Technical Rear tire recommendation

I have been looking at possibilities for rear tires to fit my Model A. I’m one of those guys who has several sets of tires and wheels around to change up the look of my cars occasionally. I’m looking for a radial rear tire that is 29.5 or taller. Before you light the torches and grab the pitchforks, my new black steel wheels are all painted and pretty and ready to install with my WW bias ply tires. They will be the primary set for my Coupe. That will leave me with a nice new set of expensive chrome wheels without tires. I have a new pair of small BFG radial TAs that I’m going to put on the front chrome wheels and I’m looking for tall radials for the rear to make a full set of big n littles. Model As have big wheel openings so it takes a tall tire to fill the fenders. The 8.20 bias plies just barely fill them. I’m fairly good with bias ply tires but I have no experience with radials on hot rods. Any suggestions?? Can anyone lead me to some tall radials and maybe a good source. Here’s what I’ve got on there now. Thanks, Bob

 

255/70/15 was made by BFG in the TA I don't know if they are now.

 

Thanks, that looks like an option but it’s just a hair shorter than the 8.20s that are on there now. I’m hoping to find something taller.

 

Lucas?

 

I will look into that one. Thanks.

Edit; I looked at the Lucas website, they are 29.9” tall, that’s good. They are a little pricey, but what isn’t. I like the look of the sidewall, they look old. I’d have to buy fronts too.
Hmmm, what can I sell??..

 

Guessing that’s a 15” rim, - you don’t state size, - can’t you get an 8.90 ?
Personally, I would just go to a 16” diameter rim and 8.20……but that’s not what you asked for !

 

Check out the Pro Trac Street Pro.. My car handled and rode real nicely with the ProTrac Street Pro tire, I had the 235/60-15. I still used the 225/70R15 Cooper Cobra in the front. The best part of all this was the traction I was getting with the Bias Plys in the rear. They really helped my car hook..
I tried the Protracs up front and it was all over the place lol.. So my car liked radials up front, bias plys in the rear.

 

Mixing bias and radials is a big no-no. JMO
Paul in CT

 

https://tiresize.com/calculator/

Try this site. They show every possible size and who makes it.

265/70R15 is 29.6" tall

 

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/285-70r15-bf-goodrich-silvertown-blackwall.html
may be wider than you want

 

7.50-16 on the rear.

 

Thanks for the replies.
Clem, I’m looking for some tall radial tires to put on the 15”x8” chrome wheels that I already have to use as a backup set to the set of bias plies that I usually run on the car.
What I found when I tried to search was that you needed to enter a size, but not knowing radials all that well I didn’t know what size I was looking for. For example, the 285-70s above, I didn’t know that they existed. Mostly I found 285- 50 or 60. Only one site I searched showed a simple list of all 15” tire sizes but they were mostly passenger car sizes and stopped at 255. I’ll check out tiresize.com, thanks

 

Since we are talking tires, here's what happened to me a few weeks ago..

Nine years ago, I bought a full set of Diamond Back wide whites for The Judge. (Big one's for rear).. paid right at $1,000.... While on a 200 mile trip in June of this year, I thought I had run into some rough highway paving at about 80 mph, but it wasn't. I slowed down and pulled off to the first exit, as as I slowed to about 20 mph, BAAAAM !!!

Yea, 7,000 miles on the tires, still looked new, except for some tiny cracks that were hardly noticeable. Diamond Back, as well as other "custom tire" companies, just buy a major brand, (In this case BF Goodrich), and grind and smooth the outside of the "black" part of the tire, but leave the markings on the inside.

This is 2021, and I will NEVER believe that the tire manufacturers are unable to make a tire that comes apart right on schedule. In addition, that brings up another question. I wonder how many people are DEAD due to this kind of policy (because of blowouts at highway speeds)?....In talking to a tire guy, he agreed with this statement and said "If I invented a formula that made a tire never blow out, or the rubber fly off the tire, the "big boys" would pay me a million dollars for my formula and then throw it in the trash can".

So, $600 later, I have two new front tires.... oh well.. for what it's worth, guys..

 

Here is something I never heard of, 7R15LT: 29.5" tall by 7.7" wide and looks more like a bias ply.

