Small Bolt Pattern Tire Options (14in. steelies)

[SGlez10]

Hi guys
Car: 68 barracuda
Currently I have small bolt pattern all the way around.
Front is 195/75R 14
Rear is 215/70R 14

I want bigger tires but for now, I don’t have the time nor the money to convert to BBP just yet so I’m looking to just find some nice tires for my 14inch steelies now.

I was thinking 235’s all around but noticed they don’t have 235/70 or 75 for 14 in. wheels.

If I put 235/60R 14 how will that look? Will it raise the car? Lower it a bit? Recommendations? Thanks in advance!

 

[doug 371]

see if you like the 215 on front...235 is a short tire compareable in height to your 195...225/70 look good on the back...

 

[mbaird]

How wide are your rims ?
A smaller modern tire like a Michelin will give you better traction than a big tire with hard compound and old school tread pattern . Plus they are lighter , quieter , ride better and better mpg.

 

[Professor Fate]

Uh, 235-60s aren't going to fit on your 5-5 1/2" Skinny Minnie steelies- they're meant for a 6.5-8.5 inch rim.
A 225-70 is pushing it on your stock steelies.

 

[RustyRatRod]

As for height, the 215 70 14 is about all you can do on the front. You might even have clearance issues at the bottom of the front of the wheel well around the valance panel area.

 

[SGlez10]

How wide are your rims ?
A smaller modern tire like a Michelin will give you better traction than a big tire with hard compound and old school tread pattern . Plus they are lighter , quieter , ride better and better mpg.

I haven’t measured the width. I was looking into the Cooper Cobra. That’s the look I want for the car. They offer a 235/60R 14 and that’s what I was thinking of getting (set of 4)

 

[SGlez10]

As for height, the 215 70 14 is about all you can do on the front. You might even have clearance issues at the bottom of the front of the wheel well around the valance panel area.

So, you don’t think this set of 4 will just mount up on my car now and provide me nice ride no rubbing with good clearance?

 

[Dana67Dart]

On the front, the tire height and width play a role on whether they will fit

Wider with a smaller 60 aspect might fit where the same width but a 70 aspect might not.

Your width issue is 215 is about the widest tire regardless of aspect ratio that will fit safely on a 5.5 wide wheel.


My 67 dart has cooper cobra 215 70 14s

And the tires have a noticable ballooning to them.


The fronts fit great (keep in mind DART and BARRACUDA have different wheel openings.

On the rear I have about an inch in width I could add before the chance of rubbing. (Stock 6 leaf springs and 55 years old)

 

[SGlez10]

Uh, 235-60s aren't going to fit on your 5-5 1/2" Skinny Minnie steelies- they're meant for a 6.5-8.5 inch rim.
A 225-70 is pushing it on your stock steelies.

Im pretty sure these are the deep dish steelies but I will have to check when I get home. Previous owners switched some things up so they’re not stock.

 

[413]

Try this page, enter your current tire size, and the 23560/14 then you can see measurement of,how,the won’t fit. They are short amd wide. Not a good look IMO

Tire Size Comparison

 

[RustyRatRod]

So, you don’t think this set of 4 will just mount up on my car now and provide me nice ride no rubbing with good clearance?

View attachment 1716012198

Probably not on the front without modifying something. One way to try it.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Im pretty sure these are the deep dish steelies but I will have to check when I get home. Previous owners switched some things up so they’re not stock

Then all bets are off.


You will need to measure all kinds of things.

Good custom tire shops have tools to mount on the hub to simulate verious back spacing tire size etc.


Look on the wheel near the valve stem

There might be some text stamped into the wheel

Photograph and report back

And by the way...

In the future lead with "I don't know if these steelies are stock or aftermarket."

Saves us all a lot of time.

 

[SGlez10]

Probably not on the front without modifying something. One way to try it.

Im going to have to measure the steelies I have on there now and maybe then I’ll know what size tires I can go with. This is a pain in the … tire shop here I come.

 

[mbaird]

Post a pic of the rim near the bead . That will tell us what width rim you have . 14x5.5s are noticeably deeper there .

 

[Dana67Dart]

Be sure you measure things like backspacing correctly.

You can be off by 1/2 inch or more if you measure from the wheel lip to wheel mounting surface vs back side of bead seating area.

Which is the correct one? Who knows, but if someone advises you that ( just numbers for example) a 3" backspacing just fits and they measure it one way and you buy wheels that are measured the other way you could have a clearance issue.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Stock wheel (67 stamping is on inside of wheels)
14x5.5

And

14x4.5

68 up stock wheel stamped on the our side. Note 5.5 on right side.

Two ways to measure back spacing.

On lip

On bead area

5.5 wheel back spacing

On lip

On bead area

 

[SGlez10]

Then all bets are off.


You will need to measure all kinds of things.

Good custom tire shops have tools to mount on the hub to simulate verious back spacing tire size etc.


Look on the wheel near the valve stem

There might be some text stamped into the wheel

Photograph and report back

And by the way...

