I need to replace the tires on my old 59 Bel-Air sedan. This car still rides on the stock 14 inch rims and has a 215/75 14 tire on it. What is the biggest tire that can fit on the 14 without rubbing? Show pics of different tires on the stock rims if you can.
you aren't going to find a tire much bigger than the one you have unless you go to a 60 series (245/60/14) those wheel tubs are huge, so you don't have much to worry about. consider a wheel change if you want a wide tire
I'm not really looking for wider, but taller tires, but I've found that they can only be had with 235/75 tires and those are pricey. After all this is the stovebolt six daily driver...
There is a seam on the front (down low) of the wheel well ... lose that and you can run a taller tire. Here is a shot of my 59 with 265/50r15 on 8 inch wide rims. If your talking about the BIGGEST tire you can fit on a 14 inch rim ... go with pie crusts. By the way, passenger car rims are 5" wide and wagon/elky rims are 5.5" wide if you want wider.
Stock for that car is a 7.50-14 (unless its a wagon) which should be within a hair of 27" overall diameter. A 215-75-14 is going to be .3" shorter than that which isn't much. It's going to, in my experience, look a tad shorter as its a much wider tire. Taller? 8.00-14s, which the wagons used, are about 27.6", and every size up from that adds even more, all the way up to 9.50-14s which are 29.5" tall and might look a little ridiculous on your car. I'd go with 8.00-14s if I were you, bias plys look "right" on old cars. And the HAMB is all about spreading the gospel of traditional cars...
Step up to a 15" rim and 235/75R15s. They'll fit. Run dog dish caps and trim rings and no one will notice the difference.
my 59 elcamino had 8.50 x 14 wide whites. i just took them off and went with 18 inch tires, needed a change anyway due to the disc brake conversion
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