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Have a '66 big block and i was curious about tire width combos. Are most people running same width tires front and back or a narrow tire up front? I'v tried both setups and narrow tire in front seems to make the car a lttle skecthy. Am i doing something wrong? Thanks in advance.
Juan - I run 215-65s on my Midyears, smallblock and Bigblock, front and rear. Just slightly wider than stock 205 size but I also like that they are a 26 inch tall tire so they drop the cars about a half inch over the 75 series tires.
The 66 Roadster has generic TA Radials in 215-65 and the Maroon 65 Roadster has Diamondback Goldlines also built on 215-65 TAs.
With the shorter tires, you might have to tweak the trans driven gear to get a good speedo reading.
I can understand how running a wider tire on the back than the front can affect handling, especially braking due to the different grip (tire contact to the road) in the front to rear. Not being an expert, I cannot provide a technical answer, but I know from the last century when I ran wide tires on the back and narrow ones on the it definitely created braking issues and it seemed the handling on the corners was not any improvement over stock. Of course, that was on a street / strip car with a very tight posi-traction differential. It may not make a big difference with and open carrier.
For what it is worth, probably less than a penny.
Ron
Thank you for input. Have more info, i apologize, when purchased car fender lip already trimmed. Advised by knowledgeable friend to run 225x70 ta's front and back. Ta's aged out and now i run 225x70 in the rear with 215x65 in front. Now around 85 mph no problems but around 110 mph it gets a little scary sometimes. Should i run 225x70 all around? Any advice or opinions is appreciated. Thanks again.
Your high speed twitchiness is not from the tires per se but due to the fact our beautiful Corvettes tend to get light in the nose at those speeds. It’s a common problem that can be improved with the addition of front spoiler or you can just show down…lol. I’ve seen 69 Z28 Camaro front spoilers adapted to help or you can purchase a form fitting spoiler from companies like Dynamic Corvettes.
Chris
As MrTrim stated, you aerodynamics on a C1 or C2 are not the best. Most of the cars from the 60s, 70s, and even 80s were designed for less than 100 MPH use. A front spoiler will indeed help if it is properly mounted.
I had a 71 Vega w/SBC that got real scary over 100 MPH especially with 28 x 11.5" slicks on the back. I put a 6" wide chin spoiler on it and no longer had a problem except braking could be a bit hairy also.
Tire width
