Hello all, I'm thinking of running Cooper Cobra GT 235/60-15's on Smoothie wheels with hubcaps and trim rings. What does the forum think of this combo? I'm blue with white top, so I was thinking of painting the wheels white.. any input would be appreciated!
well i can tell you for sure that the cooper cobras are good tires. i work at Americas Tire/Discount Tire and i always have my eye on getting a set of those. personally like the tread pattern more the the BFGs. just IMO though. and the old school smoothies would be pretty neat
all the way around ? or just in the rear? I have 100 miles on my coopers so far so good 255/60R15 on 8" wide rims rear and 215/65R15 on 7" rims front
All the way around. I'm off to college in about a year so I can't particularly spend too much on different sets of rubber. What does the second number denote? I've been curious for a while, but have disregarded thus far. Is it wall height or what?
the middle number is basically the ratio of rim to sidewall height. example: a 235/70/15 is a taller tire than a 235/60/15. basically the smaller the number, the shorter the sidewall. also affected by rim size. so the sidewall on a 235/60/14 will be a little shorter than the sidewall on a 235/60/15. kind of an odd system, but the more you are exposed to it the more it makes sense.
when you see a tire size say its 255/60R15. 225 is the section width (the widest width dimension) in this case 255 multiply by a milli-meter (.03937) = 10.03935 this is the widest width dimension in inches. next is the section height (this is the height of tire from the rim to the tire diameter. This is a percntage of the tire width. in this case its 60 so thats 60% of 10.03935=6.02365, since the tire section goes from the rim to the outside diameter we need to multiply by 2 (both sides of the rim to make a total height) 6.02365 X 2= 12.04722. next we need to add the rim diameter which in this case is 15 so 12.04722+15= 27.04722. Armed with this knowledge you can now go out and shop for a nice set of used rims and tires and save alot of money for your college expenses
Another question, or two..... What is stock backspacing on a '71 4-door? And what can I fit with no problems? I am converting to discs from a '74 Comet, so do I need to take that into consideration?
Im not sure what the stock back spacing is but most wheels with up to 31/2 inch backspacing fit the front and up to 4 inch on the rear. this is slightly conservative as I am running 4 inch back space on the front with no issue and 41/4 inch back space on the rear with no issue. if you "find" some 14 inch wheels they could have interferance issues with the upper ball joint at the upper control arm with that much back space, not to mention possible caliper to inside the back of the rim....try them if possible First.
these are 11 inch disc with a 215/65R15 cooper gt on a 15 X 7 rim with a 4 inch back spacing and a 1/2 inch spacer to move the wheel out and gain clearence at the rear when the wheels are cut hard......blow the picture up a little and you can see better detail. all i own is a junk phone so the cameras not that good. I ran it with the 4 inch wheels without the spacers before the change over and felt I wanted more room when I turned hard and hit a bump.