Highway Rib Summer light truck tires are for drivers who want a combination of heavy-duty load capacity, even wear and low noise along with traction on dry and wet roads. Sometimes used as Original Equipment (O.E.) on medium and heavy-duty 2WD trucks, vans and pickups, Highway Rib Summer tires are not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

O.E. Highway Rib Summer light truck tires are typically purchased as direct replacements for worn-out pairs/sets of the vehicle's original tires. They can also be used for other vehicle applications in complete sets of four or axle pairs if available in an appropriate size, load range and speed rating to match the existing O.E. tires' performance category and specifications.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...700R5215&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

I don't know how that would work on a hot rod, it just caught my eye with the odd designation.

 

That is odd. They look like bias plies as far as the tread goes.
I've had good luck and service life from my tires over the years. The only blowout I've had was due to the newly installed axle bearing and sleeve releasing and the axle sliding out of the 9" in my F100. The tire rubbed and eventually blew out. Unfortunately I had my car trailer with my '31 Tudor behind me. It could have been a disaster but I got it whoa'd down and safely pulled to the side of good old Ca. Hwy 99. Killed a good Coker wide white though.
I'm thinking maybe I'll put the 10.50-15 M+Hs back on the chrome wheels. They filled the fenders pretty well on my Tudor.

 

Hey Bob I haven't an answer on what would be the perfect fit for you. Since you will have two sets to play with I need to throw the caution flag about mixing them.

Paul this is not JUST your opinion. When sitting around the gas station one slow day in '69 I found a trade paper explaining the then fresh ( American ) market for radial tires. Clearly it was stated that they should not be mixed. Having radial steer tires followed by bias could mean disaster as the radials when cornering could make a path that the bias would be unable to follow, without breaking traction.
One rainy day in '93 barely, and I mean barely, surviving a one vehicle accident I was dismayed to understand what had occured.
I had taken a pair of doughnuts from the used pile, they seemed to look like, but were not, a radial tread. I threw them on the back. The effect was life changing.

 

31 10.5 R15 is a tire size that may work for you. I think they are generally sold for p-up trucks so finding an acceptable tread pattern you like might take some searching.

 

Sorry, thought you were wanting bias tyres.

So my ute, you call them pickups, has those type of tyres.
If you are having trouble with sizing, over here in NZ they rate them in a combination of metric and imperial:
(265/ 70 R15 means - 265mm tread width, 70 means profile is 70% of tread width and of course R15 is radial 15” rim size)

Here, there are a lot of ute tyres with suitable tread for road driving, (not chunky off road stuff) that should suit you.
So a 265/75 r15 is - 30.6”. Of course they get smaller as they wear out…….

if you go to a light truck tyre, they may have more height with a narrower width, but probably won’t handle very nicely as usually the side wall is a heavier ply rating.

 

Your right a 31x10.50 x 15 is 30.8 in. in diameter. I believe that's about as tall as you can get in a 15 in. tire. I know Coker does make a 280/75/R15 but they are expensive, almost $300 per tire, 30in.tall. The31x10.50x15 are taller and you can purchase them at any tire store. Good luck

 

Great, at least now I have a number to help me search.
TTT; I have no intention of mixing them up. I will have four radials on chrome wheels and four bias ply tires on gloss black wheels. I once bought a Chevy powered '29 rpu built by someone else. I just began to drive it after inspecting the chassis and fixing a few questionable things. I never really looked at the tires. It had two radials and two bias plies. How did I find out? By almost looping it at 80 mph on the Grapevine on the way home from the CHRR in Bakersfield. A real clean out your shorts moment, and with a lady friend on our first date.

 

Unsure. There is practically nothing in your shop

 

Funny that this thread popped back up. I did get a pair of 285/70R15 BFGs and mounted them on the chrome wheels. So, I have matching big n little radials as well as the bias plies. They are definitely tall and fill the fenders well. Thanks for all the tips.
As I mentioned before, they are just to change the look when the urge strikes. 99% of the time it will look like this except with the hood installed (the hood is still in paint jail).

As to mixing the two tire styles, it'll never happen. I bought a hotrod many years ago, a '29 closed cab pickup. It ran and drove ok around the streets of LA so I drove it out to the drags at Bakersfield. Driving back over the Grapevine at hoodlum speeds I had to hit the brakes fairly hard and the car started to sway. I let off the brakes and worked to keep it under control but it changed lanes several times before it settled down. Turns out it had bias plies on the rear and radials on the front. I had never really looked closely at them, they just looked good on the truck.
Lesson learned.