Tires

[77442]

I'm at a point of buying new tires for my '77 442. I've got 15X7 SSIIs. What's everyone running on? Present set is 215/65, but I'm being told I should be putting on 235/60s. If I change sizes how is that going to effect my speedo? Could I get some advice on what performs and looks good. I what to go with some RWL. Thanks

[oldsmobiledave]

I'm at a point of buying new tires for my '77 442. I've got 15X7 SSIIs. What's everyone running on? Present set is 215/65, but I'm being told I should be putting on 235/60s. If I change sizes how is that going to effect my speedo? Could I get some advice on what performs and looks good. I what to go with some RWL. Thanks

215 65 15s & 235 60 15s are BOTH 26" tall

both tires are too small in my opinion. Put some 255 60 15s on your rear wheels...speedo will be out a few mph but you can verify with a gps.

stick with the 215 65 15s up front...the 235s are too wiode up front & track & plow horibly in road ruts. A 215 70 15 up front would look a little better with the 255s out back.

[Firethorne77]

Firestone Indy 500 are rated better than most "muscle car" tires.
Check out the reviews and comparo charts on Tire Rack.
Size is strictly your preference.
I do know that Ken (442MUCH) and myself run the Firestone's with excellent results.
Good luck on your research and purchase.

[442MUCH]

I'm at a point of buying new tires for my '77 442. I've got 15X7 SSIIs. What's everyone running on? Present set is 215/65, but I'm being told I should be putting on 235/60s. If I change sizes how is that going to effect my speedo? Could I get some advice on what performs and looks good. I what to go with some RWL. Thanks

I had 235/60 on my 442 and found they didn't fill up the wheel opening...to small. My speedo was out 5 mph. I recently went with 225 70 with is the original size for the car (GR70).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/vttedrm/DSC_3597.jpg

[73431Cutlass]

On my 73 I run 235/60/15 in front with 1 inch lower spring, and the back I run a 296/50/15 on 15x7 rims. I has just a slight rack but on most roads it looks even as pie! On my old 76 with stock suspension I ran 245/60/15 and 275/60/15 on 15x7 rims. That was as level I could get. Front end had about 1/2 to 3/4 too much space but it looked even. I feel a little bit of pulling on older un even roads in my 73, I just keep it gassed!
Steve

[Revots12]

I went through many different sizes on my car and finally ended up with BFGoodrich Radial T/As 255/60R15 on 15x8 Chrome oldsmobile rallies. They clear my inner fenders up front from turn to turn with no problem, and fill up the wheel wells nicely.

[oldsmeister]

I went through many different sizes on my car and finally ended up with BFGoodrich Radial T/As 255/60R15 on 15x8 Chrome oldsmobile rallies. They clear my inner fenders up front from turn to turn with no problem, and fill up the wheel wells nicely.

Gee those 255's don't look very wide in the pic. I run 245/60R-15's on mine but I'm sure 255's would fit if you had the right rim. I like the Firestone Indy 500 tire and I will try a set of those next.

[Revots12]

My tires are plenty wide my friend ! They fill up my wheel wells very nice, I just couldnt find the picture to demonstrate the width and the height, I guess I was kind of excited to have my Cutlass Supreme finally done after 7 years of hard work and wasnt too concerned with the "tire" shots. I will take pictures of the side, behind and front and repost later.

Dave
1977 Cutlass Supreme Brougham 403 T-top aka (BLACK BEAUTY)

[zodiacblue442]

Do a search for "tire size" and alot of old threads will come up. This one has alot of discussion http://www.73-77olds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1429&highlight=tire+size

I'm running 235/70 R15's on my 73 442 and like the way it looks. I wanted to keep the same size tire all the way around so I could do tire rotations to keep the wear even. My brother had 225/70R15's on his 77 442 and that was a good size too. the 73-77 GM A-bodys are big, heavy, 4,000 pound cars and IMO anything smaller than 225/70's on 15 in. rims is too small.

Regarding speedometer error, you need to know what size tire was on the car originally. Smaller than that, your speedometer will read fast, larger than that, your speedometer will read slow. Of course it depends on how far away you get from the original size, but the speedometer error is usually 3 to 7 mph. Different sized tires will also affect your odometer. Smaller tires, odometer will accumulate miles faster, larger tires, miles will accumulate slower.

[zodiacblue442]

Revots12 - Wow, your car is gorgeous! The paint looks like a mirror! I love gloss black cars when they are clean and arrow straight! :) Beautiful job!

[Revots12]

Thanks, Its the one instance where doing something good for someone else really paid off. I have a friend that is a body and paint guy, he was in a bad place, I helped him out in a big way 3 years ago and he came to me this past January and asked me if i wanted to have my car done as a way of saying thanks for bailing him out. He did a spectacular job, his wife even came down to look at it and said thats the best work hes ever done! Im glad for that ! It was a brown car with a tan vinyl top, under the top was too rusty, we had to replace the roof with a roof from another car without a vinyl top, he sandblasted the whole car down to bare metal and redid everything. It turned out real nice and I will post pics of the whole process in the coming days.

[Hurstolds1973]

I guess I was kind of excited to have my Cutlass Supreme finally done after 7 years of hard work

WOW awesome paint job! Please post up some pictures of the entire finished product please!

[mdkingsley]

I was going to ask are you showing off the tires or the car, that thing is super sharp!

[oldsmeister]

My tires are plenty wide my friend ! They fill up my wheel wells very nice, I just couldnt find the picture to demonstrate the width and the height, I guess I was kind of excited to have my Cutlass Supreme finally done after 7 years of hard work and wasnt too concerned with the "tire" shots. I will take pictures of the side, behind and front and repost later.

Dave
1977 Cutlass Supreme Brougham 403 T-top aka (BLACK BEAUTY)

I was focused on the front tires and didn't even notice the very nice paint job on your car. I like that smooth hard top.