66 Mustang tire size

[brapple]

my father and I are looking for wheels and tires for his 66 Sunshine Yellow 289 2+2 fastback Mustang. we want to go with American Racing Torq-thrust D wheels in anthrocite with the machined lip in 15" by 6" size. We are going with this wheel as my parents 06 Mustang GT has the similar style wheel and is screaming yellow and we are using the wheels as a way to tie the two cars together as a him and her type of thing, or new and old ...

anyway what tire size would be recommended for a 66 fastback on stock suspension with 4 wheel drums? we plan in the future to upgrade to front disks but for now the car is going back together stock. tirerack calls out 215/65R15 iirc.

right now we have some steel wheels are the car that are 15x7. the tires are used ones that where originally on a Boss 429 iirc, not sure of the size. right now they are just to big and the fronts rub the fender when turning.

so what size would you guys suggest for a 15x6 wheel?


pic for reference (no engine in the car at time photo was taken)

 

[ponygt65]

Since it has stock suspension, here is a link to give you an idea of what stock was.

http://links.vintage-mustang.com/FAQ/tires.txt

Check out some dedicated older stang sites and see what you can come up with.

I would guess a 205/60-5 or 215/60-5 would be a good one.

I had 215/60/14s on my 5.5" (maybe 5", I can't recall exactly), but it bulged out a bit. I wouldnt' go wider than 215s and since you have 15" rims, I wouldnt' go with a 65 series. But that's me.

 

[amorrow]

I have 15"x6" wheels on my '65, and run 215/60/15 BFGoodrich Radial T/As all-around. I'd recommend this size, as I think it looks best and is about as wide as you'd want to go for a 6" wheel. I also agree the 60 aspect ratio for that width and diameter is better suited for '65-6 Mustangs.

And regarding the Goodyear Polyglas tires you believe to be original to a Boss 429...is the tire size (should be F60-15) visible in raised white letters? And are they in good condition?

 

[brapple]

And regarding the Goodyear Polyglas tires you believe to be original to a Boss 429...is the tire size (should be F60-15) visible in raised white letters? And are they in good condition?

I would have to look at the size but F60-15 or F70-15 sounds right. They are completely shot.

actually come to think of it they are not the original polyglas tires. they are bfgoodrich and they are identical to what is on the Boss 9 currently.

As I recall my father said they came off the Boss 9 when he replaced the tires on that, many, many years ago.

I found via web searching the 6.95-14 was the original tire size. Tirerack seems to indicate that 215/65R15 would be the size. 215/60R15 sounds like a good size. Its close to the 205/60R15 our contours run stock so we can get some kind of idea what that size would look like on the car.

 

[brapple]

Since it has stock suspension, here is a link to give you an idea of what stock was.

http://links.vintage-mustang.com/FAQ/tires.txt

how accurate is that chart? I have found that before.

based on that chart I would agree that 215/60R15 seems to be the best pick.

 

[amorrow]

Wow, is that your dad's Boss? That looks incredible...appears like that engine bay has never been messed with. Is it completely unrestored? Since the Boss is a '69 and would've been built prior to 12/69, there wouldn't have been a tire size on the originals. FYI, as of that date, Goodyear then put the size (F60-15 for all Boss 429s) on the sidewall in raised letters.

But back to your '66...originally the Mustangs did have taller tires, especially the Shelbys. I have a repro Goodyear Blue Dot on my spare, but there is no way I'd run that tall of a tire on the car. Not only do I believe the 60 will look better for a radial, but depending on your gear it's probably a bit more wise from a performance standpoint.

Here are a couple pics of my 215/60/15s on my '65. I currently have no engine it mine, either, so I took a pic of the back and included an older one when I had full weight on the car.

