[pontiacphil]

I'm currently running factory original 14" Rally 1's on my 67' GTO convertible. It has drum brakes & my tires are Goodyear Eagle ST's, 215x70x14 BUT they were bought new in 1984, so they are 26 yrs old! They look good, no visible dry rot, but I'm concerned about running tires this old. I'd like a bit more "meat" on the ground so I'm shopping for tires & wheels. The Torq Thrust D, with gray painted centers, appeal to my eye. I'm thinking of buying a set of 4 in the 15x7 size. E-Bay has them for around $500. The backspace they show for the 15x7 is 3.75" TireRack.com recommends a tire size of 225x60x15 with this rim. I'm not a racer & my primary use is a weekend "cruiser". I don't want a tire size that will drag/rub my fender lip or wheelwells. My question is: will the 3.75" backspace work well with the 225x60x15 tires? Will this combination of wheel size & tire size cause any complications, or problems, fitting wise? Any info. or advice anyone can provide will be appreciated. If any of you know of any "bargains" or cheapest/best place to buy these tires & wheels pls. let me know. I live in rural NW TN. so I don't have many shops in my area. The Internet seems to be the best for my buying purposes. Thanks!

[b-man]

A 15X7" wheel with only 3.75" of backspacing isn't a good fit for a '67 GTO. The 225/60-15s are pretty short (25.62" tall) and won't look good either, they won't even be close to filling up the wheel well.

The 3.75" backspace wheels will sit too far outward, the smallish 225/60s may even interfere with the fender opening in the front.

Get a custom backspace, 4.5" would be best for all 4 wheels. Then you could run 235/60s up front (26.1" tall) and 245/60s in the rear (26.57" tall), or 235/60s on all 4 corners so you can rotate the tires.

The 235/60s and 245/60s are both a very good fit on a 7" wide wheel.

[chipster]

15x6 torq-thrust D's, (VN1055661) have a 4mm positive offset and should work with 215/65/15 tires all around.

[chipster]

Or get a set of these instead:

http://www.etwheels.com/et/classic5.html#

I wish I had known about them before I spent a bunch of money trying to get torq-thrusts to work.

[pfilean]

Tire places will come up with a lot of suggestions for what will "fit". Maybe right, maybe wrong. They want your $$. But they won't think of the effect on the speedometer. If you aren't racing but only cruising then think about how fast you go past the radar gun. Check with a tire company website to get the diameter for the original tire your car had when it was new and the speedometer presumably was kind of correct. The data is available from Goodrich or try Coker tire. Proba;bly COker for the old sizes. Then see what size tire (using the now currect sizing standard) has about the same diameter. There may be several possibilities. So then see what width rim is recommended for that new tire. You can then think about which wheel looks good and has the best setback for you wheel openings.

And yes, the ET wheels may have better backset for your application than the Torque Thrust. Both look good but if it rubs somewhere either front or back it ain't right. And look to see how close you are to the tie rod ends now before you decide to go with a wide tire and wheel with a lot of backset. A lot of backset may clear your rear wheel opening but rub on the tie rod in front.