Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

[cantvalve16]

Gonna be needin' tires on the Ranchero soon. The car has a set of chrome 5 spoke wheels that I like on the car. 15x7 chrome U.S. Supremes. I think they fit the look of the car currently, and frankly... I can't afford anything else.
Car is currently wearing 205/65s on the front and 205/70s on the back. The tires rub as is, but I will remedy the rubbing thing very soon. Still working out my options for that.

The goal is the best street tire size for this sized wheel on this car. 205s look a little skinny on that wheel. I was thinking of running a 225/50 or 60 on the front and a 245 50-60 on the rear. I am not shooting for the best looking tire size but the best functioning. It seems that the contact patch should be about the same size as the wheel width for handling purposes and the widest tire you can put on the wheel for traction.


What is the best tire size I could put on those wheels for function purposes?
Are there any holes in my thought process?

[cantvalve16]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

Thanks Beags.

I guess I am kind of asking a question on tire theory here. Is it better to run a skinnier tire than the wheel for handling purposes or a wider tire?

[stage1scott]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

all my experience with this is from my supercharged MINI-I have found tires with a tread width that is the same as or just slightly wider than the wheel, but with a signifigantly shorter and stiffer sidewall (read RIDES HARD!) handle the best. if they are very much wider or narrower than rim width, the sidewalls are forced to "work" sideways and do suspension work, instead of remaining as sidewalls. also, pay attention to the quality of your wheels-sticky modern rubber works really well, and if your suspension is working well and you have good tires, wheels can crack and break under high G force cornering. I am sure there are guys here who know way more about this than me, I was a drag racer most of my life and have only dabbled in the cornering aspects of autos for 2 years now.

[fast Ed]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

The tread width (not overall section width) should be close to the wheel width, that's not a bad rule of thumb for a performance street application.  For more track-oriented stuff, wheels that are closer to the section width of the tires are normally used.  On the street it's a bit of a compromise between handling, ride, tire and wheel protection from road hazards, etc.  Tires stretched out on to a wider wheel are a bit more likely to get damaged or even de-bead with a tough enough impact.

Also to add, it's getting tougher to find really good performance tires in a selection of sizes in 15" wheel diameter. And no, BFG Radial T/As don't count.


cheers
Ed N.

[bnjny]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

Width is improtant for the look, but most important will be compound and construction. The Radial T/A while a good tire is far from a performance tire...

You also may run into issues with finding a true performance tire for a 15" wheel... I have not checked sizes or pricing, but if you want to stick with an 'American' brand. Goodyear has just introduced a new Eagle GT that is much better than the old Radial T/A...

Also you may want to look into truck tires... For the sizes you ar elooking for, you may find what you are looking for with street performance truck tires...

[ELpolacko]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

I have no experience racing corners but I do have quite a bit for street driven stuff. I specialize in IFS and chassis work for hot rods and custom trucks.

Never have been a fan of the BFG line of tires. The G-force stuff is a major improvement over Euro line of the past. The old Euro T/A tires had soft sidwalls that seemed to give up if you stared at them too long. The G-force tires seemed to go the other extreme. Just beat the crap out of you stiff.

I have been a long time fan of Yokohama tires. Currently run the AVS series ES-100s on my truck and get 25-30 thousand miles a piece out of them with a very comfortable ride quality, fantastic cornering response and a good amount of feedback without being annoying. But for the wheels you have I would recommend the AVID series of tires from them.

As far as American brand manufacturers go, your choices are slim. Goodyear, Bridgestone/Firestone, Hoosier? But I wouldn't rule out other makes like Michelin or Pirelli. The key is to pick the tire you need based on your driving style, wheel size and corner weight of the vehicle.

Just for an example this chart for the Yokohama AVID T4 shows some suggestions for your rim size. Pay attention to the recommended wheel size and match that with your cross section width and overall height.

http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/spec.aspx?tire=AVID%20T4

[outlaw57]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

Toyo has some nice hp tires! i've got proxies (17") and love em. may not have what you need in 15".

and hey, they supported DF in the lemons race with the fury!

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

Just buy some BFG T/A's. They are very reasonably priced and hold their own in handling. If you want better handling; you're gonna need 17 inchers or better.

[fast Ed]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

If you can fit 245/50R15 all around, Dunlop still has their SP8000 in that size. It's decent, would certainly hang on better than those Astro Skidder GTs from BF Goodrich.

The new Eagle GT doesn't come in any large 15" sizes, and there isn't much from Toyo or Yokohama either. The Firestone Firehawk SZ50 (which was on a Bridgestone carcass) was very good, it was available in 225/60R15. I had those on all 4 corners of my Cougar when I was running the 69 Shelby wheels, they were fantastic street tires. Great grip wet and dry, and decent ride too. But it's been phased out other than a few OEM 17" sizes.


cheers
Ed N.

[greenjunk]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

i've driven a lot of c5/c6's with the BFG KDW2's on them and they really are grippy once warmed up.

[fast Ed]

Re: Street tires for best street handling- '64 Ranchero

Yes, there are a bunch of good tires out there, but large 15" selection is very limited.


cheers
Ed N.