Tires

[sambo883]

Hi, I have a 1973 Centurion. The vehicle was my Fathers and is now mine. What is on there right now are "True Spoke" rims that are either 15x5 or 15x6....I am not sure. Mounted to them are Commander 4 Ply Polyester Core Tubless Bias tires with a load range of 1770 size H78-15 with 3" WW. Yes, I said 3". There is roughly a 1" clearance between the tire and rear quarter wheel well. I would like to replace these tires with Radials and possibly 3"WW (let's put the 3" on the side for now). Does anyone know what size Radial will fit these rims, keeping in mind about Clearance on the rear wheel well which is very important? Do you need more information? I am open to all replies. Oh, and I really don't want to take out a loan for these wheels either if you know what I mean. Brand does not matter to me. Worse case scenario, if I have to go back with stock Buick Rally Rims to accomodate spec size tires I will.
Tires on there right now are junk and I cannot get an inspection sticker. The Bias tires suck too, I do not like them at all.
I'm guessing.....the narrower the WW, the less expensive the tire is? Like I said, if you need more information just let me know!
I'm new to this Forum and hope to get alot of info from here. Thnx.
sambo883
Southern, NH
92 degree's today

[Centurion717273]

Going back to stock Buick rims sounds like a best case scenario, not a worse case.

[73 Centurion]

There are 2 sizes that fit our cars well: P225-75-15-R and P235-75-15-R.

You may already know this but the numbers indicate the size of the tire. P means a passenger car tire, 235 is the width of the tire at it's widest. The width of your rim limits how wide a tire you can safely run. You should have no problems with either a 225 or 235. The 75 is the ratio between the width of the tire and it's height. A 235-50 will have a narrower sidewall than a 235-75. My car has 235-70's. The 15 is the size of the rim, stock and your tru-spokes are both 15's. The R at the end is for Radial construction. It's become so common that it may not be listed.

It's getting harder to find standard white wall tires as so few new cars use them. You can check on line stores like Tire-rack to find the alternatives. The car will run the same with white walls, raised white leters or black wall tires it doesn't care. The majority on this board tend to prefer maintaining a stock appearance. A few "radicals" choose aftermarket rims and something other than whitewalls and endure some good natured ribbing about it.

The 3" white wall is a specialty tire. They are available in a Radial in 15" if you hunt a bit. I had the wide whitewalls on a previous car and they looked nice but were a royal pain to keep clean.

I think the original tires for this car had a 3/4" whitewall but 1" looks nice as well. There have been threads about tire preferences but there has never been consensus on the "best".

White wall tires were common and boring when I purchased my car. They were the tires your mom's station wagon had. Now they are rare and station wagons are cool again. It's all personal preference.

John

[dewbers]

Stop picking on my John... I am very sensitive!! :bawl:

I am running 255 70R15 on my baby. And I've not had any issues at all.
Other than the ribbing guys like John and Bob give me!:laugh:

Go redlines Sambo!! That will really tick off the "majority" !!! :Brow:
In all seriousness... John is right. The tires are getting harder to find. You may have to go specialty company to find what you want. But they are out there. Just not cheap and in many cases, you'll have to order them. I am guessing this is the tire you're speaking of... http://store.cokertire.com/h78-15-coker-classic-3-whitewall-tire.html

Here's what I am running: http://store.cokertire.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=255/70R15
Some nice options here: http://store.cokertire.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=235/75R15

It's a matter of preference Sambo... Gotta find what what makes your clock tick.
Good luck.

[centurion 455 ragtop]

On my Centurion I use 235/R75 15" Kumho Solus KR21 white walls. They do come in white walls or black walls and they can take a heavier load rating being I tow with mine (I think its the "R" rating). I get them from the Tire Rack, on line and the price is like $77 per tire and they don't rub. They last and have a pretty good all around rating. Even have Kumho Solus 21 tires on my son's Malibu and my Buick LeSabre. With my everyday Buick LeSabre I recently bought my third set.......oh did I say THIRD set. hehehe yep. I have 231,000 miles on her, best damn car I ever owned and she is still running strong! Each set on my LeSabre lasted around 40,000 miles.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Solus+KR21&partnum=375TR5KR21

Posted a closer shot of mine with the tires mounted:

[sambo883]

2963Here is a photo of my 1973.2962

[sambo883]

So, from what I gathered.......if I want to keep the Tru-Spoke rims with Wide WW Bias I'm going to be paying just over $100.+ a tire. If I want to stay with what I got now with using Radials I'm going to be paying a hefty $240.+ a tire. Or if I go with Stock Buick rims I can find some nice 3/4-1" WW tires.
Would be nice if I could find some Buick rims..........................
thnx for the help folks!

