The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk '53 Suburban -- wheels and tires

I recently acquired a 1953 Suburban that appears to be mostly all stock equipment, with the exception of the wheels and tires. It has the 235 inline 6. http://s38.photobucket.com/user/mmurphy147/library/

I want to take it back to something more original-looking.

After reading lots of posts on here and other websites, I am leaning towards:

16"x6" smoothie wheels from Coker or one of the others in black (all look the same to me). https://www.cokertire.com/smoothie-wheel-primed.html

Tires to be 215/85/16 to look tall and thinner like the vintage tires, but in radials. A little taller is always nice to keep RPMs down. I welcome ideas on make and model of tires that run nice on these old 3100s.

The moon caps with "Chevrolet" in red letters which I believe is correct. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wvi-2030-a

I do not know what rear end the vehicle has. At 48 mph indicated I am doing 55 mph on my GPS. Could be speedo is old and off or could be re-geared in the rear end.

All this to say, does anyone think I am missing anything important before I pull the trigger on this setup?

Thank you in advance.

Looks like a nice truck!
Welcome!

I have the Coker "nostalgic" radials" (6:50 x 16) that look like bias ply. I really like the way they perform.
If you are after an original look, have you tried looking for a set original wheels and caps? The 6 inch wide wheel and larger tire size that you are looking at will give you a great ride but may be a bit hard to steer at low speeds. Of course, they shouldn't be any harder to steer than what you have on already. Your choice would look nice however!

I have 215/85r16LTs on 6" rims on my suburban and they steer just fine. I love them . B F Goodrich T/A commercial.

I have the same size tires as cletis posted, on my 1954 6.50x16" wheels (black wall).

Their rolling radius is around 31". They look "right", too.

They steer and track very nicely, with the original suspension/front-end parts.

Very nice looking truck, I agree more original type wheels would be a huge plus if it were my truck. Lots of wheels fit that even into later 50s in 15" and take stock caps.
Best of luck

Thank you everyone for the input. I am excited to make this truck look sharp.

I have the wheels and tires mounted on the Suburban. Could not be happier. New tires have less vibration, steers better, and the engine runs slower going down the road thanks to the taller tires. Pic if you want to check it out. Thanks for the input. Matt

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e131/mmurphy147/IMG_0635_zpsj6ggx5l6.jpg