mikem350

Just picked up a 71 and it has old BFG 295/50/16 rears (yes with offset TA's and NO flares) and 265/50 fronts. Think the wheels are 8 in, at least.

Shopping around and not much avail for 16 in wheels...

Don't want to go too much smaller, and want street radials all around. Any sources? Tire Rack no help..

hugie82

Coker is the source fo oddball tires but they will cost you. 16 inch are still pretty common. 15 are impossible !

mikem350

Thanks! If you check..both sizes are getting hard to find!!

7t9l82

try Amazon.

The13Bats

Somewhere I have a thread about 15" wide tires, and I called lots of tires shops,
In brief 15's are gone, 295-50-15 is it and it's a crap shoot how long they will keep making them,
16's are right behind 15's and pretty much every tire shop said you need to step up to progress and go larger which they seemed torn 50/50 if the size that will be here a while is 17 or 18,
This all sucks to me, I love my old school 15" wheels but if I can't get tires I am hosed....

Can you post some pictures of yours on the car...

mrvette

Hey Batty, long time no hear.....how you doing???

and you are correct, hi perf/decent tires for 15" just don't exist anymore....and 16" is falling down fast also.....I be lucky that NITTO makes my 275/50/17 for the rear on my '89 vette rims....lucky but don't know how much longer when these wear out, it's SAOL.....

The13Bats

I guess I will hunt a set of torque d's in 17 with the deep offset I desire for the rear, they at least will sorta look old school...

Solid LT1

You say you have 8" wide rims? I run 235-60-16s on my wife's 70 LT-1 there are still a few decent performance tires in this size.

mikem350

Thanks, may have to downsize to what ever I can find, have a manager at Firestone who is searching local suppliers.

Also may need to lower rear suspension to compensate, so more work needed! Car from previous owner has 295/50/16 rears

mrvette

I'd watch that wheel centerline on that.....I managed to get 275/50 under the rear with previous fender mods/flares......and keep the same center line on the rubber....otherwise I see some axle stresses developing and bad bearing wear.....

you get too much outer offset and the bearing not going to love you too much.....tire/wheel needs to have same center.....



Talking about safe for street use now, if you racing off road, fine, have fun......

L88Plus

16's have long been the domain of light trucks. Not a lot of need for wide tires on a daily driver pickup.

terrys6t8roadster

The early C4s came with 16s and the late 90ish Z28s also, I'm using 265x45zr16 Kuhmos on 10 inch wheels. Tallest tire I found. T

mikem350

Well, did find some 245/50/16 same as on 4th Gen Camaros..but seems your Kuhmos are hard to find too

Hope I can somehow find something close!

The13Bats

I have been hearing that for 30 years and simply never seen it first hand happen, not saying doesnt,
Now I will admit my "world" was limited to Veedub based kit cars and trikes and c3 vettes,
Like in my case countless rear deep dish wheels 8-12" wide and 15 tall,
These are run on chevy adaptors for the Veedub stuff and in the day many c3's ran very deep dish rear wheels 3.5 and 3.75 backspacing is very common so that center line is very off center,
My one 81 had over 100k miles and the bearings in the rear arms well the front too for that matter never gave up, they were rebuilt when the rest of the car was just because,
I wonder how many miles rebuilt c3 bearings claim they are good for,
I will be running at the least 10" wide rims in the rear and have no fears the bearings will outlast me....watch that come back to haunt me...

waljr

you should try it down here...
bfg sold their import license for street tyres to a specialist. 15" 245 & 255 $250each arrive mid january. In the mean time I've 2 tyres that a starting to do weird things & 1 that has delaminated with age.
I'm thinking about investing in the future -flares & 17/18".