How fat a tire on my stock 14x6 magnums? • The Dodge Challenger Message Board

by **jenifer** » 26 Jun 2001 21:45

One shop says I should put 245-60-14 in the back with 235's in front, another says 235 is the largest I can go.
It's a 73 Challenger, by the way.
Thanks!
jenifer
http://jenomatic.com

by **dave-r** » 27 Jun 2001 7:22

Well for a start if they are original wheels they will be 14"x5.5" not 14x6.

Even a 235 is 3.75" wider than your 5.5" (140mm) wheel. That is pushing the limits a lot.

For the best performance from the tire you should not go much wider than the wheel! But you want good looks more than good handling yes?

I personaly would not go wider than a 195 on a 5.5 inch wheel. If you want fatter tires get fatter wheels!!

by **ted** » 02 Jul 2001 17:16

i run 215 70 r 14 on these rims with no problems on my 74 cuda

by **dave-r** » 03 Jul 2001 7:51

I am sure you do Ted but what do you call 'no problems'? The side walls can't do their job well like that. I doubt you would win any circuit races that way. If you corner hard left and then right for example (like avoiding a child on the road) with these and then compared that to a set of wheels that fit the tyre size correctly you would feel a big difference in the control of your car.

by **dave-r** » 07 Jul 2001 14:47

Here are what I think (with my limited understanding of tyre technology) are the MAX tyre sizes that fit these wheel widths.

On a 5.5 inch wheel I would fit a 195 to a 205 tyre.

On a 6 inch wide wheel I would fit a 215 or 225 tyre.

A 7 inch wheel I would use a 235, 245 max.

An 8 inch a 265 - 275 max.

The IDEAL situation is to have a tyre tread width that is just 2 inches over the wheel width. The wall of the tyre can only work as designed if fitted to the correct width wheel. The wider the tyre you fit to a wheel the more the tyre wall moves from the vertical to the horizontal.