tires and wheels Tires

[Collinster742002]

Big thanks to everyone who helped me get little red back on the road. However, she needs tires. And I want to put the 76 rims on, but I want people's opinions on it. (the car is hardly original, being a 76 in a 74 body...)

So what are the best tires for the old girl? I don't want to spend too much either.

Here's the current rims:

Here's the 76

Also as a kicker, here's the original, never used spare in the '74

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[RayC911]

Clean the Mahles up, swap the tires over from the steelies and runs those (you call them 76). The Mahles are nice rare wheels.

[Collinster742002]

The tires on the steels are CRAP, they're older than I am. There will be new tires put on them. Will the BMW hub covers work on the Mahles? I plan on getting new ones, anyway.

[JohnS]

If you're intersted in new tires, I'd suggest getting 185/70 13's

The commonly available ones are Sumitomo HTR or Kumho Solus. Both are available at TireRack.

I agree with Ray that those Mahle rims are rare and cool. If you want to sell them, let me know.

[Collinster742002]

Thanks for that. Haha sorry, not for sale. They're a part of sentimental history to my mother

[JohnS]

Thanks for that. Haha sorry, not for sale. They're a part of sentimental history to my mother

You might want to make sure that you have those Mahle rims checked out to make sure they're straight and true before you go through the trouble of refinishing them and/or installing new tires on them. It appears like the one in the picture might be dinged on the rim and possibly bent. I did that same damage to one of my tii wheels, so I've been there and done that (refinished it and mounted/unmounted tires ... twice).

The older alloy wheels are pretty soft...

But, they can ussually be fixed too, for a price...

Good luck,

John

[RayC911]

The tires on the steels are CRAP, they're older than I am. There will be new tires put on them. Will the BMW hub covers work on the Mahles? I plan on getting new ones, anyway.

Sorry, got excited seeing the Mahles and didn't read your post completely about tires. If you are referring to the Roundel center caps, they should fit both wheels.

[c.d.iesel]

news flash - your pictured 'original' spare HAS BEEN used hard and bent,

and poorly repainted

go with those nice alloys after cleaned up - make sure they're not bent before wasting time mounting new tires

[Collinster742002]

Yeah, I noticed how bent up the steelies are on there today. They look awful. I started cleaning up the Mahles.... looking good. No bends that I've seen.

That spare was repainted by Boyd Dawson, as was the whole car, in 2005 after the car was totalled for the second time. He did a pretty crappy job all around, there are runs and drips in the paint and horrible overspray in the engine compartment...all over wires and hoses and everything. Don't go to him if you're in North Carolina.

Another interesting thing I noticed today, the engine in the 74 is actually original to the car. What happened was that the 76 was put in the 74 body, ran for about a year until my dad blew it up somehow. (I think the block is still salvageable...I plan to rebuild that and put the silver car back together)

So, THAT is why the engine has all the pollution crap on it. The 76 engine has none.