Keep the original 14" wheels?

[7milesout]

Guys,

I'm at a point on this car where I need to buy tires. The current tires have good tread and not cracking, but these are at least 20 years old. Probably 25 years old. Regardless I'm buying tires.

You guys know the issue ... there's NOT a lot of 14" tires to choose from. There is a set of 215/60's that I'm willing to try because they're fairly inexpensive. The car has 225/60's on it now.

I am, or was, considering to go to 15's or 16's, but I'd like to keep the original tire height of ~24". But that limits tire choices in other sizes. And I'm not liking some of the 15" and 16" wheels I've looked at.

So, should I just run the original 14" Rallye wheels, and put the cheap 14's on it and see what I think? It's not a Lexus, I don't have to be on a premium tire. Just ones that won't come flying apart due to age.

Thanks.


7milesout

 

[jrc4y4]

Mine has 14 inch Cooper Cobras. 235s on the back 225s on the front, but are like 26". 15s are nice to look at but on an A body the 14 doesn't look out of place like on the bigger cars. I found out my wheels (all 4) were bent AFTER these new tires or I would have done the 15 inch wheels since I needed wheels and tires. But alas, only knew of tires at the time. If you only need tires MY 2 cents is just get the tires unless you're really itching to get a completely different look.

 

[GRANCUDA]

Nothing wrong with 14's. There are lots of options & with being able to buy online now days you can get lots of good tires in a 14". I'm running 14" on my daily driver '67.

 

[7milesout]

I don't want a different look. I like the black Rallye wheels (though they need a repaint), they match the black vinyl top. The raised white letters of the Coopers look GREAT (on the picture above). I would like to figure out how baby moons could fit on these 14" Rallye wheels though.

I'm going to use the current tires as masking and repaint the wheels black before putting on the new tires. Fresh black painted Rallye wheels that match the vinyl top, raised white letters, and baby moons that match the chrome bumpers, door handles, and trim around the windows would look FABULOUS.

I'm looking at hubcapmike trying to figure out if I can fit baby moons on these rally wheels. If anyone already knows, I'm all ears.


7milesout

 

[jrc4y4]

It would be interesting if moons could fit those. I don't know how they'd fit but with time many things can be fitted.

 

[7milesout]

There are little holes in between the lug bolt / lug nut holes (a picture of one of my wheels below). A (red highlighted) bracket like those shown below could be attached via those holes to hold the baby moon on.

 

[jrc4y4]

Yeah something like that could be done. Wonder if they're the same size as the hole for the rallye center.

 

[7milesout]

No, they're bigger. They would cover the lug nuts also.

 

[jrc4y4]

Sorry, I just meant the entire indentation that houses the rallye center. Not just the holes for the lugnuts and hardware for center cap.

 

[GONEFISHIN']

you could also have the rallye centre caps refinished (I had the wheels done white to match the body and the centre caps done a dark red to match the stripes and interior)