1992 Custom Cruiser New Tires

Got a deal on some 235/60/15 Road Hugger tires. The white-walls on my wagon were OLD, and showing dry rot. Time for tires anyway and thought the raised-letters might "youngmobile" my Oldsmobile a bit.

Ok here's some pics.

At my favorite Mexican tire shop, trying to see how many floor jacks it takes to make a wagon fly.




Shots at dusk after Ajax with my crappy cell phone camera, but you get the idea. 70-series would for-sure look a bit better than the 60-series, BUT it rides just fine and I love raised-white-letter tires. I like it!







Now it looks like one of MY cars! :banana:

-Mike

 

Makes a big difference!

 

Good or bad??

 

Lol
Good, IMHO.

 

Thanks!

 

But now I think it's crying for more "sporty" wheels...

 

No it's NOT. It's smiling. Leave the poor wagon alone and save your money for more fuel pumps.

 

OOOOOOOOHHHHHH, that's cruel, Cat!

 

My Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser has 4 different tires on it, and they are 1 size too big. They are in good shape though so I guess I'll run it as is...

 

I like the 60-series on the CC. Probably what I'm going to go to if I don't change the wheel size.

I thought maybe you wanted to see how a 4WD conversion would look........

 

Go with 235/70/15's. If you have the budget, they'll fill up the wheel-wells better.

That said, the new tires rode fine on my San Antonio run this weekend, and I'm getting used to the look now. And I took a highway flyover at 70mph with no tire squeal. Pretty neat, with the white-walls I would have been screaching for sure!




-Mike

 

Just one thing. The 0 series have a lower weight rating than the 70s. Check and make sure your dynamic load is not beyond the capability of the tires. The static load is one thing. Add the weight transfer of an emergency maneuver, and firgure from there. The last time you want to discover that your tires are overloaded under certain conditions is when you are avoiding that semi coming at you sideways, and have a tire blow or come off the rim.

 

I'll look at that, but think I'm ok. I see these tires on Suburbans and pickups down here a lot.

-Mike

 

235/60R15 should be 98T

From a Toyo tires table:

98 P235/60 R15 1422 1499 1565 1642

1422 is 26psi, 1499 is 29psi, 1565 is 32psi, 1642 is 35psi

If those tires are 98 load rating, then it should be fine but make sure you inflate to a level that meets or exceeds your GVWR. Example, the GVWR of my Torino is 5957lbs (that's vehicle, max cargo, max passengers). So I'd be ok at 29psi for those tires on my car, but my front rating is 3017 and rear only 2940. So technically I would need to go over 29psi up front to be just right. 31psi up front would be enough but I could drop to 28psi or so in the back if I wanted to. I won't do that, but I could.

 

Occupant: I always run my tires at the max pressure on the sidewall. For one thing, the door placard on your Torino probably says 32/32. That was the maximum pressure for the tires that were available when the car was new. They would be a GR78/15 or HR78/15. On that car, like my Thunderbirds, the 225/70R15 is a great fit. I used to run BFGoodrich Comp T/A HR-4 in that size, which is an H speed rated, performance tire. I ran them at 45 pounds. When they were no longer available, I got a set of Pirelli P3000 H rated touring tires and ran them at 50 pounds. The ride was a little firmer, but much more controlled, and with no slop in the steering. Also, if I had to put a load in the car unexpectedly, I was just fine. I never had to worry about it. Also, 45 pounds instead of 35 pounds would gain me about 100 kms, or 62 miles, more per tank of gas, and the tires seemed to last really, really well with no funny wear at all.