Raised white letter tires in back and blackwall tires in front, would it look ok

[dodge freak]

Was looking through old 70's car magazines and noticed a few cars back then had white letter tires in back but plain blackwall tires in front. I thought it look OK but back then just the brand name was on the tire and nothing else, so the lettering was just on 1/3 of the tire, not 50-60% now cause the name of the tire is added.

I want 255 70 15 tires in back for my old B body but all are mostly white letter and my fronts would be 215 70 15 which are in back right now.

Think it look OK ? sorry no pictures, looking at Cobra or M/T tires. Might go with 275 60 15 but its a little smaller overall and I want to cut my 3.91 ratio down from 4,000 rpm @ 75 mph which its at right now

 

[HemiMark]

Was looking through old 70's car magazines and noticed a few cars back then had white letter tires in back but plain blackwall tires in front. I thought it look OK but back then just the brand name was on the tire and nothing else, so the lettering was just on 1/3 of the tire, not 50-60% now cause the name of the tire is added.

I want 255 70 15 tires in back for my old B body but all are mostly white letter and my fronts would be 215 70 15 which are in back right now.

Think it look OK ? sorry no pictures, looking at Cobra or M/T tires. Might go with 275 60 15 but its a little smaller overall and I want to cut my 3.91 ratio down from 4,000 rpm @ 75 mph which its at right now

my 2 cents......not really... but that's just me.

 

[MoparDart68]

It wouldn't look right, almost as if you were running spare tires in the front. Of course, you could say the same thing about the lettered rear tires too, if that makes any sense...

 

[1968FormulaS340]

2 things I would like to mention.

• A 215-70-15 is a tall front tire for an a-body. It's 1"+ taller than stock.

• You can put the "White Letters" on the inside, this would give you matching side walls (Hit the white letters with a little black spray paint so you don't see them when looking low or under the car.)

 

[dodge freak]

Its not an A boby but B

these forums are more for the sbm, so I signed up on A bodies, lol

so nobody does this anymore, gee. Yeah things were different in the late 70's. Plus those older tires look better with just the name Goodyear in white and nothing else. All white letter tires today have too many names in white, takes up most of the tire, not just a 1/4-1/3 of it. I looked at many tires.

a gear change be best but hate to spend $ to get rid of a great running 3.91 set, its a 8.25 rear--should had gotten a 8 3/4 at the time

 

[68383GTS]

Ok?,no

 

[cjh]

I like RWL all round.

 

[WildCat]

OK second try

UH, NO, we did it because we were BROKE and couldn't by 4 tires at the same time. And for some reason the back tires didn't last very long.

Since most run different size front and rear tires most of us thought it looked OK then

My 1st car to have a match set of tires was probably my 77 Aspen I bought new. Bought a set of Crager slots and Goodyear RWL tires

don't care for mismatched tires and wheel combo, but in the 70's did what I could afford

 

[Aves]

Hmm the way I always ran mine on dart. But then again I run two different brands too.

Troy

 

[daredevil]

OK second try

UH, NO, we did it because we were BROKE and couldn't by 4 tires at the same time. And for some reason the back tires didn't last very long.

Since most run different size front and rear tires most of us thought it looked OK then

My 1st car to have a match set of tires was probably my 77 Aspen I bought new. Bought a set of Crager slots and Goodyear RWL tires

don't care for mismatched tires and wheel combo, but in the 70's did what I could afford

Not really because we were broke. More because we wanted big and littles and bias ply volkswagon tires didnt come in raised letters. Nice Dart btw.

 

[caferacerx]

one way or the other
not both

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Where I grew up and like caferacerx said it was one way or the other. The serious street car ran black walls and the drivers ran RWL.

 

[dodge freak]

OK second try

UH, NO, we did it because we were BROKE and couldn't by 4 tires at the same time. And for some reason the back tires didn't last very long.

Since most run different size front and rear tires most of us thought it looked OK then

My 1st car to have a match set of tires was probably my 77 Aspen I bought new. Bought a set of Crager slots and Goodyear RWL tires

don't care for mismatched tires and wheel combo, but in the 70's did what I could afford

with $4 a gallon gas and everything else at rip off prices, I'm broke right now.

Car runs pretty darn well with 26.8 inch tires and 3.91 gears, its almost prefect until its in a 70 mph zone and even then its not that bad. Maybe I just get some 235-70-15 tires in back that are 28 inches tall. Those might well be easier to find blackwall

That car looks OK , IMO

 

[GSXcite]

In the early 70s, most of the wider performance tires that you could buy at the local speed shop, like M/t and pro trac, came only with raised white letters. Most of the guys would go wider in back and keep the stock tires they had on the front of the car. I can't tell you how many sets of M50X15" tires I sold at the speed shop.

 

[bamadart]

I just turned my white letters in

 

[GSXcite]

I just turned my white letters in

Me too, but on some of the tires, they were white letter on both sides of the tire. Guess the manufacturer was going to make sure you would advertise for them.

 

[OneOfMany]

• (Hit the white letters with a little black spray paint so you don't see them when looking low or under the car.)

Funny as this sounds, years ago on my 68 I used a spraybomb of flat balck acrylic water-based paint. Once a year, piece of cardboard shield, and none were the wiser

Grant

 

[Bulldozer]

Was looking through old 70's car magazines and noticed a few cars back then had white letter tires in back but plain blackwall tires in front. I thought it look OK but back then just the brand name was on the tire and nothing else, so the lettering was just on 1/3 of the tire, not 50-60% now cause the name of the tire is added.

I want 255 70 15 tires in back for my old B body but all are mostly white letter and my fronts would be 215 70 15 which are in back right now.

Think it look OK ? sorry no pictures, looking at Cobra or M/T tires. Might go with 275 60 15 but its a little smaller overall and I want to cut my 3.91 ratio down from 4,000 rpm @ 75 mph which its at right now

these are 255/70/15 in the back with the whitewall in (goodyear eagles) and i like the blackwall out because i can run a different brand in the front without the lettering styles being different. when i bought this car the previous owner had the lettering out in the back and blackwalls in the front and i really didnt care for that look but thats my opinion. back in the day that was the hot rod look but i prefer the hot rod look in other ways lol.....the first two pics are the way i got the car, kinda crappy but you get the idea, and the second two are with the 255/70/15s on 15x10 centerlines....