Tire size and nonpower steering

[rainman]

I'm planning on buying differant size tires for my 71. It currently has 235/60's and I'm going to change to 225/70s or 255/60s. After reading most the tire threads I was planning on going with the wider 255s but I'm afraid it will make steering at low speeds difficult. Any experience with 255s and non power steering cars as compared to 225s? Does the width make a big difference?

 

[68Roadster]

Rainman,
I am running 255's on the front of mine and the car had no power steering until last winter.
I can't say that steering was any more difficult with the wider tires, steering in general was tough without the power setup. I like the look of the 255's tho....
Not sure about yours but my front 255's rub the inside of the frame rail.

Good luck!

 

[JohnZ]

Be careful with 255/60-15's - when they became a factory option, the plant had to cut clearance in the top area of the wheel opening flanges on those cars to avoid rubbing and fiberglass breakage at full steering lock, especially for conditions like entering a driveway. Not a happy thing when you crack a nicely-painted outer body panel.

 

[Christian]

... I'm going to change to 225/70s or 255/60s....

I encountered room problems for larger tire sizes with my 1971 and I did not want to cut in the fender.
I now have 225/70 on the front and 235/70 on the rear and I am very happy.

 

[72Mako]

I did surveys at various Vette shows like Bloomington gold etc before I bought tires for my '72. Most of the '70-'72s running 255x60x15s on the front I looked at showed heavy rubbing marks on the frame. So I went down one size to 245x60x15 and have been happy. I only show light rubbing on the front frame and the emergency cable in the rear just brushes the sidewall in the rear, nothing serious. JohnZ brings up a good point also. Especially when you consider that in '73 and later, the body got raised slightly due to the rubber body mounts vs the '72 and earlier which had solid body mounts and sat a bit lower. Charles

 

[rainman]

Thanks for the info. It's just what I was looking for.