In the future lead with "I don't know if these steelies are stock or aftermarket."

Saves us all a lot of time.

Noted. Rookie mistake.

 

[SGlez10]

Th

Stock wheel (67 stamping is on inside of wheels)
14x5.5
View attachment 1716012215

View attachment 1716012214



And

14x4.5
View attachment 1716012211

View attachment 1716012212

I'll get the back spacing in a bi

Stock wheel (67 stamping is on inside of wheels)
14x5.5
View attachment 1716012215

View attachment 1716012214



And

14x4.5
View attachment 1716012211

View attachment 1716012212

I'll get the back spacing in a bit

View attachment 1716012213

This is very helpful. Thank you. I’ll take pictures of what I have and report back.

 

[mvh]

I can confirm 215/70-14 Cooper Cobras are a good fit all around on 14 x 5.5 rallies. But I wouldn't put anything wider on those rims... the tread on the 215s is over 8 inches wide — that's a lot of side bulge. And at that diameter, it's as wide as will work on the front. Many have tried to fit 225/60-15 on the front of a 2nd gen Barracuda and found it hits the front lower corner at full lock if there is any suspension deflection (as in high speed cornering, or entering a driveway at a sharp angle).

I also wanted to put 235/60-14s on my Barracuda originally. I even mocked up a profile in cardboard and played with it on the front hub, and I couldn't see any way to do it with any available wheel. You would need at least a 7" rim, and the precise backspacing would be critical. I had a set of SBP 14 x 7 TorqueThrusts but they weren't going to do it — not enough backspace. I sold them to a guy with a Dart. I decided if I was going to have to order a custom wheel, I might as well make it a 15 and help the tire availability issue, so I mounted the Cobras and let it slide for a later project.

 

[72bluNblu]

Be sure you measure things like backspacing correctly.

You can be off by 1/2 inch or more if you measure from the wheel lip to wheel mounting surface vs back side of bead seating area.

Which is the correct one? Who knows, but if someone advises you that ( just numbers for example) a 3" backspacing just fits and they measure it one way and you buy wheels that are measured the other way you could have a clearance issue.

The correct way to measure backspace is from the outside of the lip to the wheel mounting location. It is NOT measured from where the bead seats.

To measure it correctly, lay a straight edge across the back of the rim on the outside lip, and measure straight down to where the rim bolts to the axle.

When you see backspace specs published for a wheel, that is how it’s measured.

 

[Dana67Dart]

The correct way to measure backspace is from the outside of the lip to the wheel mounting location. It is NOT measured from where the bead seats

Not arguing that, just pointing out that there are two ways it can be measured.

If your pushing fractions of an inch clearance, the difference COULD make or break things. When you are taking info from other people, ask how they measured.

 

[72bluNblu]

Not arguing that, just pointing out that there are two ways it can be measured.

If your pushing fractions of an inch clearance, the difference COULD make or break things. When you are taking info from other people, ask how they measured.

There are a ton of ways to measure backspace the wrong way. There's only one way to do it right, which is the outside of the lip to the wheel mounting surface.

The lip of the rim is basically ~1/2” wide, which is the entire tire clearance you need to maintain to the rear springs. So messing it up and measuring to the inside of the lip makes a BIG difference. At one point I was running ~3/8” clearance from tire to my rear springs, so yeah, missing by a half inch would have meant an 1/8” of interference. That doesn’t work.

Rim width is measured inside to inside, (or where the beads mount), which is why rims are always ~1” wider outside lip to outside lip. Backspace is always outside lip to WMS. And if you really want some confusion, offset is always the distance from the WMS to the centerline of the rim.

That’s why a 15x8” with a 4.5” backspace is a zero offset rim. A 15x8” is 9” wide outside to outside, so the backspace outside to WMS is 4.5”, and that’s the centerline.

 

[RustyRatRod]

The correct way to measure backspace is from the outside of the lip to the wheel mounting location. It is NOT measured from where the bead seats.

To measure it correctly, lay a straight edge across the back of the rim on the outside lip, and measure straight down to where the rim bolts to the axle.

When you see backspace specs published for a wheel, that is how it’s measured.

Correct. You want the outer most inside part of the wheel and that's the outside of the lip. That's the only correct way. You want to measure what will contact parts on the car FIRST ant that sure ain't the bead area.

 

[mvh]

That's why people usually talk about backspace rather than offset, which would be the "correct" technical term, but is much more difficult to measure on the wheel. You can measure backspace even with the tire mounted. Offset is the difference between the center of the tread (or the midpoint between the two bead surfaces) and the wheel mounting surface. It's easy to derive from an engineering section drawing, but tough on a mounted wheel-and-tire.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Correct. You want the outer most inside part of the wheel and that's the outside of the lip. That's the only correct way. You want to measure what will contact parts on the car FIRST ant that sure ain't the bead area

Agreed.

But unless you are putting 185 wide tires on a 12 inch wide wheel the tire is going to contact anything on the car long before the wheel.

A lot of semantics, just ask, that way your getting numbers your expecting.