[EDNY]

Guess I need to get out more but in the meantime what is the standard tire size for a hot rod now? I remember when 14" was common, then my favorite the 15".  Now I can't find any 15" tires...seems like the 16" is the new standard.

For someone building a car right now...what is the tire size that is both common and easy on the wallet?

Ed

[madmike3434]

I bought 185 x 60 x 15 for the front and 235 x 70 x 15 for the back, they are general ALTIMAX  and I got them thru tire rack delivered to my door here in Canada from USA warehouse.  These are on my 35 chev coupe.

 I WOULD SAY A LOT OF THE TIRES BEING PUT ON STREET RODS TODAY ARE 16 FOR FRONT AND 17 OR 18 IN THE REAR IF YOU CAN GET THEM WITH ENOUGH SIDEWALL  60-70 SERIES, THOSE RUBBER BAND 40 AND 45 AND EVEN 50'S LOOK PLAIN DUMB EXCE[PT ON NEWER CARS. 

THERE IS 2 ALTIMAX TYPES..........RT AND RT43

Ride nice, thats important a touring car ride.   have good 4 season qualities.  See if I can find a picture of them.  The new tread design is getting really popular now and available from different manufactures.

mike

[Rattiac]

You should be able to find 15's all day long. Tires arent cheap anymore , since anything made with oil gets effected by oil prices. Even in upholstery, our vinyl and other materials prices have gone up.
Since my car is going back under construction . Ive decided to hold off on new tires for a long while.

[madmike3434]

actually I was really surprised at how low the price of these Altimax tires was from tire rack.  Somewhere in the $60--75 range each for the fronts.

mike     

[sixball]

 We may disagree on this topic. Here is one place where the line between Hot Rod and Street Rod is pretty evident. It depends on the look you are going for.
 Hot Rods still run the same old stuff. That is mostly 15" and 16" and many bias ply. Coker makes tires with both new and old size designations. I have worn out several set of Cokers and have been very happy with the ruggedness of them. The way they do the different name brands and the different white wall width is not as tough and on my road some turn into extremely wide whites. The Coker Classic did not do that. If a tire makes it on my road it will make it anywhere. By the Way I am looking into renting a bull dozer. I'll post pictures.

[EDNY]

My 33 Chevy has 31X10.5/75R15LT (truck tire) and I wanted to drop down a tire size or two to fit fenders better. Something in the P245 or P255R75-15 range...but having a heck of a time locally.  Just installed a set of used P235R75-15 on there...not bad but the 8" rims could probably be better suited for a 245 or 255.

[madmike3434]

EDNY, the problem with those big truck tires is the side walls are huge , actually making the rear tires and more so the rims look smaller than the front rims, its an optical illusion.  But they do fill up the larger wheel well opening in the rear, which is the look most people are after.

Your 8" rear rims would be better suited to 60 or 65 series tires . Sidewalls are pulled out too much on a 75 series on 8" rim, crowning the tire and placing less rubber on the road .

SIXBALL.....Running bias ply today is dumb in my opinion.  They do not track well and on heavy transport truck driven roads , do not handle well in the tire ruts on the blacktop.  Radials just track in the ruts and do not throw you out.  You get superior ride quality especially with touring type tires with nice squishier side walls to absorb the cracks and other things in the road. I would never go back to old school tires. 

 I want to know if I am in the rain that my 3 or 4 season radial tires are not going to break loose and cause me to lose control.  That's one of the reasons I bought the tires I did with the deep water channels to fight hydroplaning.

These lightweight , over geared &  high powered cars we drive  , can be easily broken loose.  My new 2014 Chrysler 300 SRT 6.4 V8 470 HP & torque, do not turn the traction control off, its damn dangerous !!!!!!!!!!!!!

mike lynch       

[sixball]

I told you we'd disagree.  I don't have IFS, disc brakes, power steering, an automatic trans, AC, tilt wheel, or 400 HP. My old pickup will cruse all day between 70 and 80 and go right down the road. I can turn the wheels when it's standing still and it handles the curves as well as I do. On my basically stock front end radials made it worse. It road walked. I could not easily turn the wheels unless it was rolling. It wide soft sidewalls got eaten by rocks.

 So I guess that makes me dumb in your opinion.  I'm dumb in a lot of people's opinions for a lot of different things. I just don't know how I can sleep at night.

[vette59jdwl]

Sixball  there are many different types of people on board here you and I are in liners  that's ok with me. I don,t have to have the fastest ship in the sea, but guess what i sure do get a thrill driving them,
but then and again it does not take a lot to get this 71 year old up and at em.Remember the tear drop. I forgot to tell you how fast that dame thing would go  take a guess and by the way anything under 140 doest even come close lol lol oh by the way check out the license plates  lol   vette59jdwl

[vette59jdwl]

OOOOOPS

[madmike3434]

I told you we'd disagree.  I don't have IFS, disc brakes, power steering, an automatic trans, AC, tilt wheel, or 400 HP. My old pickup will cruse all day between 70 and 80 and go right down the road. I can turn the wheels when it's standing still and it handles the curves as well as I do. On my basically stock front end radials made it worse. It road walked. I could not easily turn the wheels unless it was rolling. It wide soft sidewalls got eaten by rocks.

 So I guess that makes me dumb in your opinion.  I'm dumb in a lot of people's opinions for a lot of different things. I just don't know how I can sleep at night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sixball from 1970 to 1996 I had a MOR_DROP 6" dropped beam front axle with elliptical springs on the front with C-78 15 VW tires and N-50 goodyears on the back. Road like a dump truck and on heavily travelled and rutted asphalt roads it was a bear to handle and keep it going straight.  If wayne has ever travelled the don valley parkway in Toronto with a bias ply tired car, he will know exactly the feeling of no control I am talking about.  That also applies to areas of the 401 that are heavily travelled by transports that hollow out the road on the tread area.

Nobody is saying your dumb, I am saying that I have been there old school, and I much prefer the system I have now.

mike lynch     

[sixball]

I doubt there is more truck traffic anywhere than on I-80, I-5, or old 99 through the Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley. My old '53 has been a lot of places since I started driving it in '73. It's made a lot of trips to LA, San Francisco Bay Area, Bonneville and one to Austin, Texas plus many thousands of miles of what ever Nevada and Northern California has to throw at it in all kinds of weather.It sleeps out side and does not get put away at the end of summer. I guess it just doesn't bother me. I don't mind being the driver. I know I could do things to "improve" it but if I want a new car I just buy one. I'm not saying anyone else's choices are wrong or dumb but for me a lot of the new stuff takes some of the fun out of it. I'm only 70, maybe when I mature I'll be seeking more comfort .

I like what I see happening here. I am impressed with the quality of work I see. I like the friendly atmosphere and the helpful comments. A lot of it is not my style but that is not important. Variety is……….

[62131]

Guess I need to get out more but in the meantime what is the standard tire size for a hot rod now? I remember when 14" was common, then my favorite the 15".  Now I can't find any 15" tires...seems like the 16" is the new standard.

For someone building a car right now...what is the tire size that is both common and easy on the wallet?

Ed

There is only a few manufactures producing 15" tires these days. I purchased a set of Master Craft I believe they are made by Cooper Tire