Re: Tire Shopping for a '54 Clipper

Posted by HH56 On 2015/4/19 12:44:10

IMO, it depends on how much you are going to drive or show the car as to how expensive to go. After all the angst and decision making over DB radials, I have decided to get inexpensive radial blackwalls locally -- mostly because I just want rolling around and short drive tires. In that instance I would go with the blems if you are confident the issue is cosmetic only and not structural. You could probably get some tire dressing and make them more presentable. I wouldn't touch a set of used tires even if they were free including the mounting unless the car was never going to move on its own. Paraphrasing a comment that was posted in another thread, old rubber just isn't worth the risk.

If your car is like mine and tends to sit more than move, then I have a definite bias against bias tires. In my experience they generally become square long before they ever accumulate more than 100 miles. Am hoping radials will be less of an issue -- or, I've heard they at least will become rounder again with a bit of driving more so than bias. Time will tell if that is fact or fallacy but if not, a $4-500 set of square radials will feel a lot better in the wallet than a $1200 set of fancy whitewalls of any type.

One question on yours (and mine) that maybe the more knowledgeable and mathematically inclined can answer by pencil or by experience. According to the chart at Diamondback, 760-15s have an average diameter of 28.6 and the 225/75s have a diameter of 28.1. A difference of about 1/2". My car would take 215/75s to fit the original 700 bias size but I 'm wondering if that same almost half inch difference will be an issue with the speedometer and if so, how much.