14" Tire info/advice

[phish1270]

I have a nice set of 14" Ralley rims that I just had powder-coated & are ready to go. They are the rims that I want to use on my '65 Barracuda. I have two 5.5" rims for the front & two 6" rims for the back. I would prefer the 6"s up front & 7"s in the back but these are what I have so these are what I am using. It seems that 205/60 is the biggest size recommended for the 5.5" & 225/60 for the 6" rims. I am having a hard time finding tires in those sizes. My question is can I safely run a 215 on the 5.5" & a 235 on the 6"? I am able to find BF Goodrich tires in those sizes. I have seen a few guys on here that are running 215/60s on 5.5" rims, are there any issues? How does the car handle? Do they wear out prematurely? Any info/advice is greatly appreciated. I really want to run the white letter tires for the look I want. Thanks.

 

[Johnny Dart]

I have a nice set of 14" Ralley rims that I just had powder-coated & are ready to go. They are the rims that I want to use on my '65 Barracuda. I have two 5.5" rims for the front & two 6" rims for the back. I would prefer the 6"s up front & 7"s in the back but these are what I have so these are what I am using. It seems that 205/60 is the biggest size recommended for the 5.5" & 225/60 for the 6" rims. I am having a hard time finding tires in those sizes. My question is can I safely run a 215 on the 5.5" & a 235 on the 6"? I am able to find BF Goodrich tires in those sizes. I have seen a few guys on here that are running 215/60s on 5.5" rims, are there any issues? How does the car handle? Do they wear out prematurely? Any info/advice is greatly appreciated. I really want to run the white letter tires for the look I want. Thanks.

I have run 235/60-14 BFG's on 5.5" rims with no problem.
Let me suggest a 225/60-14's on the front with a 235/60-14 on the back.

 

[phish1270]

I was planning on going with a 225/60 up front & a 245/60 out back but I was told that if I use a tire that is wider than recommended it will "mushroom" on the rim & flex too much. I am really working on setting my car to handle well so I do not want to put all this time & money into the suspension & then ruin it with the wrong tires.
Thanks for the info Johnny.

 

[phish1270]

100 guys have viewed this thread & only 1 has used a tire size close to what I am trying to find? I called BF Goodrich directly & their Tire "Expert" told me that a 235/60/14 tire will not fit on a 14" rim no matter how wide it is! Not that it is beyond what is recommended but that it actually will not physically fit on the rim. So either he is not an expert or all the guys I have seen online that claim to use that size do not know what they have. Who can you call anymore to get actual, true, knowledgeable advice if the manufacturer does not know anything about what they make? :banghead:

 

[yellowdartdave]

I think the 'tire expert' is not an expert.

Ask him what size 14" tire will fit on a 14x6" rim !!

 

[airwoofer]

I am in the same boat with my fish. The rear tires were DOT approved drag tires and need replacing. I would like to find a good street / strip DOT tire for the wheel which is pretty wide (maybe 8-9 inches).

Any suggestions?

 

[phish1270]

I think the 'tire expert' is not an expert.

Ask him what size 14" tire will fit on a 14x6" rim !!

He said a 225/60/14 would fit it but not a 235. I know guys use 235s but I wanted to see what the effects are of running a slightly bigger tire than recommended would be. I have put a lot of time & money into my suspension this winter & don't want to screw it up by running tires that will perform poorly. The 235 is more preference, I can find the recommended 225 for a 6" rim but wanted to go a tocuh wider. The front 5.5" rim is more the problem. It is recommended for nothing bigger than a 205 & I can not find a 205/60 anywhere but can find a 215/60. JohnnyDart has used as large as a 235 on 5.5" rims so it sounds like I should be ok but it never hurts to seek out a few more opinions. I have been told that a wider than recommended tire on a rim will flex & sway due to it "mushrooming" on a narrow rim.

 

[phish1270]

I am in the same boat with my fish. The rear tires were DOT approved drag tires and need replacing. I would like to find a good street / strip DOT tire for the wheel which is pretty wide (maybe 8-9 inches).

Any suggestions?

You should have more options since your rim is wider. You can run some wider tires than me on your car. The first gen Barracudas are limited as far as clearance for tires. The BF Goodrich Radial T/As are very common on muscle cars; that is what I am going with. Tirerack will show you what sizes are made & you can buy direct from them. http://www.tirerack.com/index_w.jsp
This calculator will show you differences in tire sizes & what width rims are recommended. http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp
Hope this helps.