[The German]

Thanks for the link, Rick ! First time that I saw that there are given data ragarding load index and speed rating (max. load and mph). The tires you have seem to be really good for our giants - they will be strong enough for heavy load and German highways without speed limit ;). So now I know what to buy if I will have to change them.

[73 Centurion]

I like the way the wide white picks up the white interior. It pulls the look together. That's a very sharp looking '73 you have there.

You can keep the tru-spokes, any tire that fits the stock rims will fit fine. The stock rims are 6" wide, many aftermarket rims start at 7" wide and go up. I'd be stunned if yours were 5" wide that would be unusual. Any tire mentioned so far will fit your rims (or the stock rims) nicely.

You can keep the tru-spoke rims and put on the Kumho tires Rick recommended. They are radials, they have a nice white wall (not 3 inches wide, but closer to stock) and they are currenty $71.00.

The Coker tires are radials. The 3 1/8" white wall is $199. They'd keep the look you have and upgrade you to new radial tires.

We often focus on the visual aspects of tire choice but you should also do a little research into how the tire performs. The Tire rack does a good job of rating tires for noise, wet traction and other metrics. The tires influence just about every aspect of the car. How your car accelerates is influenced by the tires as much as the amount of power you have under the hood. How stiff the suspension feels, how well it brakes and corners, how loud the car is on the highway are all directly influenced by the tire. All 235 tires are the same width at the fattest part of the tire, but not all 235's have the same size contact patch. I run 235-70's because the contact patch on them is noticeably wider than on a 235-75. The 70's are categorized by the manufacturer as a "performance tire", the 75's are a "stock" tire. They are built to behave differently. The stock tires will be quieter, provide a gentler ride and last longer than a performance tire. Performance tires will generally corner better, stop shorter and accelerate stronger.

If I could find a performance oriented white wall I'd buy it. I've even looked into places that will cut a whitewall into a black wall tire but I'm not convinced it wouldn't affect how the tire flexes.

My car is not a high performance vehicle but most of my driving is in Boston where the pedestrians, bicicylists, scooters and skate boarders jump out of the bushes. A couple of feet of stopping distance can be crucial. I don't drive a lot of miles so I want the softest stickiest tires I can get.

Rick is towing a trailer down the highway, soft sticky tires would just wear out quickly. He's better off with the tires he has.

You should consider how you'll use the car first and looks second. If you're driving gently and doing a lot of highway traveling the Kumho's are an excellent choice. If you're doing parades and cruise nights the 3" white walls will make your car stand out. If you want to push the car in either acceleration or handling you should look at some of the performance tires.

One last warning. Many Trucks and SUV's use tires in our size. Most of these will be stiffer and noisier than you'd like. Some truck and SUV tires are built to have less traction as owners would rather skid than tip over. In general the compromises built into these tires do not work well for us.

Here are the models with whitewalls from Tire Rack.

Bridgestone Turanza EL400 largest size is 215/70R15 $90
Continental ContiProContact 235/70 $79 and 235/75 $81
Dunlop SP 60 215/70 $69
Goodyear Assurance ComforTred 215/70 $91
Goodyear Eagle LS 205/60 $95
Goodyear Integrity 215/70 $63
Goodyear Radial LS 17" only
Kumho Solus KR21 235/70 $74, 235/75 $71
Michelin Energy LX4 16 and 17" only
Michelin Symmetry 215/70 $105
Yokohama Aegis LS4 no size information available.

So it looks like the Kumho's and Continentals are your only choices in something bigger than 215.

Good luck and show us pictures of whatever you choose.

John

[sambo883]

The car is used only for the parades and Some cruise nights. Other than that, Maybe a "Sunday" ride. I think I got all the info I needed, now I just need to decide. Man, those radials are nice but big $. Thnx for all the help out there!
John, I work in Woburn and occasionally have to drive into/around Boston so I feel your pain....lol!

[73 Centurion]

say it with me....

"Woooh-bin"

John

[gashog]

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?pc=11303&counter=1&ar=75&rd=15&sw=false&cs=235

100,000 mile warranty,700 wear rating,free shipping
I just bought a set and love em.

[gashog]

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?pc=11303&counter=1&ar=75&rd=15&sw=false&cs=235

100,000 mile warranty,700 wear rating,free shipping
I just bought a set and love em.