Hot Rods My 40 Coupe needs tires....

My wife asked what I’d like for Christmas and I mentioned some wide whitewall tires for my relatively new to me 40 Ford Coupe. She said that she couldn’t think of anything more appropriate. I don’t have a budget, so I’d like the best I can buy.
It has a 4” dropped front axle and currently running 195 65 15 on 6” fronts and 225 75 15 on 7”rears. I’d like a bit taller tire in the front.
You guys have any suggestions on brand, width whitewall and size?
Here’s the car:

 

I used diamondbacks on all of ours--some in albums-205/65/15 front 235/75/15 rear-2 1/4 on front 2 1/2 on rear

 

The car in your avatar looks great!
Thanks.....I’ve heard the Diamondbacks are good tires. I never thought about smaller whitewall width on the smaller front tires.

 

I have been happy with my Diamond Backs so far. I have 5000 miles on them so far. The white walls are easy to keep clean with Simple Green cleaner.

 

What an awesome Christmas present - clearly, your wife is a keeper.

Ive had whitewalls (radials only) on a few vehicles and would happily offer the following thoughts

1) Do NOT buy GoodYear whitewalls.
They have an XXXX pattern around the whole whitewall which you really dont notice much at first but which traps the dirt like a magnet and make your tyres look dirty, pretty much from the get go. Their whitewall is like a quarter inch thick "addition" to the tyre and is just plain ugly.

Even the salesman (I was buying out of the US and I live in New Zealand) said they were ugly and got dirty very easily and very few customers ever came back for another set. I only bought them because I couldnt buy any BFG Silvertowns at the time. Everything was on back order and I didnt have time to wait before them to become available as the ship had a sailing date.

2) Do NOT buy US Classic
I looked at the NHTS website and they ranked those tyres pretty badly for overall performance. Given the really crappy roads we have down here (everything built to lowest tender) I decided to avoid buying "elcheapo"

3) Do buy BFG Silvertowns (or Cokers)
I understand that the BFG Silvertowns and the Cokers come from the same factory. They certainly look the same to me. They look way better, and I would argue that the tread pattern looks pretty good too. My experience is that they perform very well also, and they look good doing it.

4) Tyre Height
Your current 195/65/15s are 25 inches tall by the online calculator I used.
205/60/15 is 26 inches tall
205/75/15 is 27 inches tall
I would think that you should have a good amount of space up under the front guards, so the 205/75/15s shouldnt interfere with anything.

Personally I prefer to fit the tallest tyres that I can fit into the available space as I think they fill the wheel arch out way better. And I prefer a taller profile as it allows for a wider whitewall.

I dont really know of too many hot rodders who are driving their hot rods as "canyon burners" thru the hills, who might need 35 profile tyres on their hot rods.

Heres an online calculator to give you some guidance.
https://tiresize.com/comparison/

 

Thanks GasserTodd. Very good information. I too want the tallest tires that will fit properly.
I may even go to the trouble of finding some used tires in the sizes y’all are suggesting to test fit....especially on the front.

 

Diamondbacks. I'm on my second set on my avatar. Got 13 years and almost 30,000 miles on the first set.

 

Do you want radials or bias ply?

 

I put 165/80/15 on front on 6" rim and 235/75/16 on 7" rim on rear of my avatar as well as my 32 Ford cabriolet.
Spec on front tires are 25.4"; rear tires spec is 29.9".
Works for me.

Below is with 195/65/15 on 5" rims with 235/75/15 on 7" rim.


Front tire specs only .4" taller but 1.2" narrower tread... looks more hot roddy to me. Going to 16" wheel on rear adds one more inch and thus raises tire in wheelwell half an inch; filling the hole a bit more all the way around.
Sorry don't have a better profile shot with the Americans.

 

You may want to consider a bias ply lookalike, radial. I'm considering Auburn WWW's from Diamondback.

 

Diamond Back Auburn Deluxe. This is a truck obviously but I just mounted these. 8.20X15 in back, 5.60X15 in front. They do come in 16 as well.

 

I have 5.60 X 15 coker and 7.0 X16 Firestone wide whites on my 39 and they ride and handle great. I have driven these with Radials and with Bias plys, and honestly I cant tell a difference in handling, these cars are not canyon carvers anyway, I will say that I feel like the Bias tires steer easier by far than the radials at low speeds. for a similar look, you could run an 8.20 on your 15 inch rims for about the same deal.

 

These cars all look awesome with WWWs! I definitely want to go radials. I'm liking the 5.60 fronts and would love 8.20 rears but may not have the clearance in the rear. Those Diamondback Auburn Deluxe sure look nice.
This thread makes me want to go chrome reverse also......wonder if Santa has enough room in his sleigh?

 

8.20s on the rear will fit fine in your car, they are roughly the same width as what you already have just a bit taller to fill the wheel opening. the front if you want something like the 5.60's or 5.90's you may have to go to a narrower front wheel. I have the 5.60's on a 5 inch wheel and they are fine, but I wouldn't want to go any wider. 6 inch may be a tad wide for those tires.

 

Thanks Jason.

 

Take a look at Nexen white wall tires and talk to a dealer of them. I'm going from Diamond backs which I like but the Nexen will be half the price so it's worth checking out.

 

Running the same tires on my 40 coupe as olscrounger. Got them from Diamond Back and they are Toyo. I've got about 2000 miles on them with no problems. Straight axle front, parallel leaf rear, they ride great. I run 35 lbs of air.

 

Forgot to mention that my rear is a 9" with parallels also.

 

Here is a close up in the bed of my truck prior to mounting. For a radial it has great looking tread and pie crust plus these have the added beauty bar on the side wall.

 

40's with tires I mentioned earlier

 

Billy....that's a really good looking tire! Is that an 8" wheel or is it just the reverse?

Olscrounger.....those are beautiful 40s!!!!

 

They are 15X7 reverse with just a 2.125" backspace custom.

 

What kind of glue did you use to affix those WW's BB?

 

^^^

 

ChevyFordMan: As mentioned above...............Nexan tires.....................did a search and they come up then the Town Fair Tire website comes up, do a search for brand and Nexan does NOT show.
Where are these available??
Paul in CT

 

calli tires in California or diamond backs. calli tire uses the same process as diamond backs but a fraction of the cost. I have used 3 sets of diamond backs and 2 sets of calli tires. same tires a lot less money. these are my last set of calli tires I think 130.00 each bfg radial t/a

 

Thanks pontnak123!
Going to be ordering next week. I just can’t mount ‘em until Christmas

 

Nexen.

 

I just got Diamond Back Auburn Deluxes 3 weeks ago, love them! Get the beauty bars (raised white wall on outer edge).

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