B964

I searched but did not see anything.
Anyone have a good combination of upgraded wheel and tire size specs for 1963 88’s? Not looking for steam rollers but just an upgrade to 15 inch with a modern radial.
If not I will just measure and try a few choices to get something that works.

copper128

15x7" 5x5" bolt circle wheels will be just right. For a nice standard size street radial, look at P225/75-15 or 235/70-15. Either one will fit and give you a modern look.

68DeltaCustom

I agree. Just converted my 1968 Delta from 8:55 x 14 bias ply to 225/75-15. Overall diameter very close. Would have liked 235/70-15 but they were not available in whitewall. Your car likely had 8:50 x 14 originally which became 8:55 x 14. Diameter was around 28"

B964

Thanks for the info.

rocketraider

Did either of you run into ordering problems with those size 15" tires?

I had to put tires on the wagon this week after some hoodlums decided it would be fun to go thru the neighborhood slashing tires, and every tire shop in town had to order 225/75-15.

Ended up with Kumho Solus. I would rather have had a North American-made tire, but Kumhos have a good reputation. I flatly said no when one of them suggested Chinese-made tires "for a car that old". It's old and looks rough, but I will not put a Chinese-made tire on any vehicle I care about.

Both sets had about 35k on them, more than half worn out, so it made absolutely no sense to replace two. Plus I'm really **** about having a matched set of tires on my cars. When I had to mix them up because it was all I could afford to do was one thing, but to me unmatched tires on a car just always shouted "I don't care about my stuff."

The vandals got 12 vehicles in this neighborhood that night, and hit me hard- they slashed two on the wagon and two on the truck, so I ended up having to have them towed to the tire shop. If they were after putting people thru unnecessary expense and inconvenience, they succeeded. The guy up the street who had just put new Michelins on his truck four days earlier only to get two of them slashed had blood in his eyes. And all we got from the cops was "We'll get you a police report to turn in to your insurance."

I don't want a police report, I want you to catch the damn perps so we can shove the socket end of a lug wrench up their butt.

###

Earlier this week a local garage owner shot and killed a thug he caught messing with a customer's car on the garage property- in broad daylight, they've gotten bold. Now the thug's family is howling about how he was a good boy, he had some rough times, but he turnin' his life around, and a respected business owner is facing first degree murder charges.

Sorry for the hijack and rant. I'm just a grumpy middle-aged white guy who's gotten tired of seeing stuff people worked hard for stolen and damaged by low-life scum who've never done an honest day's work in their lives.

B964- if you change to 15" tires, you may be able to use a 215/75-15 tire as it will be about the same height as the correct (unavailable) 14" tires and won't throw your speedometer calibration off.

copper128

http://www.tirebuyer.com/tirebuyerwi...tedItem/142594

This is what I have on my Delmont:
http://www.tirebuyer.com/tirebuyerwi...ectedItem/3419

68DeltaCustom

The 1963 Olds 88 came with 800 x 14 tires.The diameter of those was about 27.6" which would pretty well match up with 215R75 x 15 radials. The 850 x 14 were standard on the 98.
The tires that i just bought for my 68 Delta are Firestone FR380. They are smooth and quiet and an incredible improvement over the bias ply tires that I had.

Angelov71

Hello,
I am finishing my 63 super 88 and I am looking to upgrade the wheels/tires, need some help...I understand that 15x7 wheels and 235/70/15 will fit just fine, any comments if the wheels need to be offset?

thanks.

Angelo

68DeltaCustom

I bought 15x7 steel rims for mine with no fitment issues. Probably from a GMC Astro van or something. I would have liked a 235/70x15 for my 68 Delta but I couldn't get whitewalls so I went with 225/75x15 along with 15" Oldsmobile wire wheel covers from a later model.

justinj

I managed to find 14" radial whitewalls for my '62 88. They're made by General Tire - found 'em only a few blocks from my place. This was about 6 months or so ago, maybe I was lucky. So I guess they're out there.

Angelov71

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with 15x7 and 235/70/15.

B964

I finally ended up going with 15x7 Wheel Vintiques MODEL 62 and 235/70/15 non white wall. I found the poverty dog dish hub caps on Ebay.

I still have the white wall 14's and full caps but I like this look just as much. Wife said with the WW and full caps it looked "Presidential" and now looks like a Mafia car.

Thinking that trim rings may be added but on the fence about that. Salt has already been dumped on the roads here so I have to wait til spring to feel how it rides.
file_zpse17b4543.jpg

file_zpsdb9e3863.jpg

D. Yaros

I would recommend a set of trim rings, but I am partial

Wheel-After.jpg

A set of the rings for your car has been for sale here for what seems like forever. They may still be available?

dutch injun

That looks just perfect. I wouldn't change a thing. I even had the dogfishes on my 63 Starfire for a while, but it doesn't look as good as on a non luxury model, so I now run the custom hubcaps. I love the color on your car!

Don R.

235-70-15 TA radials on 15" by 7" Caprice 9C1 cop wheels with 1960 Buick wheelcovers.

tedrw

Looks really nice! How much do you think the taller tires threw off your speedometer? 2 or 3 MPH?