Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I got P235 75 R15 tires for my car. No interference in the wheel wells in turns, haven't tried any real offroading yet though. I bought cheap tires to get running, when I go all Pebble Beach on it I'll spring for the good stuff.

My speedo reads a couple mph high, maybe the P225's would have been better for that. But I like the footprint and the ride with these, and the illusion of speed is fine too while being easy on my engine!

Wouldn't the 225s cause the speedo to read higher?
Aren't they smaller in diameter?

I was told there would be no math...

You're probably right. When I got my car it had 4 different size tires on it, I remember looking in the specs but I forget what was original equipment, the equivalent is not quite a match with modern radials that I found so I went with what got me rolling.

Remember that speedometers were not accurate back in the day. It was quite common for them to read 5-7 mph fast according to the old road tests. So don't sweat it. Just time how long it takes to drive a measured mile and adjust accordingly.

No, not uncertain, just posting what I found in the trunk!

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Oops, looking back here I noticed that my last post was #55!

Uh-oh, this one makes 56.

Here is picture of my '54 riding on 215/75R15's which were the cheapest blackwall tires that Walmart had.

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I use my GPS to check my speed, it is very acurate.

Kev - I put some really cheap radial tires from Discount Tire on my 51 200 when I lived in Dallas - about $40 each. This was back in 2001, and they are still doing fine. Although I should really replace them before I head out on any long trips. 15 years is a long time for tires.

A good look, Kev. The blue paint with the blackwalls looks real squad-car. (I've done preted Dragnet night cruises under the lights at old industrial locations. Fun!) But if I go the cheap radial route, I'll probably try the narrow whitewalls, which are available from, i think, B.F. Goodrich and some others. Not optimal, but still not a bad look on some old cars. A friend of mine put them on his '47 Dodge B24. Not bad. I think they were Tires Plus specials, and reasonably priced.

If I get radials, I think I'll go "oversize" with the 225 R. They're a bit smaller than the L78's I have on there now, which look good to me. Speedometer readings are slow, but then they're not that accurate to begin with, and they usually read higher at higher speeds, so overdoing the RPMs at 70 or 80 is less likely, I think.