 

[Kevin Jonker]

OK. I had Mickey thompson G-60 14 Indy Profile SS tires on the factory blue 14 x 6" rims on a Hurst SC Rambler. Ran them for a year. They were a tight fit in the wheel well but were ok on the rim. Yeah they bulged some but I drove them everywhere and ran them at LA County Raceway (about 3,500 ft elevation) to a non corrected 15 flat at about 89 MPH. MT makes non sticky 14 inch tires and the Hoosier quick time dot says fits 6 inch rim with a 275-55-14. Hope this helps.

 

[phish1270]

OK. I had Mickey thompson G-60 14 Indy Profile SS tires on the factory blue 14 x 6" rims on a Hurst SC Rambler. Ran them for a year. They were a tight fit in the wheel well but were ok on the rim. Yeah they bulged some but I drove them everywhere and ran them at LA County Raceway (about 3,500 ft elevation) to a non corrected 15 flat at about 89 MPH. MT makes non sticky 14 inch tires and the Hoosier quick time dot says fits 6 inch rim with a 275-55-14. Hope this helps.

That helps a lot. I went to the Hoosier site & saw those tires. Those are pretty wide & recommended on 6"-8". I am going with the 215/60 in the front & 235/60 out back & crossing my fingers. Worst case I have to resell them with 100 miles on them & start over. Thanks guys for the help!

 

[Kevin Jonker]

I think you will be fine with 235's 0n a 6' rim. As long as the offset is right.

 

[caferacerx]

I would go with 205/70-14 on the front with the 5.5" rim
and 235/60-14 on the back with the 6" rim, as 6" is the minimum recommended rim width for that size tire, both of these sizes are very close to the stock tire height at just over 25" tall, if you want a taller tire for the back I would suggest a 225/70-14 at 26 1/2"

 

[phish1270]

I would go with 205/70-14 on the front with the 5.5" rim
and 235/60-14 on the back with the 6" rim, as 6" is the minimum recommended rim width for that size tire, both of these sizes are very close to the stock tire height at just over 25" tall, if you want a taller tire for the back I would suggest a 225/70-14 at 26 1/2"

If I go 205/70 up front & 235/60 out back my front tire will be 0.3" inches taller than the back; not going to work for me. I finally stopped at a tire store locally that knew what they were talking about & had a reference book that shows recommended sizes & permitted sizes based on rim widths. The 215/60 on the 5.5" rim is well within the recommended sizes & the 235/60 on the 6" rim is within the permitted. I am good to go. Thanks again guys!

 

[684mulas]

I used a variety of different sized tires and rallys on my old 64. The 235 or 245/60 14s will work fine on the 6" rim even though its a bit bigger than suggested. I had the 215/70s on the front but I think it was too tall. 205/70s would have been better. Here is a picture of 235/60s and 215/70s. This car had superstock springs.

 

[dustermaniac]

I just literally got back from having my new BF Goodrich T/A Radials mounted, balanced and installed on my car. I am running 14" Mopar Rallye rims 7" wide and am running P245 60R 14 on the back of the car and P 205 70R 14 on the fronts. These tires are very nice and the car handles awesome with them. Here are a couple of pics of my new tires. I did not like the look of the rears due to previously running old school Polyglas but these tires are kind of growing on me and I guess I can live with them. besides the $500 + they have set me back to buy, have shipped and pay for mounting and balancing. I kind of actually like the look. Pictures were taken from my cell phone. Sorry about the image quality.

 

[Johnny Dart]

235/60-14's all around on a Chrysler 5.5" steel wheel.
Sold these tires to a friend and he put them on a 5.5" Rallye's. He has driven extensive miles with no issues.


Borrowed these off my 70 Dart to check the fit on a early A.
Didnt really drive much with them on,all I remember is I needed Popeye arms to turn the wheel with the manual steering. That is why I suggested a 225/60-14 up front. Rears fit no problem.

 

[65s]

All great old information here. I have 205/70/14's on 5.5" rallyes on my '65 Barracuda but they are kinda skinny and tall. Next time I buy tires I am thinking 215/60/14 or 225/60/14 on the same 5.5" rallyes. Maybe the wider for the back as I have fast ratio manual steering (16:1). I have read tire charts that say the largest you should go on a 5.5" is 205/60 but I've also read 215/60 is fine and Johnny Dart here says he had 235/60 is fine.