67 newport tire brand?

swisherred

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I just put on some 8" wide turbine wheels and they currently have 245/60-15 BFG Radial T/A tires on them. They are older tires and should be replaced. I'm looking for recommendations on brand. I want white lettering and something that will last a decent length of time given that it wont have a huge number of miles put on it. I do not want the same tires. I'm not paying Cokers prices. I want to stick with either 245/60-15 or 235/70-15 which has a better selection.
 
I really like the BFG Radial Tires and think that they are a great tire for the price. I truly dislike Coopers but know that some folks love them.
 
I'm sorry...I made a mistake. They are goodyear eagle gt.

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I'm pretty sure you're going to want to go with the taller of the two tire sizes that you mentioned. Mind are two short so my speedo is way off. I won't make that mistake again. I've heard alot of folks say that regardless of the thread you really don't want to run the tires more than 7 or 8 years. I'm currently running Cooper tires and while I don't have anything bad to say about them I really don't have anything good to say either. I think I have about 7k on them in 5 years. Yes, I know I should be driving it more.

@cbarge is the resident tire guy.
 
Brand? BFG Radial T/A, no question about it. I've had several sets of them on my '77 Camaro (P225/70R-15) and I've gotten well past 80K normal miles on them. Handling is aided by their sidewall wedges, but with a good ride. Good wet performance, too. This was THE premier performance tire from about the middle '70s onways, with some improvements since then. BEFORE Goodyear hit the spectrum with their original Eagle GTs! Eagle GT is not a bad tire, but I always liked BFGs rather than Goodyears.

Size? The Advantage T/As, NOS when I got them for the '67 Newport (on Chrysler factory 14x6.5 station wagon wheels), the P245/70R-14 size specs out to the same size as the old H70-14 size. BTAIM Considering the way the camber changes on a Chrysler front end, when you turn the wheels from center, the 70-series tire might end up being just as good as the shorter tire, plus ride a slight bit better and STILL have the same handling performance.

Of course, the BFG white letters will look "right", too.

BFG allegedly will not warranty a tire that's over 6 years old, from manufacture date. No matter when it is sold (from a tire age thread in another forum, about 10 years ago).

Check prices at TireRack.com . . . for good measure.

Those Goodyears' rubber is probably getting a bit hard by now. Not very good traction, as a result.

Enjoy!
CBODY67
 
I ran BFG radial TA on my 440 van and they did ok...until I hit rain or snow then they were useless, but to be fair they were also 295/50-15 and 265s on the front. I have run cooper cobras on my coronet and my cutlass with no problems. I was thinking about BFG long trail TA tour...or going back to the cobra gt. I dont ever intend to drive in snow, but we get alot of rain here so i want something that will do decent if I get caught in a heavy storm.
 
There are about three things which influence wet traction. One is tread width (wider is generally worse as the tread footprint is wider and narrower, compared to a more narrow tread. Another is the thread design/openness. That water has to be disbursed from under the tire's contact patch. Third is rubber compound. The more expensive compounds obviously work better than less sophisticated compounds, by observation.

Another side issue is tread depth. Back when the phenomenon of "hydro-planning" was investigated by NASA in the '70s, a 6-rib front airplane tire would hydroplane at 62mph if the water wedge in front of the tire equaled or was greater than the tire's tread depth. That particular tread was just solid ribs, with no segments in the ribs. A mechanically good tread design can make a good difference, but wet traction/response will always be lower than on dry pavement. Check out some of the tire track tests on www.TireRack.com for those comparisons.

I suspect that most every tire which has an "M+S" designation might be better in the rain than other tires, except for the newer tires designed for such. The original Goodyear Gatorback was designed off of an Indy car "rain tire" design, as I recall. Which made it "directional" in nature.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
 
One thing is that I dont want to fall into the catagory of buying a tire because it just the tire everyone has always used...such as the BFG TA....yes it was designed for muscle cars...in the 60s/70s....hasnt changed much, while tires have changed over the years with better compounds and tread designs. Id like a tire based on that. Im fine if its a hancook or kumho, uniroyal or whatever....as long as its a good tire for the car.
 
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There ARE a few Hankook sizes which have the same revs/mile spec as some of the taller 15" sizes, but no white letters or such. There's one 17" size that would probably be a great replacement for my P225/70R-15s on the Camaro and probably at similar prices.

The current Radial TAs are improved from the earlier ones, specifically in the wedge that is at the sidewall's bead area. Rubber compounds have evolved a bit, too, but not into the "energy conserving" later compounds, I suspect. BUT many of the 17" sizes have tread that is not nearly as deep as the 15" treads, like 8/32" for the 17s and 11/32" for the 15" tires. BTAIM

To me, the BFG Radial TA is probably the best blend of performance, durability, and looks of any available radial tire with white letters. Not only from my experiences, but the experiences of many friends who bought them, over the last 20+ years. Your experiences might vary. Wish I could find something like that in a whitewall!

