Tires for stock wheels

[Lingo]

I believe I previously posted in the wrong forum. If so, I'll gladly delete one post ASAP. Here is my inquiry....

My plans are to upgrade tires and wheels in the future. But for now I need new tires for the original wheels. I'd prefer a retro look, raised white letters, and affordable. I may only run them until next Spring. Any advice / wisdom will be much appreciated. I'm currently running P195/70R14. Can I go larger? Say 205's? I'm in the Denver area if a fellow forum member has used options or a retailer they suggest. My vehicle is a '66 Barracuda. Thanks in advance!

 

[DartVadar]

Some pretty classic and inexpensive tires are some BFG radial TA tires, that's what I have on my dart. As far as size goes you can fit up to 275s in the rear I think. But judging by what your old size was I don't think you want to go that big. 215s should be good all around, give you a bit more width (If thats what you want). My dart has 215/60r15s up front and 255/60r15s in the rear, you have more room than I do and I didn't do any mods.

edit...I mis-read that you are using stock wheels.

 

[mvh]

If you have the standard 4-1/2" wide wheels, 205 is probably as far as you can go. If you have the "Formula S" 5-1/2" wide wheels, you could go 215. I have run 215/70-14s on my 67 fastback for years, but I have 14 x 6 rally wheels.

In these sizes, for performance-look tires, you have almost no choice. By far the most common choice is the BFG Radial T/A. Other than that, you have second-tier brands like General, Cooper, and Uniroyal. None of these are actually high performance tires by modern standards, they just have raised white letters and an old-school look.

My last set of tires were Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s, which actually were a high performance street radial. But they went out of production. So I don't know what I'm going to do for my next set. I have a nice set of 4 vintage 14 x 7 TorqueThrusts that I'm determined to use, so I am stuck with a 14 inch tire.

 

[teringer]

I just bought 4 cobra 215/75/14 tires for my 5 1/2" ralley wheels for my 73 duster they were the same price as the TA but the cobra had better reviews, I do use the TA on by blazer both are good tires.