1964 as you drive down the road. It should not be a problem since you won't be driving in the rain. No, I don't have any original style tires either.
I know you aren't too concerned about safety since you stuck with drum brakes.
I can't resist needling you cause no matter how hard we try to stay original, we gotta draw a line somewhere.
This is where shake my head at AACA for deducting points for radial tires on cars that didn't have them... so dangerous.

I remember back in time. the car group i was with NCCC they had
Driver class and what could be called show or trailer queen Concours class. this took the pressure off the guys that wanted to ride there units. There were more liberal judging for the drivers. Of course there were guys that would try to game it but...

[8LUG]

Originally Posted by Pecosbill

Andre: <sigh> Yep, you're right. I need to scout out some originals to keep this "all 1964" thing going. Surely someone on this board has a set collecting dust somewhere. Bob Vidan to the rescue?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-1965-PO...9e808c&vxp=mtr

[Pecosbill]

Originally Posted by 8LUG

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-1965-PO...9e808c&vxp=mtr

Wowser. You've got to want them pretty darn bad to pay up like that to get them, especially if the date codes are no longer legible as the seller states. Fortunately 64Woodwheel found an ebay listing for me that was a lot more reasonable and I was able to pick up a set of original rims for a lot less than that. And the seller is also a member of this board, Hookm.

[Pecosbill]

John V, what you say makes a lot of sense. I, too, have had tires that I really didn't like and couldn't wait for them to wear out. If this car was going to be the car I was going to be using to drive everywhere it would make sense to go for the best tire I could afford. But, you are correct in that I will likely stay under 5k per year on the car, so it would make more sense to go with something a little less pricey. The toughest question is to go with whitewalls or redlines. I know the whitewalls look good and also period correct. But, the nice thing about the redlines is that I can run them with anything (spinners, Cragars, etc.) and have them look good. Whitewalls pretty much confines you to the spinners only, in my opinion (I'm sure some will disagree).

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by rohrt

Isn't this all dependent on the tire manufacture? Those are pretty exact measurements just curious as to where your getting them? I thought that if you compared two tires from that spec'd the same from different manufactures that could have vastly different heights?

Plus or minus a tenth or two, those numbers are pretty much on the money.

Those numbers are what the size is "supposed" to be.

Just for the heck of it - I went to Summit's webpage and looked for 215/75/14 radial tires.

They have 6 different tires - 2 are 26.69" tall, 2 are 26.7" tall, 1 is 26.8" tall and 1 is 27.1" tall.

The tall one is a Coker "Nostalgia" wide (2.5") whitewall and they may have intentionally made it taller to accommodate the wider whitewall. The 26.8" tire is actually a load range "C" trailer tire.

[Chuckgeo]

My 2 cents worth. I like the mags but put the original wheels, spinner covers and repro Coker Red Lines on for the 50th Anniversary.

[Pecosbill]

Originally Posted by Chuckgeo

My 2 cents worth. I like the mags but put the original wheels, spinner covers and repro Coker Red Lines on for the 50th Anniversary.

I'm actually leaning that way. I picked up a set of original 6" rims the other day...need to freshen them up a little and then pick out tires. I was really surprised at how good the 1" whitewall with original hubcaps looked and it may really pop when I get the roof installed, as it is "original GM white." But that combo seems like it would really look good with the redlines, too.

My holdup is the damage I did to the car when the left front wheel came off. My body guy has sold his shop and has been traveling, but he's coming back to town next week and says he will be able to fix it. Right now I can't open the driver's door and I can't get the roof installed until that is fixed. So, I'm kind of stuck until he gets here. I'm really having to learn about patience, even in my old age!

[eaglesan13]

I vote for spinners and red lines.

[Pecosbill]

Some interesting observations from looking up tires while pondering what to get:

The original bias ply tires had a total diameter of 27.02 inches. There are some bias ply tires available with that measurement, with a tread width of only 4.50 inches. That really sounds like show car stuff, not what you'd want to drive. They are available in redlines.

Also available in a little wider tire is the F70/14 Firestone Wide Oval Red Line. Still a bias ply tire, probably still more of a show car tire. That tire is only 26.20" high, but that probably won't make a ton of difference on the speedometer. (Question: Were the Firestone Wide Oval Red Lines available in 1964 or did they come later?)

So, if we move over to a radial tire, which is more in keeping with what I'd like to drive, there are no red lines available that I have found in a 215/75/14. There are, however, whitewalls available in that size. Those tires are 26.69" high, which is close to the original size and should not affect the speedometer too much.

Still looking for radial red lines, I did find some 225/70/14's that have a tread width of 6.70" and stand 26.30" high. Not sure if they will work on my car though, as the tires I have on there now are the same size and they rub on turns. I'm thinking that the rubbing is because of the decreased backspacing on the Cragars that are on the car now and might disappear when I put the original 6.00" rims on it. Anyone out there running 225/70/14's with stock rims?

So, no redlines available in 215/75/14, the closest sized radial to my original height tire and one that will likely not rub. Whitewalls only. Lots of red lines available in bias ply tires, but in addition to being low performance tires, they cost as much, if not more, than the radials. That just seems like throwing money away on looks.

I'm back to leaning towards the whitewall radials in 215/75/14. Cheaper, look good, closest to original height and won't rub. I had thought that red lines would be the way to go in case I decided at some point to put the Cragars back on. Whitewalls and Cragars isn't the look I'm fond of, but red lines and Cragars look pretty good.

Anyone out there know of a red line radial in 215/75/14? I've checked Coker, Diamondback, Summit Racing, Discount Tire and Tire Rack.

[The Champ]

Bill

Go back to the Diamondback catalog - page 6. The Diamond Back II is available in a 215/75/14.

As far as the F70x14 Firestone Wide Oval Redline - no such size made in 1964. That's a later 60's, early 70's size. You are correct in assuming that the ride and handling would suffer with this or the original 7.50x14" bias ply.

[Pecosbill]

Champ, don't know how I missed that one. Thanks.

[barrierblue66]

Hey Bill,

I like both looks, can't help you out there But on tire size, here's my take. I've had my GTO for 25 years. First set of tires were the stock 7.75x14 Coker redlines. They looked very cool, but scary on the road. After 12 years when I decided to replace, I went with the Coker redline radials in 205-75R14's. Had these for another 12 years and recently replaced again with the BF Goodrich Silvertown redline radials in the same size.

I've been looking at my car for many years at many different angles and I'm really happy with the way these tires fill the wheel wells, though not sure exactly on how they compare to your '64's.

Can post pix if you like. Good luck in your search.

[AdamIsAdam]

I vote for period correct 64 Cragar SS. ( they were introduced that year) with slightly updated RWL tires. I'm biased this way I guess because this is how I saw every single muscle car when I was in high school (class of 84). Back then these were still just "used cars," and white walls were only on your parent's cars. And what the heck was a red Line?!

Here's my final vote...
(Except that I'm going to replace the 275/60 with 255/60 to cut down the rake a bit; anyone want a nearly new set of tires? LOL)
[IMG] [/IMG]

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by AdamIsAdam

And what the heck was a red Line?!

SACRILEGE!!!

The Red Line tire is only the most beautiful tire ever made...

Yes, I'm biased...

[AdamIsAdam]

Just to be clear, I agree that they're nice tires. I'm just saying in my day we didn't even know they existed.