 

[brapple]

Wow, is that your dad's Boss? That looks incredible...appears like that engine bay has never been messed with. Is it completely unrestored? Since the Boss is a '69 and would've been built prior to 12/69, there wouldn't have been a tire size on the originals. FYI, as of that date, Goodyear then put the size (F60-15 for all Boss 429s) on the sidewall in raised letters. ]

yes its is :rockon: the car is unrestored. however it was originally black jade and was painted red. the engine is near complete, the smog setup was removed and we have picked up and put a few things back. so it isn't a great example but it pretty much all there. it is actually the last KK numbered car of 69, how ever it isn't the last vin of 69. just shows that at Kar Kraft the order they came off the line from ford to the trail and in to be modified didn't stay the same.

But back to your '66...originally the Mustangs did have taller tires, especially the Shelbys. I have a repro Goodyear Blue Dot on my spare, but there is no way I'd run that tall of a tire on the car. Not only do I believe the 60 will look better for a radial, but depending on your gear it's probably a bit more wise from a performance standpoint.

Here are a couple pics of my 215/60/15s on my '65. I currently have no engine it mine, either, so I took a pic of the back and included an older one when I had full weight on the car.

from what I checked out today based on the tire sizes in the link posted above a 60 series would be the best. as for the gearing I am not sure what gears will be used. right now it has some 4.10s in it iirc. moving it around is kinda like a rock crawler, at idle it just moves right along slowly. but I think this has something to do with the fact that in HS my father dropped in a 69 Boss 302 engine into this car but didn't and couldn't afford to upgrade the stock 3-spd and rear with lsd. so those gears might have been put in there to make the car rollable, was painted in 81, has to be redone but it is just being put back together now. As of this time it is going back 100% stock. that means down to the 4 wheel drum brakes, which in the future will be upgraded.

anyway it looks like the wheels will come sooner then later.
like I said the 15x7 wheels are larger then we want to run and i guess we don't have the original 14" wheels.

 

[amorrow]

Your dad has KK 2059, #859? That car was the last '69 to come out of the Kar Kraft facility, and was originally Candyapple Red according to the Brighton production log. When you say it has the last, do you mean it had the last Ford VIN (9F02Z######)?

 

[ponygt65]

Sorry I dont' ahve an upclose pic, but I ran Firehawks on my Koupe. And OMG is that Boss9 gorgeous. That is the ONE dream car that I have yet (and will never get to) own.

69 Boss9
65 GT Koupe
03/04 mach
03/04 Cobra

Amorrow - I never get tired of looking at your FB.

 

[brapple]

Your dad has KK 2059, #859? That car was the last '69 to come out of the Kar Kraft facility, and was originally Candyapple Red according to the Brighton production log. When you say it has the last, do you mean it had the last Ford VIN (9F02Z######)?

well since it sounds like you are in the know you would know who Steve Strange is. The last we knew via the registry this was the last KK numbered, known surviving car for 69, although it isn't the last vin of 69. I should have been clearer before but I didn't recall that fact. so it isn't the last one of 69, but the last registered one according to Steve Strange, but that was a number of years ago.


but back to my question, in the photo in the first post the tires are P60-15 on 15x7 wheels. we feel that 15x7 is to wide. so we are trying to narrow down what the exect size would be in current sizes.

 

[ponygt65]

^^^ I'd go with either 215 or 205/60/15's.

 

[latamud]

I'm new to this site but thought I'd chime in. A guy I know, Nick made this chart up a few years ago based on a lot of input from fellow Stangers.http://www.dodgestang.com/Tire Fitment Guide 65-6.pdf
That's a good reference for 65-66 Wheel and tire fitment. On my 66 I started off with 14x6 with 205/60-14, then went with a 15x6.5 and used 245/60-15 rear and 225/50-15 front. Just to give you some ideas. You could probably go with a 225-235 wide rear and have plenty of clearance, and maybe a 225-205 wide up front. If you can, call a local tire shop and see if you can take the car and wheels to them to test fit some different sizes. I'm sure they'd be willing to do it to sell a set of tires and get a happy customer.
Here's an old shot with the 14x6s

I didn't have a camera when I rode with the 15x6.5s
I prefer 17s on my cars now.