Thanks for the pictures.

For me, though, the existence of a white stripe isn't much of a concern. But I do want my speedometer to be accurate, and (according to the calculator here), putting P215/70R14 tires on my car would make the speedometer read about 3.5 mph too fast at highway speeds.

The other size recommendation I saw, P235/75R15, uses 15-inch wheels which (I imagine) would not hold my wheel covers (see my earlier post). And they would be 3.5 mph off in the other direction.

I didn't mean for this forum topic to go so long. I think I will drop by Cooper Tire on the weekend and see what they have to offer. Failing any miracles on Cooper's part, I'll probably end up with P215/70R14 tires and live with the compromise.

As always, I appreciate everyone's responses.

 

Assuming that it's accurate now. Many aren't.
If it's not (can easily be checked with a GPS), then a different size tire might correct it.

Right. Hubcaps will only fit one size wheel.

There are some model and year combinations where similar-appearing hubcaps were available for different size wheels (Cutlass / 88 at certain trim levels, for instance), so you might be able to make a change that's minimally noticeable, if not perfectly original, so long as the bolt pattern doesn't have to change.

- Eric

 

Keep us posted, and post pics when you can.

 

Nope...there's customer service for you! He told me they don't get them and that was the end of his conversation with me.
Guess where I don't shop for tires now. I went down to the next shop a block away and got the tires I needed.

 

3?

I think that would be number 1 on my hit parade

 

I went to my local Cooper Tires store this morning, and inquired into new tires. The place was quite busy, so we kept it brief and business-like. Here's what I found:
1. They don't have tires in the two "perfect fit" sizes, P225/75R14 and P235/70R14.
2. But they do have the Cobra Radial G/T in P225/70R14, which is pretty darn close. $101.50 per tire.
3. They don't have a relationship with Coker Tires or Diamond Back Classic Radials
4. But if I were to bring them tires from Coker/Diamond Back, they would install them for me

So how close to exact-fit is P225/70R14? Closer than any of the substitutes suggested so far. The outside diameter is only 3.2% smaller than the original 8.55-14 tires, and 2% smaller than the 17-year-old P235/70R14 tires which are currently installed. That works out to a 2 mph error at highway speeds. Close enough.

Which led me to wonder what other manufactures make tires of that size. Not many. Michelin doesn't, Continental doesn't, Bridgestone doesn't, Goodyear doesn't, Dunlop doesn't, Federal doesn't, General Tire probably doesn't (couldn't search by size on their web site), Kelly Tires doesn't, Kumho doesn't, Pirelli doesn't, Toyo doesn't, and Yokohama doesn't.

Mastercraft does, but those tires appear to the same as the Cooper tires, just with the name changed.

Hankook has one: the Milage Plus 2

Uniroyal has one: the Liberator A/T, which is a little brutish for my taste, and apparently available only at Wal-Mart.

And finally, Firestone has several, the most appealing of which is the Firehawk Indy 500, which I know nothing about, other than its categorization as an all-weather performance tire.

I'll probably walk over to Firestone and check on the availability/price of the Indy 500's, then get whatever is cheapest: them or the Cooper Cobra Radial G/Ts. Unless the wizened experts at Classicoldsmobile.com can give me good reasons to do otherwise.

 

I'm a little confused. Do you mean how close to exact for the car is this size, or do you mean how close is 225/70R14 to 235/70R14 because you say that 235/70R14 is a perfect fit? If it's the latter, the difference is 1 cm of tire width, which should be of no consequence.

Having the speedometer read 3.2% fast isn't exactly that difficult to live with. It's better to err on the side of it reading faster than you're going instead of slower. Less chance of a speeding ticket, after all.

To my mind, the $101.50 per tire cost is reasonable. Not as low as you can find, but not a $200 or $250 tire, either.

 

Your confusion is based on a typographical error on my part. I fixed that just now.

The size in question (the one which still has limited distribution) is P225/70R14. Its outside diameter is 3.2% smaller than the 8.55-14 tires originally installed on the car in 1966. Not perfect, but within a small enough margin that I'm not going to worry about it.

 

Thanks. I wouldn't worry too much about how close to perfect the original tire is. After a few miles of driving, you've worn off some tread, and the tire isn't the same diameter as it was when you put it on the car, anyway!

 

Check out Firestone before you buy anything. Oldsguy had Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s on his 69 Delta 88 and they were great tires.

 

I'm not sure how I could have forgotten BFGoodrich on my previous survey, since their P235/70R14 Radial T/A tires are what's currently installed. And indeed, the Radial T/A is available in P225/70R14. So I will try to add them to my short list of places to visit in the coming week.

 

As promised, I went tire shopping on Wednesday, and am reporting back to headquarters.

