Quote:
Originally Posted by ignaro
Here are a few things I considered when choosing my wheel/tire setup. I wound up going more pro-touring than classic but I like the look.
Going with a fatter tire in the back means less grip in the front. In the event that you're hard braking and turning, say swerving to avoid a crash, you are more likely to have the fronts slide and understeer. Since I like to chase Porsches on gravely LA mountain roads, I wanted to stay square-- same contact patch on all four corners.
The height/diameter of the tire was what I wanted to stagger. To my eye, the 66/67's rear wheel well is much bigger than the front and my little 225/70/r14's looked miniature with all that room. After measuring, I went with stock tire height in the front and about 1" taller in the back. In my case, I got 18" wheel in front and 19" in the back. Unless someone tells you, you probably wouldn't know. They just look right. In theory that gave me a little better highway speed which I didn't mind but in practice, I didn't notice a drivability difference.
Lastly, check out tiresize.com to see what sizes are available. My old drums could lock up my Cooper Cobra tires no problem and I almost rear-ended a few Honda Accords. Your brakes are only as good as your tires and modern tire compounds aren't available in classic sizes. I decided on the Nitto NT555 G2 tires, a bang-for-my-buck performance tire with decent sidewall. That helped narrow my sizing search to 275/40r18's in the front and 275/40r19's in the back. I could probably have modified the front wheel well a bit but I wound up getting annoyed and just got rid of them. It doesn't rain much in LA.
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thanks for the alternate option to consider....I like the idea of square contact patch. Also, did you like the Cooper Cobra tires? I was thinking about possibly getting them. Do you recall if they were directional?