215/70R14 on 5 inch rim?

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dibbons

dibbons

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I have mounted 215/701R4 tires on my 1972 Satellite Sebring Plus factory 14 X 5 inch rims. (I know, it's a Bbody but I also have two Abodies). Doing some internet research I find the recommended rim width for that tire is between 5.5 and 7 inches. I have already made two road trips and I thought the car handled great. I plan I third trip soon. Should I have any concerns with this combo? I did read somewhere that a bigger tire on a narrower rim will better protect the rim from curb scratches, but that has nothing to do with safety/handling.Thank you.

rim width calculator:
Wheel/Rim Size Calculator - Shows acceptable rim width range for the tyre size
 
dibbons said:
I have mounted 215/701R4 tires on my 1972 Satellite Sebring Plus factory 14 X 5 inch rims. (I know, it's a Bbody but I also have two Abodies). Doing some internet research I find the recommended rim width for that tire is between 5.5 and 7 inches. I have already made two road trips and I thought the car handled great. I plan I third trip soon. Should I have any concerns with this combo? I did read somewhere that a bigger tire on a narrower rim will better protect the rim from curb scratches, but that has nothing to do with safety/handling.Thank you.

rim width calculator:
Wheel/Rim Size Calculator - Shows acceptable rim width range for the tyre size
Click to expand...

Because of the height of the sidewall you probably won't have any "issues", but it's not recommended for a 5" rim for a reason. And a bigger tire on a narrower rim absolutely has something to do with safety and handling if you go narrower than what is recommended. Sure, the narrowest rim recommended will have a little more rubber hanging out than the widest recommended, so there's a little more protection from curbs. But it does effect safety and handling when you go outside the recommendations. The tire is being squeezed down onto the rim more than was intended. What that means is that the tire will be narrower than it's supposed to be and the result will be more curvature on the tread. Which means the tire will be slightly taller than advertised, and you'll have a harder time putting all the tread in contact with the road. With only a 1/2" difference from recommended you probably won't see any significant abnormal tread wear, and tire pressure will play a role there as well. Since 14's with tall sidewalls handle so awful to begin with, you may not notice that difference either. But the car would feel and handle better if they were on 14x6's or even 14x7's. The rim used to measure all the tire specs is a 14x6.5", which means that's the ideal.

So yeah, you'll probably hear from all kinds of folks that have done it and will say it didn't kill them so it's fine. But if it were a good idea the tire manufacturer's would list it as a recommended size. They don't. Should you be worried about it? Probably not too much, 26" tall tires on 14" rims sets the handling bar pretty low to begin with. But I wouldn't buy those tires for those rims.
 
My question would be, are those actually 5" rims? I know that A-bodies used either 4.5 or 5.5 inch rims. ARe you measuring them correctly?
 
This is a Bbody and I have the spare rim off the car for repainting:

DSC00956.JPG
 
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