225/50/15 Tires almost gone

[HSKR]

Dodge likes to use obscure tire sizes on it's vehicles for some reason. The stock size of 255/55/17 on my Dakota R/T are extrememly hard to find. Had same problem with the 2008 Charger I owwned before the divorce. I've found that if you actually figure out how tire sizes work you can find other sizes(I like to go wider usually) that keep the same overall diameter, as to not screw with speedo too much, that are more plentiful, and usually cheaper. Since my truck is lowered, I'm actually running a shorter tire on it right now. I run 255/50/17s which is the stock size for the 94-96 Impalla SS and the options in that size are plentiful, vs the two options in the factory size. Kind of the reason I went to the 225/50/16s on my Daytona IROC, and now my Spirit R/T. More options, and cheaper ones at that.

[jonnymopar]

Here's a 205/55R15 on a Daytona (car also has a 1" drop all around). Dunlop, Nitto, and Yokohama have some aggressive options in this size.

Rear:




Front:



Like I said, I think they look a little small on mine, but it's also got the larger ground effects. It also may be that I'm more used to seeing it with 215/55R16's on Shelby pumpers instead. You can always play around on here: http://tire-size-conversion.com/tire-size-calculator/ . Figure out what will fit without throwing your speedometer way out of wack (and even then, you could play with the different color speedometer gears).

[HSKR]

This is my go to tire/wheel calculator. I haven't found any others I like as much or that give as much useful info in an easy to read format.
http://www.dakota-truck.net/TIRECALC/tirecalc.html

[marc]

I'm going to assume this car has 225/50-15 on it. Both the 225/50-15 or the 205/55-15 do look a little small on a Daytona but stock is stock. It would kill me to use anything other than the Crab wheels on my Daytona,

[contraption22]

Don't ignore the tire manufacturers' recommended wheel widths for a given tire size.

[Ondonti]

Don't ignore the tire manufacturers' recommended wheel widths for a given tire size.

Love me some sidewall bubble

[jonnymopar]

Don't ignore the tire manufacturers' recommended wheel widths for a given tire size.

Are the crab wheels wider than 6"? Now that I'm thinking about it, 225 seems pretty wide on a 6" wheel.

[contraption22]

225/50's are too wide for a 6" wheel

[Reaper1]

Love me some sidewall bubble

Nah man...I want to use ALL of those 185 tires' tread...gonna stretch them onto 10" wheels!

Are the crab wheels wider than 6"? Now that I'm thinking about it, 225 seems pretty wide on a 6" wheel.

There are 6" wide AND 6.5" wide crab wheels. You have to look at the back to see what the casting says or measure it.

[Ondonti]

225/50's are too wide for a 6" wheel

I am going to stick with your first comment and follow the recommended 6" rim on 225's per manufacturer
Especially with the ET Street-R tires.

[contraption22]

I am going to stick with your first comment and follow the recommended 6" rim on 225's per manufacturer

If the MFR says its ok, I'm sure it would be safe. But I'll stick to the opinion that is less than ideal.

[4 l-bodies]

I am going to stick with your first comment and follow the recommended 6" rim on 225's per manufacturer
Especially with the ET Street-R tires.

What Chrysler vehicle besides maybe very early G-bodies came with 225's and 6" wheel? The Shelby Z's that had crabs and 225's came with a 6.5" wheel. As did the #'d Shelby vehicles that had 225's. Even the 88 CSX-T that came with had 205's had a 6.5" wheel. I agree with Mike and others, 225's on a 6" wheel is far less than ideal from looks to performance. Here is another shot of 205/55/15's Dunlops on Lemans wheels (6.5"). Stock on this vehicle was 205/50/15's. IMO, the P-bodies with 205/50/15's look too short.
Todd

[marc]

I think the first G bodys that got the 225/50-15 were the Daytona's with the C/S package. That got you the 255/50-15 tires, 6.5 Crab wheels, 1.25" front sway bar, a larger rear sway bar, and gas shocks (commonplace today).
If you go to Tirerack web site and look at the specs of a 225/50-15 tire they have a rim width range of 6 to 8 inches with a preferred width of 7 inches. The 205/55-15 tire they have a rim width range of 5.5 to 7.5 inches with a preferred width of 6.5 inches. I need to stay with the 6.5 crab wheels. Chrysler should have made a 7 inch pizza wheel for the C/S, I like the look of the pizza wheel over the crab wheel!

