Wanting advice on wheels & tires for the 69

[sixtynine]

have had the rallyes on my 69 since I bought it in `91. Now that the car is back to an original look I am on the fence on a "more correct" wheel & tire combo. These are my choices and was hoping to get input from you all.

1) 14" SS wheels with goodyear polyglas

2) 15" ss wheels with tires currently on car.

Q: How bad are polyglas to drive on?
Q: Do 15" ss wheels look ok?

Some pics of the car in question:

[Postsedan]

Great looking "Canadian" Chevelle. If your use to the Radials you won`t like the bias tires. I prefer the look of the Goodyear Polys especially since you`ve gone all this way to make the car look original again.

I really like the look of your Chevelle. Great job.

I`m sending you a pm.

Dan

[Jonesy]

My choice would be:


1) 14" SS wheels with goodyear polyglas

[CC Rider]

Your Chevelle looks GREAT!

After driving around on radials since 1991, Polyglas tires will take some getting used to! They do not respond to steering input as quickly as a good radial will, do not ride as smooth, and Polyglas's like to follow the ruts and crowns of the road, so you will be fighting the steering wheel from time to time. There are a couple of areas on Happy Valley Road and I17 where I'm fighting the steering wheel when driving over to the Pavilions. I don't dislike driving on them, but my Chevelle had better road manners with radials. Be prepared to get used to driving on them! However, you can't beat the look of Goodyear Polyglas tires on a muscle car.

Those aftermarket SS style wheels have a different look to them and do not quite match the original SS wheels. The trim rings definitely won't match. So, in my humble opinion, you will be switching out non correct wheels with different non-correct wheels.

If you have the room for storage, buy a set of 14" original SS wheels, mount a set of Polyglas's on them, keep your present tires and wheels, and switch them out. I debating on buying some aftermarket wheels and radials myself.

Hope this helps.

[sixtynine]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 69SUPERSPORT396</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Your Chevelle looks GREAT!

After driving around on radials since 1991, Polyglas tires will take some getting used to! They do not respond to steering input as quickly as a good radial will, do not ride as smooth, and Polyglas's like to follow the ruts and crowns of the road, so you will be fighting the steering wheel from time to time. There are a couple of areas on Happy Valley Road and I17 where I'm fighting the steering wheel when driving over to the Pavilions. I don't dislike driving on them, but my Chevelle had better road manners with radials. Be prepared to get used to driving on them! However, you can't beat the look of Goodyear Polyglas tires on a muscle car.

Those aftermarket SS style wheels have a different look to them and do not quite match the original SS wheels. The trim rings definitely won't match. So, in my humble opinion, you will be switching out non correct wheels with different non-correct wheels.

If you have the room for storage, buy a set of 14&quot; original SS wheels, mount a set of Polyglas's on them, keep your present tires and wheels, and switch them out. I debating on buying some aftermarket wheels and radials myself.

Hope this helps. </div></div>

Yeah - the aftermarket stuff is really horrible and I am not suprised they didn`t duplicate the originals.... I bought door panels for the car and the fit was so poor I threw them in the trash! Nevermind all of the other parts I ordered that were &quot;off&quot;.

[sixtynine]

just for fun..... a few other pics of the car along the road...

[njsteve]

Bias plies look great but ride very roughly and handle badly. They will track any groove in the road, so you have to be paying attentiion at all times when driving with these tires. There is nothing like the ride of the radials.

If only they could make a Frankentire with the &quot;Polyglas&quot; letters on a radial carcass.

The best idea is to have a set of bias ply tires on a show set of rims and have a set of BFGs on another set of rims for street driving.

[92646]

It looks like you have the tire stance figured out with the radial TAs. Put a set of 15&quot; SS wheels in place of your rallys on your existing tires for the drivers and sell the rally wheels to offset the expense. The 15&quot; SS wheels can be found at Summit or Jegs then invest in a date coded set of restored YA wheels with the right tires for the car shows. Or for fun put a a set of 15x7 TTO Torq thrusts on it and keep the 14&quot; wheels for the car shows. Look at the pictures of Albert's ZL1 Chevelle with the TTOs.

[m22mike]

Some good advice here on what you can expect with the bias ply's. My Camaro is not the same since I put on the Goodyear's, but it looks cool [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img].
Where I miss the radial's the most is when I get up on the freeway.
As far as the wheels, the SS wheels were made for that car.

Mike

[ORIGLS6]

Here's a couple of shots of a friend's '70 with 15 x 8s &amp; BFG Radials. IIRC, the wheels are Wheel Vintiques and the tire sizes are 235/60 fronts and 255/60 rears.

No clearance issues.





Another view, although a bit distorted.