1971 Super Bee Wheel and Tire Dilemma

[MoparGuy68]

My Bee

15 X 8 Rear 275/60 15
15 X 7 Front 245/60 15

Only thing I don’t like is no one makes a decent 15 X 8 Trim Ring for the rear that fills the gap correctly View attachment 1065884View attachment 1065885

I don’t know if anyone makes a decent repro trim ring, period, let alone one for 15x8. I’ve seen 3” deep trim rings with outer lips that look totally incorrect and they are completely mirror chrome. I don’t think anyone makes a repro trim ring that is brushed with a polished outer lip, like the factory rings.

 

[Galen Engel]

275/60/15 15x8 rear and 235/?/? ? on front?

235/60/15 15x7

 

[moparedtn]

Only decision I’ve made so far is it will be either 14” or 15” new tires on Rallye wheels. I’m not into the look of the 17+” wheels on these old cars.

THANK YOU!
I do so dislike the Hot Wheels look people are doing to our old rides...
These cars need tire sidewalls, not rubber bands to look proper IMO!!

My vote is for 15" Magnum 500's and some nice BFG's or Coopers, but regardless thank you for not going
the hoopty route!

 

[Thrashingcows]

I have always been a huge fan of steelies and dog dish caps, so I put my vote in on some 15x6, 6.5 rims and a 225 or 235, I don't like the short sidewall of the 60 series so a 70/75 series side wall would be my choice.

 

[moparedtn]

Oh looky, I got a red X without comment!
Reckon it's time to whip the award out again:

 

[417guy]

Personally I think 15" wheels look too small on the 71-74 B bodies, I am planning on running 17" steel wheels on my 71 Charger with the stock hubcaps. I am doing this actually more due to the brakes than the look, I have 15" steel wheels that I would use but they are not going to fit, so I have to go bigger.
View attachment 1065821

Edit: I am pretty sure I am going with the 17" steel wheels and stock hubcaps, not sure what tire but one step at a time.

I have been looking for 17x8 steel wheels, where did you find them ? And ones that will fit a poverty cap (9”) ?

 

[70chall440]

I have been looking for 17x8 steel wheels, where did you find them ? And ones that will fit a poverty cap (9”) ?

US wheel and Wheel vintigues

https://www.uswheel.com/wheel/7677/us-wheel-chrysler-oe-series-658/?finish=12&part=658-8912
https://www.wheelvintiques.com/17-x-8-o-e-5-4-1-2-bare-4-1-4-quot-b-s.html

 

[MoparGuy68]

Took my rear wheels off the car today to examine them. Have had the fronts off in the past but never the rears. I discovered the passenger side rear Rallye, with the dented center holes, has dents on the inside edge of the hoop (the back of the wheel). It's bad enough looking to me that I'm surprised the bead is sealing and not leaking air. So, looks like at minimum I'll need to replace that wheel.. Driver side rear looks ok.. Don't think I saw any dents on the outer rim hoop on the fronts, last spring, when I had them off the car.

For Valentines Day, my car refused to start for me.. First time since I've had it that I could NOT get it started. Crank, crank, crank and nothing.. It started up on the first try a week ago today, after sitting for one week. It sat for one week again. Just like last Sunday, three pumps of the accelerator to the floor, then crank. Except this time no combustion. Then I cranked and held throttle open a little bit, engine turned, but didn't fire up. Repeated this until I lost count of how many times.. Has to be either no spark or no fuel. Took air cleaner lid off and smelled some gas.. So I'm guessing no spark.. Was getting dark, have to wait until next weekend to troubleshoot.

What did I do differently today? Before attempting to start, put key in ignition, turned one click forward to allow shifting the transmission into neutral. Jacked the rear end up, put jack stands under it and removed the rear wheels. The car was like this for a couple hours, with the key in the first forward position, trans in neutral, while the wheels were off. Put the wheels back on, lowered the car, put trans back in park, then tried to start.. Could leaving the key in, with trans in neutral, with the battery connected for two hours, have done any damage to the ignition system?? That's the only thing done different than last weekend.

And yes, why put the trans in neutral to jack up the rear end you may ask? I was going to mark the driveshaft with chalk and turn a wheel to figure out what gear ratio is in the rear end, but never got around to doing it..

My affection for this car is fading.. I'm growing tired of working on it ALL the time. Each time I do I find something else that's fucked up with it. Now it won't run..

 

[Bee1971]

Factory points distributor or converted to electronic ignition ?

Leaving the key on , engine not running , with points distributor will damage the points /condenser pretty fast

Electronic ignition - ECU possibly

First thing obviously will bee checking for spark at a plug wire or high tension coil lead while cranking over the engine

 

[MoparGuy68]

Factory points distributor or converted to electronic ignition ?

