I had 235-60's on 15x8's and thought they had a little "bulge" to them. A little less than my 15x7's, but to be honest I think I liked the 8's a bit better to be honest, but don't dislike the 7's. Here's the car with 235's on 8's on all 4 corners when I tore it down for resto. Here's the car with 235's on 7's on the front now.
A wider wheel gives the best cornering because it offers better sidewall support. If you look at tire buying guides, they will list approved rim widths for various tire sizes. You can use an 8" rim with 235 size tires. An 8" rim is 203.5 mm wide, a 235 tire has a section width of 235 mm. Using a narrower rim than recommended will pull the outside of the tread up decreasing tire adhesion. A perfect example of this is using the 15 X 7" wide Buick wheel with a P275/60R-15 tire. It works but is not optimal. The bulge has more to do with tire load and pressure.
BF Goodrich specs 7 or 8 inch rims OK with either the 235s or the 245s. Here are their rim specs from Tire Rack. For what it's worth, the 245/60 x 15 is the size that most closely duplicates the diameter of the original G60 x 15 polyglas at 26.6 in. 235/60 x 15 - 6.5 to 8.5 in. rims (measured with 7 in) 245/60 x 15 - 7.0 to 8.5 in. rims (measured with 7 in) 255/60 x 15 - 7 - 9 in. rims (measured with 7.5 in) 275/60 x 15 - 7.5 - 9.5 in. rims (measured with 8 in) 295/50 x 15 - 8 - 10.5 in. rims (measured with 9.5 in)
BF Goodrich TA, Cooper Cobra or Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T... Can't go wrong with any of these three. I chose MT.
So what brand did you buy in 2002 and are those the tires your are looking to replace? I have BFG's from 2000 that I will be replacing this year only because of their age.
I ended up going with Dayton Daytona's...its a long story but the guy at the tire shop was awesome, got a great deal, he was willing to help me with car (bring it in for alignment after hours and we'll let you make the adjustments yourself-wow-), big white letters etc. Worked out fine, got two replaced under warranty though. And by the time I needed an alignment, that shop had been torn down and he moved to another province. Also got warranty on two Wheel Vintique wheels,bought at another place...funny story there, while waiting for replacement wheels to show up a staff member quit and STOLE a bunch of wheels and tires on his way out the door....and yeah he took my two Daytons sitting there...really?? ou: That scene went on for 6 months because the warranty wheels showed up but then I was waiting for tires to be ordered through his insurance and on and on it went. Pics of the Daytons are all over my website. I bought Caruso wheels (awesome) and Radial TA's to replace them a couple years back, as they were suspect in my 41 mph mild hop/wobble. Turned out not to be tires/wheels even though i was sure it was (swapped wheels off my Stage 1 and it was gone, but it came back...LOL). Just sold those wheels and tires (Daytons and Wheel Vintiques) to a friend for his car. The radial TA's you have to wait for a sale (I got a 100.00 rebate by purchasing 4), nice tires but they don't balance out any better than anything else out there in 15". 245/60R15's. Doesn't appear anyone puts any updated technology in 15" tires, and I guess why would they, right?? New tires are for my Stage 1 to replace the Uniroyal Rallye GTS tires which I love and can't buy anymore. I used to buy a set every second summer, was a wee bit hard on the car in my younger days...LOL The kicker is I have to have white letter tires, car came with them, looks awesome with them on there, sets the era, and I've been looking at that for 30+ years now not going blackwall at this point!!! Those tires are pushing 18 years now and way, way overdue to be replaced. So yeah choices are slim...not sure on the coopers, heard some horror stories on them too but it seems guys on here have had good luck.
Try finding 14" tires, choices get even slimmerou: I have all winter to watch for BFG TA sales so that's good. I can't put Coopers on my car because of a neighborhood kid, his name is Cooper and he's a spoiled brat so I don't want to think of him every time I look at my car
LOL, thats funny. Was just checking around up here, pricing is the same or very close for the Coopers or the BFG's (BFG's have slower speed rating). Go figure: http://www.1010tires.com/Tires/245-60R15
I just bought 2 sets of Coopers. 1 for my gs the second for my 97sc Riviera.love em and affordable. Kenny
I went with Hercules, which looks about the same as the Coopers and priced similarly. My tire guy told me the BFG's were on national backorder! Way too expensive anyway.
I have 14's on my 67 GS400. Just had to buy a set and although red/white lines were the standard, I just love the rwl look and went with that. I couldn't find any 14s by BFG or even Firestone, all were discontinued unless I wanted to wait for a backorder by Coker, which were priced at $220 per. Anyway, I went with Cooper Cobras and so far, I like the ride, the handling, and the look. Got them from Sears with a military discount for $96 per. Cost around $500 with installation.
$157 for a T/A is reasonable. I may have to check out 1010tires in Mississauga as I may require a pair of tires.
Yeah its odd, in the USA the price diff between Cooper and BFG is pretty large (online sources i checked), up here they are very close in price. Go figure.
