Hello everyone, I'm a newbie from Florida. I have a 65 Pontiac bonneville in need of new tires. The current size is 225/70/14 on 8 lugs, I was told by the tire shop that the size was incorrect and they do not have a clue to what i need??? Can any please tell me the correct size tire for my Bonne and what brand you recommend? Thanks in advance Phil
No, he is talking about the 8 lug Pontiac wheels that were available 60-68 on some their high end cars. See: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14626 V/8
8 lug pontiac rims and drums are the hot set up. Ok so first question I have is If they have no clue what you need HOW DO THEY KNOW ITS WRONG ? Factory size was 8.00 x 14 . Do the 225/70/14 fit nice and work well? 225/75/14 would also be a good choice. Hope you got the mounting plate. Im going to guess that tire shop will mess you up if they have no clue what tires you need. Find a well established tire shop with someone who has a bit of gray hair and dirty hands, they'll know what 8 lug pontiac wheels are. Welcome to the hamb , be sure to do an intro and post some pics of your pontiac
We had a set of eight lugs on our 1968 catalina convert the size you mentioned should work fine as suggested if you do not have a backing plate for mounting and balancing purposes you will need to get one, and yes alot of folks have never seen or heard of this great pontiac drum and wheel set up! They Rock!!
Thanks everyone for your feedback......I can go with the original 225/75/14 or 225/70/14 that is currently on my bonne. I am now in debate between the cooper cobra and the Firestone Indy 500. This is a great forum, thanks ya'll
^^^x2. Had those on my long-gone '66 Bonneville ragtop (one car of several I wished I'd NEVER sold!). This was in the mid-'70s, so the tire guys were familiar with them then, and they used that adapter to spin-balance them.
The Indy 500 is a very good tire. Had a set on a daily driver and couldn't have been happier with them.
Only heard and read about the 8-lug Pontiacs. Never seen any myself. What is the bolt circle? In the picture above it looks large.
Here's some info and better pics of them for those who may be interested. http://www.pontiacparadise.com/parts-id/8-lug-wheels.php
Go with the cooper's. I have a friend that has been a Cooper dealer for more than 25 years. They (cooper) has a great warranty plan and they seem to last longer in my opinion. P.S. he also was a Pontiac dealer for the same amount of time. He runs a old Pontiac big car parts business on the side. Has lots of parts some N.o.s. P.m me if you would like his #.
The old 8.25-14 or newer G78-14 should be close too. Oh yeah, I remember the plate with all the holes that went on the Coats 20-20. And of course it was always missing the bolts that came with it. I used to do them all the time and never cracked one. Bob
I love my Indy 500s. On my second set on a o/t Crown Vic Interceptor. I got 120,000 miles on my first set. Inflation, rotation, and ran 'em till they became maypops. I wish I would have kept my '65 Grand Prix with the 8 lugs.
The 225 70 14"s are probably pretty close to the G78-14 bias ply. There are conversion charts. Look what people have on their Pontiacs at the Performance Years site. This link is for the 62-66 Big Car section. If you have a Pontiac you should also be looking at the Performance Years site. They have a very good group of knowledgeable and helpful posters. http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=428
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