Leaving the key on , engine not running , with points distributor will damage the points /condenser pretty fast

Electronic ignition - ECU possibly

First thing obviously will bee checking for spark at a plug wire or high tension coil lead while cranking over the engine

Electronic ignition, with an Ehrenberg Hi-Rev 7500 ECU, that I just bought a couple months ago. I didn't know leaving the key on would possibly damage the ECU.. I'll have to check for spark next time I try to start it. It got too dark to continue. In the future, if I ever want to get the transmission in neutral for more than a couple minutes, when not running the engine, I'll disconnect the battery. I wonder if I damaged that ECU..

 

[moparedtn]

If it isn't already, a good general rule of thumb on cars (especially OLD cars) is never leave the
ignition on the RUN position for very long, regardless of ignition type....
you know, unless the thing is actually RUNNING at the time....

 

[Under Pressure]

Well after learning from reading quite a number of threads on the tire subject, I have decided to pull the 1992 Goodyears off and order up these Firestone’s.
The Goodyear’s are hard as a bullit now, still have about 60% left on them (cause rocks don’t wear down much)
Coker starting making the Firestone’s in the USA a few years ago, and since I’m a hopeless RWL guy I’m ordering up today, wanna do the Frankenmuth show this year, and that’s Xway driving to get there.
Our car club friends here sure like the Coopers, but I think these will be good tires also.
We’ll see

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

Well after learning from reading quite a number of threads on the tire subject, I have decided to pull the 1992 Goodyears off and order up these Firestone’s.
The Goodyear’s are hard as a bullit now, still have about 60% left on them (cause rocks don’t wear down much)
Coker starting making the Firestone’s in the USA a few years ago, and since I’m a hopeless RWL guy I’m ordering up today, wanna do the Frankenmuth show this year, and that’s Xway driving to get there.
Our car club friends here sure like the Coopers, but I think these will be good tires also.
We’ll see

View attachment 1069488 View attachment 1069489

I personally wouldn't put Firestone Sport Ovals on a 1970 Mopar. They have never been available for Mopars in 1970 and were just used by Ford&GM.

Carsten

 

[64fury74charger]

I will just put my solution to the tire dilemma here and this is just my opinion and not anything more. The 3rd gen Charger have fairly large wheel openings and I like to run the same size tires on all 4 corners for rotating and to improve handling. I prefer taller sidewalls and a good width or footprint.
My Charger runs Cooper cobras with black side out on A/R 15x8 polished aluminum wheels. Size is 255/70R/15 and the Cooper tires really feel good and especially in wet weather. They are relatively inexpensive as well.
Again this is just my opinion and that’s all.

 

[64fury74charger]

I personally wouldn't put Firestone Sport Ovals on a 1970 Mopar. They have never been available for Mopars in 1970 and were just used by Ford&GM.

Carsten

I would not put Firestone tires on my lawnmower, let alone any vehicle I owned. Just my opinion after a tire fire many years ago in 1977! Yes 1977....

 

[MoparGuy68]

If it isn't already, a good general rule of thumb on cars (especially OLD cars) is never leave the
ignition on the RUN position for very long, regardless of ignition type....
you know, unless the thing is actually RUNNING at the time....

I actually left the key in the OFF position, which is one position forward from the LOCK position. When I started posting about this yesterday I was mistakenly thinking there was one position between lock and start. One click forward of LOCK is OFF position and that’s where I left it for two hours.

 

[MoparGuy68]

Well after learning from reading quite a number of threads on the tire subject, I have decided to pull the 1992 Goodyears off and order up these Firestone’s.
The Goodyear’s are hard as a bullit now, still have about 60% left on them (cause rocks don’t wear down much)
Coker starting making the Firestone’s in the USA a few years ago, and since I’m a hopeless RWL guy I’m ordering up today, wanna do the Frankenmuth show this year, and that’s Xway driving to get there.
Our car club friends here sure like the Coopers, but I think these will be good tires also.
We’ll see

View attachment 1069488 View attachment 1069489

Did you order bias ply or radial Wide Ovals? And in what size for what size wheels? I bought Eagle ST for my Challenger in 1992. If Eagle ST were still available I would probably buy them for my Charger.

I was looking at the Firestone Wide Oval radials this weekend. I see Coker has a Wide Oval radial in both G70-14 and G60-15. The tread on this radial does look similar to the bias ply tread.

