I have seen this look at shows for years.............the tires in the rear have a significantly taller side wall then the fronts. I am NOT talking about wider rears.....this is about taller rears. It's always on mid/late 60's 442's, Impala's etc.... A very nice, period correct look for this era that I would like to do with my Starfire. But any search about taller rear tires only produces info about wider tires. I'm assuming they are going with 65's on the front and 75's on the rear or something like that? Anyone on here have this look? Ideas? Thoughts? Sizes? Pics? Thank you

 

This will explain how tire sizes work. It's a combination of aspect ratio and section width.
What do the numbers on tires mean? | Tirebuyer.com

 

I’m not familiar with the Starfires, what size tire are you running now?

Personally, I like the “big n little” tire look. Nothing screams bad *** more than the big tire look. If you have the wheelhouse space for a wider tire, I would go with a wider and a little taller every time.


There are certain cars that look great rubbed. The 68 Darts, bubble top Impalas, 65 GM A body cars, E body Mopars, mid 69s Galaxy’s are some that I like with the tubbed look. I know this isn’t the look your going for, I personally think the only reason anyone should tub a car is if you have traction problems. And with today’s tire and suspension technology, how can you have traction problems that need a 33x18 tire to overcome??? However, I get the nostalgic appeal.

Call me dated, “boomer”, whatever, I despise the huge rims with rubber band tires that’s trendy now. Big wagon wheel rims with low profile tires just look out of place on old iron.

I remember reading a biography of some auto designer complaining about a nee car model. He compared the stance to that of a linebacker wearing ballet slippers. I’ll go one further, to me the big rim look on a muscle car is comparable to a football player in high heels.

Coker tire use to offer some tires around 28 inches tall with a wider profile than what most tires stores carry. I’m running 275/60R15 (about 28 tall, and 11 section width, on a 10 inch rim). I absolutely loved the way my car looked with 325/50 drag radials (28.5 tall, almost 14 inches section width, on the same 10 inch rim) but drag radials don’t have very good treadlife!!!

I guess you need to know what size tire you have now, how much taller you want to go, and then look at some tire sizes and see what’s available.

 

I know what tire sizes mean. I am looking for people who do or have done this and what combination they use.

 

If you want to go with taller tires you're going to have the problem that most tall tires are designed for crossovers, trucks or SUVs. I had difficulty finding tires that weren't knobby all-terrain tires when I bought 235/75 R15s for my 71 98.

 

I have whitewall Hankook Optimo 235/75-15s on one of my D88s.

 

When I purchased my ride she had relatively new BF Goodrich Radial T/As all around. 225 70 15s on the rear and 235 60 15s on front. Looked great from the side but not from certain angles, as the fronts were wider than rears and that drove me nuts...

Otherwise 225 70 15s are great and very tall, 27.4 inch diameter which filled the wheel well opening beautifully. Car drove great and felt great. I have pics somewhere but I don't think it will help you much as our cars are so different. My gut says it should look awesome on your car.

 

I've preferred equal sizes on front as back, but I like 60 ratio tires over 70 for looks. Granted, for use, I usually end up with 70s, but 60s look meaner. I view these cars as street brawlers, so not dragsters, and not autocross, but something in between, so I like non-skinny fronts.

 

On my Cutlass when I bought it were 225-70-14 in the rear and 215-70-14 in the front. I would stick with the same aspect ratio and vary the section widths. This way, the rears will be taller and slightly wider than the fronts.

 

There is a FB Starfire group that might be able to help you out a bit more. Search for Oldsmobile Starfire Owners 1961-1966, as there are members of that group that curiously do not seem to be members here. I will say that off the top of my head, I am not aware of anyone that has taller tires in the rear of their Starfire. The "gentlemen's musclecar" doesn't lend itself to that look as much as an A body. Also, as you may have already determined, if you're staying with stock 14" rims, the selection available is very limited. But, I think stock caps would look stupid with taller tires in the rear, and I'd have to logically assume that you would agree and are not going stock rims, either. Good luck, I'm interested to see your results in the future.

EDIT: I am not sure if you can really get away from having a different width when you go for the taller sidewall, but I'm not a tire expert and am too lazy to play with the tire size calculators out there. However, I did just come across a guy on the FB group mentioned above that is running 225/60/R17 and 255/60/R17's on his 63. Very subtle, but looks good. His name is Mike Sonneson. Join the group page, search on his name, and you should find pics of his car.

 

Definitely not a Starfire frenzy on here. Nonetheless, minus the opinions, this site has been nothing but useful and helpful. I am not really interested in what Oldsmobile's original idea was for my car. It's big, it has a big block, and it attracts attention everywhere I take it. It's jacked up in the rear and it has dual exhaust exiting in front of the rear tires. No one ever seems to have a problem with that except on here. Oh well. I'm going with the taller tire in the rear this summer. And I appreciate the different sizes mentioned on here.