Tire Size for Chevelle...Helping a buddy

[bgray]

Hey guys,

Im trying to help my buddy find out what size tires he can run on his 1968 cehvelle. Its lot lowered, but he has 18x8 with a 4.5" backspace all the way around. What size tire front and rear would work nicely. Hes not looking to go massive, but big enough for the rims and a little bigger outback.

thanks alot

[buickfunnycar.com]

You can easily run a 18x9 front and an 18x10 rear with 275/35 & 305/35 rubber.backspacing would be 5.5" & 5.75" respectively...this will fill the wheelwells out nicely.

[Tom 72RS/SS]

You can easily run a 18x9 front and an 18x10 rear with 275/35 & 305/35 rubber.backspacing would be 5.5" & 5.75" respectively...this will fill the wheelwells out nicely.
A friend is looking for much the same for his '71 Chevelle, would this combo work for him as well?

[shep]

yes 68-72 all have basically the same wheel wells

[Tom 72RS/SS]

Thanks shep, I'll pass along the info.

[bgray]

He already has the 18x8 with 4.5" BS..so i need to make the tires work around that

[buickfunnycar.com]

He already has the 18x8 with 4.5" BS..so i need to make the tires work around that

That width wheel really limits you as far as a rear tire is concerned,you can only really consider a 255/45 tire for that wheel and on a '68-'72 'Velle,that would look awful small out back,at least to me...I run a 275/35 front.

Tell him to run those in front and get a pair of 10's for the back...:smoke:

[Roadbuster]

Depends on the look he wants. A 245 on a 8 inch rim will be straight up and down (no sidewall bulge for most tires) a 255 will give you a little bulge.
Sizes available for an R888 (It is what I run so I have the spec sheet) are:
245/40R18 8.0-8.5-9.5 rim width 9.8 inch tread width 25.7 inch diameter
255/35R18 8.5-9.0-10.0 rim width 10.1 inch tread width 25.1 inch diameter
265/35R18 9.0-9.5-10.5 rim width 10.6 inch tread width 25.4 inch diameter

Rim width is minimum, recommended, and maximum

Given this for a R888 I would go with the 245/40R18 tire because at 25.7 inches it is the tallest and a Chevelle needs a large tire to fill the wheel wells out unless it is really low.

If you could find another tire that is a 245/45R18 that would be better
as it would be 26.7 inches tall.

Here is what a 245/45R17, 25.7 inch tall tires (front and rear) looked like on my 68 GTO at stock height:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/10/Roadbusters_682-1.jpg
Lowered:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2008/09/CIMG1870_2-1.jpg
Then with 255/35R18 fronts (25 inch diameter) on 18x9 and 305/35R18 on 18x11 rears that are 26.4 inches tall:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2008/12/CIMG2052-1.jpg

Hope this helps.