[Ondonti]

What Chrysler vehicle besides maybe very early G-bodies came with 225's and 6" wheel? The Shelby Z's that had crabs and 225's came with a 6.5" wheel. As did the #'d Shelby vehicles that had 225's. Even the 88 CSX-T that came with had 205's had a 6.5" wheel. I agree with Mike and others, 225's on a 6" wheel is far less than ideal from looks to performance. Here is another shot of 205/55/15's Dunlops on Lemans wheels (6.5"). Stock on this vehicle was 205/50/15's. IMO, the P-bodies with 205/50/15's look too short.
Todd

Talking about ideal FWD tire combinations that basically don't exist anymore is fairly ridiculous. I consider it benchracing that nobody would put their $ behind on some very stockish FWD cars. Start equiping high end tires on serious cars and maybe its gonna matter. Telling someone to choose a tire based on their potential to one time race in an autocross is hard to justify. I have driven on some extreme bad tire combinations and even that is not a big deal if you are aware of what that does to your vehicle control. That is why I mentioned to someone not to run small tires in the rear and giant ones up front. You can, but fair warning mr drift guy.

Ideal looks...I don't think that exists with a car, especially with a FWD dodge. Vigo loves his cars super low. Most people here seem to hate that. Saying a car should look exactly like what the easiest available tire and suspension mods were 10 years ago is wrong. That is all gone except a few group buys.

BTW, a lotta guys run 24.5x8x15 slicks on 6" wide rims and thats 1" below recommendation. Oh well! If I was running in a competitive racing class I might run a 10" rim on that thing but for my real life, it doesn't matter.

[Vigo]

I think tire diameter and lowering are attached at the hip. If you don't lower, you need a bigger tire diameter. Or, if you want a small tire diameter, you have to lower it to make it look right.

Lowering options are basically the first thing any car community gets straight. Any community but this one, i mean. I think the lack of any respect being paid to the interplay between lowering, tire sizing, wheel fitment, etc is why hardly any of these cars end up looking aggressive.

Back in the mid 80s nobody was using very wide wheels on street cars because noone was making very wide street tires. 225/50/15 was a big deal in 1986, and they're the main reason an 86 c/s is basically the most aggressive looking daytona.

[marc]

In post #24 the point I was trying to make that even a stock 86 Daytona Turbo Z C/S looks a little funny with the 225/50-15 (23.9 inch diam) where a 205/60-15 tire fills up the wheel well better. The goal for my car is to remain stock appearing. The only thing look wise the 205/55-15 will be slightly narrower tread and I can live with that for the added grip. I think the thing that makes the gen 1 Daytona Turbo Z look aggressive no matter if its a C/S or not is the side skirts/front air dam. It give less space between the body and ground making it look more "lower" than actually is.

Remember in the 60's and 70's the aggressive look was to jack up the rear, put on N60-15's with Cragar S/S and than Center Line Wheels in the late 70"s. How tacky would that look today!!

[HSKR]

In post #24 the point I was trying to make that even a stock 86 Daytona Turbo Z C/S looks a little funny with the 225/60-15 (23.9 inch diam) where a 205/60-15 tire fills up the wheel well better.

I think you got your numbers wrong. A 225/60/15 is a taller tire and will fill up a wheel well better than a 205/60/15. I think you meant 225/50/15

[marc]

I think you got your numbers wrong. A 225/60/15 is a taller tire and will fill up a wheel well better than a 205/60/15. I think you meant 225/50/15

Thanks HSKR, I edit my post.