[FC] best tire/rim for fc

[Rad Davis]

What you've got:

a Chevy pickup front suspension and swing axles in the rear.  Swing axles, 
in particular, don't much like square tread cross-sections, because the 
axles roll off the tread onto the edge during extremes in suspension 
position.  The suspension was designed for a relatively narrow (6 or 7 
inch) tread patch with some crowning.  If you want to get away from this, 
you'd better limit suspension travel first, or you can get into some 
unpleasant places on the slip angle curve.

So the question is: what do you want, what are you willing to give up, and 
how much are you willing to spend?

If you're planning on driving the van a lot on the road or when loaded, 
you'd be well-served to stick with a stockish sort of tire and wheel.  This 
doesn't mean that you can't go lower profile or wider, but you'll give away 
ride quality and handling beyond a certain point.  Then there's also the 
very practical consideration that there's not a huge amount of space in the 
wheel wells on an FC.

The stock tire made metric works out to something like a 195-80-14.  If you 
do a standard plus 1 to it, you get something like a 205 or 
225-70-15.  Sure enough, these work well and are widely available since 
things like Caprices, Crown Vics, and light trucks take them.  They also 
are about the same diameter as the stock tires, so the speedometer and 
gearing are about what you expect.  As for wheels, light truck or caprice 
rims do the trick nicely.

You can go further to something like a 225-60-16, but the tread 
cross-sections get really square.  This is fine as long as you're not doing 
autocross or pushing around off-ramps lightly loaded.  If you expect to be 
using all the suspension, though, things can get scary.  It doesn't take 
all that much persuasion to make a Greenbrier swap ends if everything is 
right.  If you're running a dumb tire and wheel combo, it's just a matter 
of time.

The other side of this is that if you pick your tires and rims right, 
everything gets much BETTER than with a stock wheel and tire.  My 
Greenbrier (i'm running caprice rims and tires) has better handling, a 
better ride, and better crosswind immunity than a stock one because of the 
reduced sidewall height and more rubber on the road.  The bigger wheels 
look (I think) better on the van than the stock ones do.  And it costs very 
little for both wheels and tires.

Have fun...

At 09:39 AM 3/25/2006 -0500, woohey at aim.com wrote:
>My apologies guys, I know this question has been posted many times before, 
>so if anyone wants to forward prior emails it would be greatly appreciated.
>
>I am looking for the best tire and rim combination for my greenbriar, just 
>the appropiate sizes.  Would like to maybe go low profile on the tires if 
>appropiate, and will probably use aftermarket wheels.
>
>Some background:  all drivetrain has been replaced, including all new 
>bushings, ball joints, etc.  Currently using Ken Hand's cut springs on 
>front end and running low pressure gas shocks, depending on the outcome 
>from tires and wheeels, may update to high pressure shocks all around.
>The only thing not replaced in suspension is tie rods, but they are in 
>very good shape.
>
>My goal is to consistently cruise @70-80 with solid ride, van runs well at 
>that speed, although there is lots of float, especially if windy.
>We also probably add s-10 spoiler.
>
>I think i should start with new tires and wheels and tires are bald and 
>shows early signs of dry rot.
>
>I dont mind spending some money, just want to do it right the first time.
>
>Thanks in advance for all the assistance.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Keith Graham
>'64 brier
>'63 vert

__________________________________________________________________________
Rad Davis:                                        rad.davis at comcast.net
Corvairs--65, 66 Corsa coupes, '65 'brier Deluxe   http://www.corvair.org/
Keeper of the Forward Control Corvair Primer: 
http://www.mindspring.com/~corvair/fc1.html
"We did Nebraska in seven minutes today. I think that's probably the best 
way to do Nebraska."                            --Brian Shul, _Sled Driver_