#1  
Old 07-09-2019, 12:15 PM
supersport#69 supersport#69 is offline
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Default Tire opinions

I bought steel 14 by 7 wheels. Then went with a stock sized tire 225/70/14 all the way around.

Problem: I think the rears look too skinny.

Options: the tire store will let me swap the rears out for 245/60/14 as the biggest option for that wheel size but I’m worried it’ll go from too skinny to too short. .8 shorter than the 225/70 but .7 wider.

Another option is change all four. Go 245/60/14 rear and 225/60/14 front but then my front tire will be over an inch shorter than stock.

Any ideas? Will the rear being .8 shorter be noticeable?

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Old 07-09-2019, 01:27 PM
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Putting aside my taste for the bone stock look I can say without prejudice that a too small diameter tire looks lousy. The stock diameter of GTO tires in 69 was 27.1" (G78) or 26.8" (G70). 225/70R14 are already a bit small at 26.4" and 245/60R14 are way way too small at 25.6".

Maybe a different offset on the rear wheels would help you get the look you'd like or switch to 245/60R15

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Old 07-09-2019, 01:36 PM
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Bruce Meyer Bruce Meyer is offline
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You wont like the look of short back tires and tall front tires. Seen it. It looks weird. I always thought 14 were too small for GTO,s. If your car is a numbers matching original then use your current tires for showing and then get a set of 15,s for fun driving. You can fit 235/60R15 on the front and 245/60R15 on the rear with stock 15X7 Ralley 2,s.

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Old 07-09-2019, 01:37 PM
supersport#69 supersport#69 is offline
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That’s my frustration. I bought the steel wheels and had them painted black and clear coated, going the dog dish way.

I might be stuck with what’s on there.

Would the weight of the front end offset that .8 of the shorter rear tire? I’d be looking at 26.4 front and 25.6 rear I think.

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Old 07-09-2019, 01:40 PM
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Not ideal if your drag racing but an old school low cost solution might be to install wheel spacers in back to fill out the wheelwell better with the 225/75R14.

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1969 Fbird (Base, 350 & Sprint Cvt’s - 400HO & TA Hardtops)
1969 LeMans (2dr & 4dr Hardtop and a Cvt)
1969 LeMans Safari 2 seat Wagon
1969 GTO (2 Cvt, 2 Hardtops & Judge Hardtop)
1969 Catalina (3 Cvt’s & a 2dr hardtop)
1969 Ventura 2 Seat Wagon
1969 Executive 4dr Sedan
1969 Bonnie Cvt
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Old 07-09-2019, 01:48 PM
supersport#69 supersport#69 is offline
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I had planned to do 15s but Ames said there were balancing issues with the steel 15s so I went 14s.

It’s a numbers matching car.

I’ve been buying time for months on some of these decisions but I’m now at the point of paint and redoing the vinyl top so I need to figure it out.

I’ve had a new black vinyl top still boxed for months because I couldn’t decide on doing black or white (as it came from factory). I have not been able to find a gto online let alone at a show with my combo of white top, starlight black with red interior.
I’ve been tempted to call Ames and ask if I can return the black and do white but it’s been 4-5 months. Even then I’m not sure I’ll like that combo.

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Old 07-09-2019, 01:55 PM
69gtocv 69gtocv is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by supersport#69 View Post
That’s my frustration. I bought the steel wheels and had them painted black and clear coated, going the dog dish way.

I might be stuck with what’s on there.

Would the weight of the front end offset that .8 of the shorter rear tire? I’d be looking at 26.4 front and 25.6 rear I think.
That's the problem with running 14's is that the availability of 14" rubber is slim as you are finding out. I wouldn't go a shorter tire in the rear just to gain .7" in width. I have the 225/70/14's all around on my 68 LeMans and I wish they were wider in the rear, but I will have to be good with what is on there without jumping up to 15's like I did when I had my 69 vert. I ran 235/60/15's in front and 255/60/15's in back on 15x7 Rally II's and it looked juuuuust right

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Old 07-09-2019, 02:01 PM
supersport#69 supersport#69 is offline
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What are your opinions on 245/60/14 rear and 225/60/14 front?
Would this look bad being 2 inches shorter in diameter front and 1 inch shorter in back vs stock?

I tried looking for 245/70/14 for rear so I’d have same diameter but wider by .7 but it doesn’t appear bfg makes it.

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Old 07-09-2019, 09:25 PM
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From the side those 14” 60’s will look like compact spares, not a good idea in my humble opinion!

As for the Cordova top my first choice would be none ;-). Second choice would be black especially with the red interior, three different colors on a car gets busy. Btw, the white Cordova top was actually parchment.

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1969 Fbird (Base, 350 & Sprint Cvt’s - 400HO & TA Hardtops)
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1969 LeMans Safari 2 seat Wagon
1969 GTO (2 Cvt, 2 Hardtops & Judge Hardtop)
1969 Catalina (3 Cvt’s & a 2dr hardtop)
1969 Ventura 2 Seat Wagon
1969 Executive 4dr Sedan
1969 Bonnie Cvt
1969 Bonnie 3 Seat Wagon (2 of them)
1969 Bonnie Brougham (4dr Hardtop & Cvt)
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Old 07-09-2019, 09:28 PM
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Parchment was the color if it’s a 69, just saw your other thread and see you have a 68.