 

[MoparGuy68]

I will just put my solution to the tire dilemma here and this is just my opinion and not anything more. The 3rd gen Charger have fairly large wheel openings and I like to run the same size tires on all 4 corners for rotating and to improve handling. I prefer taller sidewalls and a good width or footprint.
My Charger runs Cooper cobras with black side out on A/R 15x8 polished aluminum wheels. Size is 255/70R/15 and the Cooper tires really feel good and especially in wet weather. They are relatively inexpensive as well.
Again this is just my opinion and that’s all.

View attachment 1069633 View attachment 1069635 View attachment 1069636 View attachment 1069637 View attachment 1069638 View attachment 1069639 View attachment 1069640 View attachment 1069641

I don’t want my car sitting as high up off the ground as yours is. Currently mine is sitting about a half inch lower to the ground than stock. I am looking just to bring it up to approximately stock ride height which means running a tire that is 26.4 to 27 inches diameter. My current tires are 25.5 inches.

I can’t see how you could possibly be getting full lock to lock turning out of your steering box with those 15x8 wheels and 255/70 tires on the front. Your tires have to be hitting your frame rails before the steering box reaches full travel.

My current 14x6 with 245/60/14 hit the frame rails up front.

 

[MoparGuy68]

I personally wouldn't put Firestone Sport Ovals on a 1970 Mopar. They have never been available for Mopars in 1970 and were just used by Ford&GM.

Carsten

The Firestone Wide Oval radials look more like a bias ply tire than the lone FR70 Polyglas radial does. Cooper Cobra and BFGoodrich were never available originally on the cars either.

I have to say I’d rather have a tire that looks kind of like OEM except it has the wrong brand name on the side wall, than a tire that looks absolutely nothing like OEM and has the wrong brand name on it. I’m talking radial tire here..

The available tire selection for these cars today is the worst it’s ever been in the past 40 years. If you want to have a resto mod car with a totally modified suspension with Hellcat wheels, I guess you’re selection is wonderful. If you have a factory muscle car with matching drivetrain and you want stock diameter wheels it’s lousy as in crapola.

When old man Kelsey dies I won’t be surprised if reproduction Goodyear Polyglas production ends. Then you’ll have these cars at auctions with 30 and 40-year-old reproduction Polyglas tires on them. The cars will probably be illegal to drive on public roads by then, so I guess it won’t matter much.

Maybe in the future there will be Polysnake oil that you can rub into your ancient tires to keep the rubber from hardening and drying out. In 30 years from now, your Polysnake oil treated old Polyglas reproduction tires will be worth $30K for a set of four to the serious Mopar collector.

 

[Under Pressure]

The Firestone Wide Oval radials look more like a bias ply tire than the lone FR70 Polyglas radial does. Cooper Cobra and BFGoodrich were never available originally on the cars either.

I have to say I’d rather have a tire that looks kind of like OEM except it has the wrong brand name on the side wall, than a tire that looks absolutely nothing like OEM and has the wrong brand name on it. I’m talking radial tire here..

The available tire selection for these cars today is the worst it’s ever been in the past 40 years. If you want to have a resto mod car with a totally modified suspension with Hellcat wheels, I guess you’re selection is wonderful. If you have a factory muscle car with matching drivetrain and you want stock diameter wheels it’s lousy as in crapola.

When old man Kelsey dies I won’t be surprised if reproduction Goodyear Polyglas production ends. Then you’ll have these cars at auctions with 30 and 40-year-old reproduction Polyglas tires on them. The cars will probably be illegal to drive on public roads by then, so I guess it won’t matter much.

Maybe in the future there will be Polysnake oil that you can rub into your ancient tires to keep the rubber from hardening and drying out. In 30 years from now, your Polysnake oil treated old Polyglas reproduction tires will be worth $30K for a set of four to the serious Mopar collector.

I went with the FR60-15, (car was built with 14's). These are a little shorter & narrower than the Eagle ST's, but getting a 1/2 inch lower is good for me, I have liked a lot of tires discussed on this thread but am always wanting period stuff for this car when I cant get NOS/OEM. Most of my enjoyment is the history of these cars and the era, and for those who know me, they know I enjoy the searching/finding/buying/keeping this car as close to the build sheet as possible. hell, I still cant bring myself to update the front drum brakes to disc's.
Many friends on this site have sold me things and or given advise on everything from date coded correct alternator core, a couple sway bars from Kern, incorrect tail pan molding pointed out by 440+6, (Which that was a pain to find, but I did), correct 1970 440 valve covers, to the original Chrysler black rubber floor mats I found just a couple weeks ago. My days of building Pontiacs and Oldsmobile's are behind me, and this Mopar thing has got me bad, Lol