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advice on tires for v8 healey

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maxwedge5281

maxwedge5281

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i am moving along with the healey that i bought several months ago. it had huge fender flares so i have installed new fenders. the rear fenders have a one inch lip/flare. i had a pair of healey steel wheels widened to 7 inches for the rear. looking for advice on rear tires that will be tall enough to fill the fender opening. the car as pictured has a set of low profile tires just for rolling purposes. i will need a tire with decent width and a tall sidewall in a 15 inch size. thanks for any help or advice. please excuse the disarray of colors! thanks for any advice or recommendations. and, a picture could be helpful!
 

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Can't be of much help, but this might be a good question for the modified Healey mail group. If you're not a member, you can subscribe here: modifiedhealeys-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The list is generally pretty quiet these days but golds with some experience still monitor it. Barring that, you might buy one of these gauges that will let you measure your maximum tire size and start comparing tires sizes: https://www.jegs.com/i/Percy's/760/...3&cadevice=c&gclid=CJifxY-57M0CFQJZhgodRxEJ6Q
 
My BN2 with a SBC came with very old and cracked Michelin XWX 185/70 VR15. They are very expensive ($350 each) and available only as reproductions so I went with a modern tire: Pirelli P6000 same size for about $200 each. The Michelin had this great old school look with the bulge side wall but I've been pleased with the Pirellis. You would have to watch the size for the rears. I have Dayton 6" wire wheels in the back and they are tight for my original fenders.
 
Here's a shot with the Michelin and one with the P6000s. The Dayton wheels at 6" are a bit wider that the Dunlop wires that my car came with so I was really careful about fitting. I have a narrowed Ford 9" in back.

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You might want to give Hendrix Wire Wheel a call. I fitted larger tires on my BJ8 and he had me measure the distance between the dog leg on the rear fender to the front of the rear part of the fender to make sure there was enough clearance so the tire would fit. Many repairs and reproductions of the dog legs aren't always s it came from the factory and this distance could be a problem.
 
I'm running 196/65-R15 Bridgestones all around. One of our local members is running 201/60-R15s. Neither of us have flares.

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If you're using steel rims, why not go with 16"? Original tires were 26" diameter. For the front, you could look at 205/60 R16s that will be about 25.7" tall. 225/55 R16s for the rear would be the same height. Tire Rack has over 70 choices for the front size, a little over 50 choices for the rear.
 
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