I'm probably going to open a huge can o' worms with this, but I need some opinions from my fellow HAMBers. I plan to replace the current wheels and tires on my Es*** shortly and I can't decide what look to go for regarding tires. As much as I'd like to go bias-ply wide whites, that won't be happening any time soon. I live in the middle of nowhere, which means I have to drive at least an hour down ****ty Manitoba highways to get to any events. Therefore, radials will have to do for now. I'm going with OEM steel wheels, painted black, with trim rings and chrome lug nuts. No caps. Tires will be either 195 or 205/75R15 on the front and 235/75R15 on the back. I want to fill the fenders up and still have a bit of a rubber rake. What I need to know is should I run skinny white walls, or stick to black walls? I'm trying to take the truck out of the 70's and give it more of a 60's look. What say the collective intelligence of the HAMB?
Boyd Who - How about narrow red line tires in radials from Diamondback. DB have all the choices from WWW, narrow whites, black walls etc a very good company. CRUISER
Definitely ditch those mags, that's the biggest thing holding you in the '70's. Stick with blackwalls, or find you some redlines maybe. I think something else that'd give you a little kick is some black pinstriping on the body to contrast the body color pinstriping on the fenders. ...and even though you didn't ask, I'd build a set of short racks for the bed, oak, mid toned, not too dark. Just out of curiousity, have you considered using a dropped headlight bar? Maybe spread them out a hair?
check out sites with tire size calculators, like: project33.com .Tires on truck now, as you know, look wrong. The front tires you are thinking about are too tall. Go black. Maybe go to a 65 or 70 series. What type of OEM (Es***) wheels are you thinking about? Run some small hub caps.
The T/A's that are on the truck now are 24" diameter in the front and 26" in the rear. I'd like to see 26" in the front and 29" in the rear, with a decent amount of sidewall height. The rims I'm talking about using are every day factory steel wheels found on most late-model cars. Plans are for them to be painted gloss black with trim rings and chrome lug nuts, but no caps. I may change my mind about caps later once I get everything set up on the truck.
Okay, I played with your truck a little, hope you don't mind. Mild drop, black steelies with chrome rings and lugs, wide whites, short rack on the back (I left the tonneau, I like 'em). One board on the back gave it too much of a straight line from the hood in my mind. I also dropped the headlights and tucked the bumpers in a bit. ...and I gave it a haircut. A 2" haircut, because the proportions were screwing with me, I felt like with the long cowl that the high roof gave it a screwy look when lowered, but that's just my opinion...
Very cool, I don't mind at all! Sometimes you need someone elses perspective. I like the rack on the box, although I think they should be thinner boards. The chop is cool but my head already touches the headliner. I can lower the seat about an inch, but that's about all. The bumpers will probably get replaced with tubular nerfs once I get a welder. It looks too "old man" with the stock bumpers. Why wait? A serious lack of $$.
OK, here is my opinion, black walls and defiantly no top chop, that really puts it out of proportion and I would not run painted steel wheels, you have enough going on with paint now, you need something to break it up.The only thing I see is the back wheels look a little wide and the rear could come down a hair and I would run smaller tires in the front other than that I wouldn't touch it, looks good. hey just my opinion.
Okay, redlines and one board on the rack. By the way, did you read the "paint your tires" thread? Quite a few people are claiming really good luck with Krylon Fusion paint. Not the best solution, but one that might get you going in the right direction, and for far less than actually mounting white walls or redlines or anything else for that matter. ...and unchopped with a shorter rail on the sideboard I wouldn't get rid of those bumpers, there nice! They just need to be brought into the body some more...
Definitely less dish needed on the rear wheels. I have just done this exercise - removed deep dish mags and replaced with steelies (with www). Gone from 60 series tires 255/60/15 and 205 60/14 to 205/75/15 front and 235/75/15, but may go down to 195/75/15 (I borrowed the wheels and tires to try this out). It gave me a mild rake and filled out the gap between the top of the tire and the fender arch. It raised the car up an inch at the front and 1 1/2 inches at the rear. Great improvement. Do the math very carefully and consider running more backspace on the rear wheels if you have room. My 0.02c
From what you currently have, Id run a skinny'er tire up front, and a skinny'er but taller tire out back. Ditch the rims. I wouldnt run the wooden rails above the bed, never like those on anything except when hauling a ton of **** and they were put to work. Far as the bumpers and chop, I think it looks great like it is.
Smaller front tires. Back walls with black or red wheels and some kind of baby moon type cap or chrome reverse wheels. The truck looks great. Good stance.
Thanks guys! I've got a pretty good idea now about what to run. Pics will follow once I get things changed over.
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