By observation, as times progress, availability of good quality 15" (much less 14"!!!) tires is diminishing. Which is why I've been looking at alternatives, including whitewall alternatives. But to me, one consideration is to NOT have the "Hot Wheels" look, where the wheels are much bigger than what the vehicle originally came with, diameter-wise. But that's just me.

Your money, your car, your decision.

Enjoy!
CBODY67
 
all good info...I am also considering different tire sizes front to rear...Ive been driving it today and feel like the 245 may be a bit wide in the front and rides a little rougher. I dont mind it in the rear. The previous tires were 215/70-15 and they rode smoother, but just seem too narrow for my taste. I do not want 295 by any means...Im thinking maybe 235 in the rear and 215 in the front with a 235 spare. Oh...and yes...the speedo and odometer are way the hell off now...lol...I did 5 miles by the meter...gps says 1.6....so I dont know whats up yet or what to trust but Im thinking i need to take my hyundai out and mark off a 5 mile trip and compare that way.
 
Mile markers on the Interstate . . . . 10 miles of reasonably smooth road can do it. 60 seconds/mile = 60mph . . . so running in the 60-65mph range will work. For about the 5secs/mile, either way, 61mph=59seconds, or there abouts.

5 miles can work, but the math is not as obvious. Plus for doing the speed, 10 miles generally works best for averaging things out, from my experiences BEFORE any GPS was available.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

. . . . back to the thread's original purpose, to gain input on tires for the car . . .
 
Mile markers on the Interstate . . . . 10 miles of reasonably smooth road can do it. 60 seconds/mile = 60mph . . . so running in the 60-65mph range will work. For about the 5secs/mile, either way, 61mph=59seconds, or there abouts.

5 miles can work, but the math is not as obvious. Plus for doing the speed, 10 miles generally works best for averaging things out, from my experiences BEFORE any GPS was available.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

. . . . back to the thread's original purpose, to gain input on tires for the car . . .
planning on making sure the odometer is correct then worrying about speed accuracy. Im pretty sure my speedo is off because i just changed speedo gears to correct it with the previous tires and it was still pretty far off.

Scratch the idea of two tire sizes..the 215 wont fit the 8" rim. 235/70-15 sounds about right for it. Ive been doing alot of reading on cooper vs BFG and lately it seems bfg has had some problems, but its a better tire in the wet. Lots of good reviews on cooper gt though.
 
I run 23570R15 on 15X7 rims.

To take advantage of the 15X8's you can easily run 27560R15 on all 4 corners.
Lots of room up front and in rear even with fender skirts..
Both 23570R15 and 27560R15 are 28 inches tall which is the correct outer diameter for 67/68 Chrysler's BTW.
You can run staggered fitment with the 235's up front and the fatty 275's in the rear.
I work at a Goodyear shop and the GT's on your car are fosslized dinosaurs,LOL!!
 
I saw a deal I think it was in hotrod magazine where this guy had new nice all weather performance tires on a 68 GT500 and he purchased glue on letters that made them look like Goodyear polyglas GT tires. I know it was only in pics and not in person but they looked really really good. I can’t find or remember the website for the letters maybe someone can chime in with the info? I thought it was a great idea - best of both worlds you know...
 
A while back, there were two members of our Mopar club. One had a '70 Hemi 'Cuda, the other a '70 Challenger 440 Six Pack 4-speed car. "Real" cars, not clones or anything. The cars ran pretty evenly in the 1/4 mile, so there was an endless "one-ups-manship" going on over time. The 'Cuda owner had tapped into the old BFG Team TA network and got a pair of the then-new BFG Drag Radials, in the stock size. Put them on his normal wheels to match the BFGs on the front. Being completely black, he got some white latex house paint and filled in the letters on the sidewalls. At first glance, 50' away, nothing really looked amiss. Upon closer examination, some "quality of execution" might have been better. Fooled the Six Pack owner at first, but when the 'Cuda came back into the pits, after a good run against the Challenger, the gravel sticking to the tread was a dead giveaway that something was "different", plus the fact the 'Cuda hooked up much better than the older tires had.

That's all it took. Surveillance reports were that a freight truck arrived at the Challenger owner's dad's repair shop and off-loaded several sets of BFG Drag Radials a few weeks later. Kind of expected that. LOL

Funny thing was that the paint held up pretty well! Just needed a bit of thinner and several thin coats to make them look even more incognito! The 1 hour drives to Ennis didn't seem to negatively affect their tread life, either.

FUN Times, back then!
CBODY67
 
Here you go tirestickers.com. Take a gander at these and see if they don’t look cool. Makes any good blackwall an option. No idea on price but how much could something like that really cost. Good luck with your purchase.

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