1964 Valiant convertible w/225.
The car had been in storage since 1982 and came with 185x13 white wall M&S tires. They were new, never mounted tires (date coded early 80s) when the previous owner had them mounted just before I bought it. With the whitewalls toward the inside, they looked terrible. Black car with blackwalls and wheel covers, yuck. After rebuilding the engine and getting close to driving it, I had them remounted and balanced with the whitewalls out. Huge improvement in the way the car looked. I put 500 mlles on the car last fall before winter.
This is the best riding A body I've ever driven. I added V8 torsion bars up front with KYB shocks. I have not gone faster than 55 because they are old tires. I've registered the car for Carlisle and these tires will not be on it for the trip as it's 4-5 hrs each way. The ride is good but they handle badly. If I drive into a corner a little fast, they squeal like a pig . Sounds like a chase scene in an old movie.
I have a set of SBP Rallyes and a perfect set of black 14x5.5 Formula S wheels. Everybody puts Rallyes on early Valiants so I may go with the black wheels with dog dish or full wheel covers just to be different. It'll still look mostly stock. I also obtained SSBC K-H style disc brakes for the car that require 14" minimum wheels as this car is going to be a driver.
In my opinion, if you are going to drive like Granny Rani, the 13" will do. If you want to go a little faster and not sound like a Starsky and Hutch rerun, you should upgrade.
