The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk tire size/ width?

I am needing to purchase new tires for my truck due more to age of the existing tires than anything and looking for some advice. You can see from my photos that I currently have Aluminum mags [15x7] and while I do not want to get into the old debate of what rims will fit, required offsets and such, I am wondering what is the min front and max rear tire that would work with these rims and 'fit' the truck. By no means is this a real street rod, but I do like the look the p/o gave it with the rims and side dump exhaust and honestly dont want to just go by new rims for the sake of new. I also like the looks of wide rear, narrow front I have seen in pictures, but again not sure what will fit without modifications.

As reference I have the stock rear axle and converted the front to dics brakes. The rims appear to have the correct off set from what I have seen on here and currently have 235/75/15's. I would not mind the truck sitting a bit lower, but dont plan to do much to help that beyond maybe removing a couple springs. Oh and the truck is just being driven around town and wont have to haul or tow as long as I have it.

Thanks!

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=53

Once you determine the size or hight you want, just choose a tire in that size, check the spec's, and you will see the recommended rim size. Most tires will fit rims with a 2" difference, something like 6"-8" width. What you want to watch out for is the weight range of each tire. It helps to know the weight of the truck, and the split weight front to back.

On my '37 I run 205/75R15 on a 15x4 rim on front, 235/75R15 on a 15x7 on the rear. Mine weighs 3100lbs and is split almost 50/50 front to rear.

Joe

im running a 1980 1/2 ton rear in my 57, (not sure of the difference in width from your original rear).
i am running 15x7 in the rear with 4.5 back space and 15x6 in the front with 3.5 back space, giving all wheels the same out space.
i too am running front disc brakes.
front and rear tires i am running are 225-70-15. i dont have any room to run anything bigger in the rear unless i want to mini tub the bed.
mine is lowered in front with a 3 inch dropped axle and one small leaf pulled, and in the rear im running lowering shackles and i also pulled 4 of the original 7 leafs out.
you can see from my pics the stance.

leonard

With a 15 x 7, 255/70/15 is about as far as you can really go without getting into tire support and handling problems. That tire as about 10.4" wide, should fit fine with the stock width axle and proper backspace wheels. I would not go any smaller than a 225/75/15 on a 7' rim, any narrower could get into a "ballooning" issue with the tires, again causing a tire suppoer and handling issue. There's also an issue with lack of load capacity with undersize tires. While you do mention that you don't plan of hauling anything, you do need to bear in mind the empty vehicle weight plus passenger/cargo weight when deciding on tires. I strongly advise staying away form any low profile tires, which have a greatly reduced load capacity.