I'm interested in getting a rough idea on the front tire sizes used on mid-60's Super Stock and AF/X cars such as these Bill Ireland cars (one of my favorite drivers of this era). I can find nothing of this aspect ratio today so any help on recommendations for specific tire makes and models would be great. I want to run 15"ers but I think he was running 14"s in these pictures. Bottom line, I love tall tires! Thanks, - EM
I should have mentioned that if possible, I would really prefer a radial tire but in a bias-ply tire appearance. I really like the Goodyear Super Cushion look. - EM
Not much out there in radials that look like bias-plys. I too enjoy the look of a tall front tire. We run a '63 max wedge Plymouth in N/SS. In order to get the same look, we use Morosso 29" tall front runners. They're not very HAMB friendly, but work for our car. I have also purchased at least two pair of bias-ply fronts from Coker. They look great, but are a bit shorter (27"). They don't look too good on my big B-body cars.
6.70-15 BF Goodrich silvertowns look right on my SS and AFX. close to 28" tall for rollout advantage. Radials dunno. They ran tallest they could get in there w/o rubbing on 4" rims. Those don't look like 14s in the pics, definitely 15s and the mustang is fit with American magnesium 15 x 4. Moroso front runners showed up late 60s but are not a safe tire at all for street, very light, thin. Get on coker site and look for tire height and width, maybe they got a bias look radial that gets the look with the right height.
I'm running 6.00-15s on mine, bias ply, they seem to be the right size. If you really need something taller, go to a 6.70 or something as mentioned. I chose the size I did because it fits well on a 4.5" wide rim.
Here is the tire that seems to have everything I want in terms of construction, appearance and height: https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/cok-700312/overview/ - EM
If the tech guys look at the speed rating it's an "S" good for 112mph. They look at that in LSR, maybe not in drag racing?
The tires for superstock were taller for a very good reason. They have what another called 'rollout', this rollout will give you a running start at the beams. The 'beams' are a set of 2 lights and when you light both of them with your front tire you are 'staged'. Super stock drivers quickly figured out if they had a tall tire it takes longer for the tire to break the beam and start the clocks, thye get a running start for a bigger MPH (the ET won't change but they could get the MPH record). Some classes prefer a smaller tire (like Squirrels') to start the clocks as soon as possible, for a while it was popular to run those teenytiny airplane front tires on dragsters. An old trick is to stagger the front end, an inch is allowed, so you set the beams by your rearmost front tire and trip the clocks at the other end with your frontmost tire. If you look close at an altered or dragster you can actually see this stagger.
Here is a photo of our '63 with the 6.70 x 15" tires you mentioned. There is also a youtube video showing the car running these tires two weeks ago. Search "Frustration at Cecil". Good luck. Tommy
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