15" or 17" Cragar S/S - Tires and Pics?

[Forcus]

Hey guys,

I am thinking of going ahead and getting wheels and tires to try to recapture some of my enthusiasm for my Grand Marquis. Here is what I was planning on:

15x8" Cragar S/S with 275/60R15 tires (F)
15x10" Cragar S/S with 295/60R15 tires (R) (if I can find them)

However I am aware of the fact that that is a hell of a lot of sidewall and that handling will be better but not phenomenal. I am considering a second option:

17 x 8" Cragar S/S with ?? tires (F)
17 x 10" Cragar S/S with ?? tires (R)

It would be a look similar to this:

http://www.corvettefever.com/feature...ht/index7.html

The problem is a HATE rubber band tires on musclecars, or "classic" looking cars as the Grand Marquis (in my mind) is.

So my questions are below:

1) Does anyone know of a 15" tire with very good to excellent dry traction that has a fairly stiff (and tall) sidewall? I am only aware of tires that look nice (the traditional Radial T/A, Firehawk Indy 500, Goodyear GT) but I do not believe they have much to offer as far as handling.

2) Does anyone know of a 17" tire that has very good to excellent dry traction while maintaining a higher profile than most 17's (ie, 40-45 series sidewall)? I am only aware of sport truck tires that have a decent sidewall but none of them that I can see offer the traction. By contrast there are lots of lower profile sidewall 17" that have excellent dry traction.

3) Does anyone have a box style CV / Merc with 17" Cragar S/S rims?

[mrltd]

I say it all the time search and check the stickies.

a 255/50/17 is the same overall diameter of the stock 15s. A 10" wheel on the back will be a tight fit. There are lots of pics of that size on my car.

for looking up tires go to tirerack and look for tires. They list all the specs on the tires.

[DuceAnAHalf]

i have 255/50R17 Nitto NT450's on my 97. pretty good tire, but on my 7" wheels they have some wallow, but with 8's they would be great.

[85crownHPP]

235/55/17 is perfect IMO... and common enough to not be super expensive.

[Southern_Pride]

275/60-17. They are sport truck tires but mine had plenty of traction. Falken st z/01 or something like that. Actually got tacky when you smoked em.

[Forcus]

I say it all the time search and check the stickies.

a 255/50/17 is the same overall diameter of the stock 15s. A 10" wheel on the back will be a tight fit. There are lots of pics of that size on my car.

for looking up tires go to tirerack and look for tires. They list all the specs on the tires.

I have dozens of threads bookmarked, I haven't seen any that ask the specific questions I am. I'm actually looking for a bit taller tire to fill the wheelwells a bit more and am willing to sacrifice some (reduction in) ride height to do so. I'm also looking for 17" Cragar S/S pics on boxes, I've seen them on other vehicles but it's hard for me to imagine that wheel on a box. To me the 15's are the classic musclecar look which works on a box as well. But the 17's are going to replace some of that tall sidewall with solid rim which is what I'm looking for IF there are sticky 17's with a decent sidewall.

I've done quite a bit of searching... looks like it's going to be sport truck tires.

[Forcus]

235/55/17 is perfect IMO... and common enough to not be super expensive.

I agree but I'd like to fill the rear wheelwells a bit more. I'd rather not go staggered but consensus from the sticky's tends to indicate that 255 might be the max on the front. (I've seen pics of 275's on front and don't like how they look). 255's on the rear still look a bit teeny to me unless spacers are used. So I would guess that 255 F 275 R would be the best unless a spacer was used so that 255's could be used all around.

The car below was on here awhile ago, the first pic looks great, but the second pic shows how 15" with 245's look and they don't quite fill out the rear like I want.

[1987cp]

Not sure where you got your tire sizes .... for your 15" combo you'll want more like 265/50/15 and 295/50/15 for street use. The 265/50 is getting hard to find, but you can still get Cooper Cobras and Mastercraft Avengers in both sizes.

Your 275/60 and 295/60 suggestions are about 28" tall and 29" tall, respectively, compared to about 27" stock or 26.6" for Tiggie's old 245/60s. SP's notion of a 275/60/17 would be 30 INCHES TALL!!!

[Grand Marquis GT]

That is Tiggie's old car. If you look at the second pic, you will notice it still has a vinyl top-this leads me to think it's an older pic, and he put bigger tires on the rear as reflected in the first pic.

[Forcus]

That is Tiggie's old car. If you look at the second pic, you will notice it still has a vinyl top-this leads me to think it's an older pic, and he put bigger tires on the rear as reflected in the first pic.

Yeah I talked to him about it, he said that it was just because of the way the suspension was compressed in the first pic, it made it look different. Should be same tires and rims.

[Southern_Pride]

Ok, I found my old readers ride thread from way back when. Rear tires in the pics are 255/65-17 which is roughly 30 inches tall and the axle is almost sitting on the bumpstop because the springs were so shot. I think I have more threads somewhere on here and am looking and will update as I go. Front tires were 225/55-17 or maybe 225/50-17's. I can't remember but can find out if you would like.

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=8102

[Tiggie]

I miss that thing... real bad.

I liked my 15X7 in teh front, but a 15X8 would have been good in the back. Much more than an 8 wide on a 15in wheel looks akward on a street car.

I'd go 17X8 on teh front, 17X9 rear. 10's have to be custom made to my knowledge. Clearance in the front was tight on my 7's with 4 1/8in backspace. It's going to boil down to what fits your car to your liking: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...0&autoview=sku

[Southern_Pride]

Tiggie I still have the car, It just doesn't look that way anymore. I'm planning on turning my 91 into something similiar though.

[Forcus]

Ok, I found my old readers ride thread from way back when. Rear tires in the pics are 255/65-17 which is roughly 30 inches tall and the axle is almost sitting on the bumpstop because the springs were so shot. I think I have more threads somewhere on here and am looking and will update as I go. Front tires were 225/55-17 or maybe 225/50-17's. I can't remember but can find out if you would like.

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=8102

Yowzers. Looks like the fronts are a good fit but the rears look huge!!! Do you know for sure the sizing on the rear?

[Southern_Pride]

Rear is definitely a 255/65-17 as they are now my front tires. But like I said. The rear axle was almost on the bumpstops. On stock tires the bumper almost dragged the ground.