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1969 Fbird (Base, 350 & Sprint Cvt’s - 400HO & TA Hardtops)
1969 LeMans (2dr & 4dr Hardtop and a Cvt)
1969 LeMans Safari 2 seat Wagon
1969 GTO (2 Cvt, 2 Hardtops & Judge Hardtop)
1969 Catalina (3 Cvt’s & a 2dr hardtop)
1969 Ventura 2 Seat Wagon
1969 Executive 4dr Sedan
1969 Bonnie Cvt
1969 Bonnie 3 Seat Wagon (2 of them)
1969 Bonnie Brougham (4dr Hardtop & Cvt)
1969 Grand Prix SJ (2 of them)
1969 2+2 2dr Hardtop (Canadian model)
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Old 07-09-2019, 09:35 PM
supersport#69 supersport#69 is offline
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Yeah I may just leave the tires be at this point. With 14s I’m not crazy about my alternatives.

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Old 07-09-2019, 11:20 PM
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I just got in a set of BFG 225/70/14 ... $118 each, to go on stock steelies .... still on the shop floor at the moment. I used to run the same thing on the car in the 80's.

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Old 07-10-2019, 12:52 AM
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Verdoro 68 Verdoro 68 is offline
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I had 235/60/14 BFGs on my car for a number of years - looking at old pics, it looked goofy. The 225/70s on my car now are way better. I'll take a lack of width in favor of filling the wheel well.

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Old 07-10-2019, 01:45 AM
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I guess a lot depends on how a car will be driven. With my stock suspension, drum brakes, 2.93 gear ... a wider tire probably isn't going to do much for me

Is kind of strange looking at the tires as they lay on the floor ... that's a lot of sidewall compared to modern tires.

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Old 07-10-2019, 02:25 AM
supersport#69 supersport#69 is offline
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Profile looks fine to me it just looks a bit skinny from the rear view.

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Old 07-11-2019, 01:08 PM
Red Box Rebel Red Box Rebel is offline
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I had P215 R14 Firestone Firehawks with White Raised letters, but they got too old to drive on. Problem is that they no longer make them.

Could only find two "White Raised Letter" 14" tires for the '68 GTO. Lots more choices in the 15 and 16 inch sizes.

I have a set of "JA" stamped 14" Rallye II Wheels color Keyed to the car with 215 70 R14s all the way around. If the original "Red Line" tires were not so expensive, I would use those instead.

My opinion is that the so called smaller and/or skinny tires look just fine and are more practical. Unless you are using this car for racing, you do not need the taller and fatter tires.

Tires today are far superior to what was available in the 60's and you would get more bang for your buck by upgrading the suspension. Poly bushings, rear sway bar ect, ect.

I made the suspension upgrades many years ago and the handling difference is enormously better than stock. A good set of Cooper Cobras in 14" look good and handle very well. Much better in fact than in 1968 straight from the factory.

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Old 07-11-2019, 04:27 PM
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Another option is to run 215/75/14's this is what I run on my two LeMans' Probably the closest to the standard equipment G78 that 69 GTO's ran unless a Judge or with the optional G70's.

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My Break Away Squad
1969 Fbird (Base, 350 & Sprint Cvt’s - 400HO & TA Hardtops)
1969 LeMans (2dr & 4dr Hardtop and a Cvt)
1969 LeMans Safari 2 seat Wagon
1969 GTO (2 Cvt, 2 Hardtops & Judge Hardtop)
1969 Catalina (3 Cvt’s & a 2dr hardtop)
1969 Ventura 2 Seat Wagon
1969 Executive 4dr Sedan
1969 Bonnie Cvt
1969 Bonnie 3 Seat Wagon (2 of them)
1969 Bonnie Brougham (4dr Hardtop & Cvt)
1969 Grand Prix SJ (2 of them)
1969 2+2 2dr Hardtop (Canadian model)
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Old 07-11-2019, 06:05 PM
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This thread may be of some interest to you. Lots of pics of different wheel and tire sizes on '68-69 A-bodies.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...ight=tire+size

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1969 Bonneville Safari- cross country family cruiser. .
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View from the drivers seat racing down Atco Raceway- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhYDMdOEC7A

Ride along in the other lane-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIzgpLtF_uw
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Old 07-13-2019, 08:16 AM
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I wish there were more options in 14" tires. It seems to me its BFG radial T/A's or re-pops.
Would love to have a set of firestone SS's or something semi classic that you don't see on every car at a car show. I have 235/60/14"s on my car right now on RII 7" rims & I really like the look, about 1" shorter overall diameter, but not too short. I will be likely changing to something more period correct, or redlines on my orignal 6" tires. Can't decide on that yet. I really like the look of the Goodyear polyglass repops, but I am not sure I should spend $1000 on a set of tires that just about everyone knows never came on the car. Wide Ovals maybe. I still have an original spare. Its a Goodyear white wall, but can't think of the model. Has a horseshoe symbol on it..... Pretty sure thats what my car had all the way around when new.

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  #20  
Old 07-26-2019, 06:32 AM
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I just learned that 1970 was the first year of white lettered tires on the GTO. Thats funny, always thought it was 69. So many high end correct restored 69's with wide ovals white lettered. Maybe I just started to assume that they were correct.

I really like the look of the goodyear polyglass white letters. Kind of smaller letters & still a tire from the era. I know they didn't come on 68's either, but now that I know wide oval RWL didn't until 70? does it really matter? Are the wide oval RWL the popular choice because goodyears where the brand that was used in those years?

Really can't see another reason unless its a looks preference.

I love how I keep learning more about our cars on things like this

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