[When we left off, I had gone to Cooper Tire and they quoted me $101.50 per tire for Cooper Cobra Radial G/Ts]

Anyway, my first stop was Firestone. As expected, they recommended the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s. They even printed out a quote. It's slightly too big to post the quote directly to the forum, so the link is here. The first page is for the "Lifetime Package" which includes 3 years of Road Hazard Protection, which I interpret to mean that, if I get a flat tire, Firestone will repair it for me at no charge. The second page is for the basic package. Cheaper than the Coopers. I also asked them if they could order tires from classic car specialty shops. Yes, they could order from Coker. But the catalog they had was rather old. If I could provide them with a Coker part number, they said they could order it.

Next stop: BFGoodrich. Specifically, Marion Tire on Northwest Radial Boulevard. Back in my college days, I had a long commute that took me by that place 5 days each week. I was sick of that road back then. But I do feel an inclination to patronize businesses there.

When I mentioned my search for P225/70R14, surprisingly the guy didn't mention the BFGoodrich Radial T/A. Rather, he recommended two different options: the Firestone Firehawks I mentioned previously, and the Hankook Mileage Plus II. Now, I had dismissed the Hankooks earlier, because they were a foreign brand name, and they were very plain-looking in the brochure -- no white lettering or whitewall. Turns out that, when ordered in P225/70R14, they do have a white sidewall: a 1-inch wide white ring, and no white lettering. In other words, they are visually the most original-looking of the tires we have discussed so far, and unless you look really closely, they're not even identifiable as Hankooks. At Marion, both the Firestones and the Hankooks were available at $87 apiece. The guy at Marion also said that he could order from Coker, with the usual total-wallet-extraction caveats.

I know there are many people who would never put foreign-brand tires on their car. And I must admit that I do have some qualms about doing the same. But the Hankooks are in objective terms the most reasonable option -- better looking, high quality tires at a price only marginally more than the Firestones (and less than half the price of Cokers).

I haven't made any decisions yet, but I am leaning towards the Hankooks. My next scheduled road trip is a few weeks away, so I've got some time.

 

Thanks for the story, but who cares what "many people" would do? Many people still think the earth is flat.

Isn't Michelin a "foreign brand tire?" Would you be afraid to put a set of those on your car? Bridgestone, a Japanese company, purchased Firestone in 1988. If you put Firestone tires on your car, you're technically putting a "foreign brand tire" on your car. The brand was founded in America, but it hasn't been owned by Americans for more than 20 years.

A tire is a tire as long as it is well made. Who the hell cares where it's made? Don't fall victim to narrow-minded thinking.

 

That is too funny!

FWIW, I didn't know that Hankook was a foreign tire. From what you've told us it seems that either one of the tires from Marion would be the way to go. Just compare the Firestone and the Hankook treadlife, temperature, and mileage values. You could also check out reviews at Tire Rack.

 

I have 225/70R14s Radial T/As on three of my 70-72 Oldsmobiles. I also have a set of 225/75R14 Cooper Trendsetter whitewalls that I ran on my SX for a summer. You'll notice almost zero difference between those two sizes in how they fill the wheelwells or how they handle. If you go with 215s for some reason, they will look substantially smaller in those wheelwells. I've ordered from Tire Rack numerous times and have my local shop mount and balance for me.
Terry

 

Reading this thread, I intended on mentioning that when I came to the end. But, yes I did and yes they were. I really liked them. They had a decent passenger tire tread, an aggressive side wall profile similar to old style bias ply, and white letters for those that wanted the look. But this was quite a few years ago and even though the present tire shares the name, I can't say if it shares characteristics. Worth a look though.

Here is an image of them on the car.

 

That car was so awsome, you shouldn't have sold it.

Sorry, to hi-jack the thread. Keep us posted on your tire situation.

 

Well I got new tires installed on Tuesday (of last week). I decided on the Hankook Mileage Plus II P225/70R14 because (as discussed above) they appear to be the only major non-specialty manufacturer making tires of that size which have white sidewalls, not just white lettering. They were quite reasonably priced.

As requested, here are a few pictures of an installed tire:







The full-sized images are available here.

I had never driven on new tires before. The initial drive home from the tire shop was a surprisingly sensory experience. As I came to a stop at the first intersection, the tires made a soft squeeching noise that sounded like wet rubber boots on a linoleum floor. Then when I made an ordinary left turn, the tires squealed as if I was going faster than I really was. The tires quieted down after a few miles, though. Then when I parked the car, I could smell the tires as I walked away. Like I said -- a sensory experience.

Incidently, the guy at the tire shop said that it was good I bought these when I did, because Hankook was going to stop making that size tire in the near future. He didn't give me an exact date, but I suspect that it was before the end of the year.

 

Your tires look great, and, yes, that "new tire" smell will fill your garage for a few days, just like that "new car" smell does for a few weeks after getting a new car.


Interesting about the manufacturer discontinuing this tire size. I think that will happen more and more, and, eventually, if you want anything like the correct size tire for these cars, your only choices will be to go to a place that specializes in tires for classic cars and pay $200+ apiece for them or buy a more conventional tire at the local tire shop, but it will be a truck/SUV tire.