I am close to having my wheels painted and I am running the original 16 inch by 4.5 and was wondering what tubeless radials you guys run that is the equivalent to the 600 or 650 16s. I dont need a wide tire in fact the closest to original the better. I am running the original drive line so i want the tallest tire that looks good on the rim.

 

I think that what you are going to find is that the profile of the original bias ply tire will be taller (larger diameter) than a comparable width radial tire. You will want the highest series radial (like 80) that you can find if you are trying to maintain the look of the original bias ply. Unfortunately modern tires are going in the opposite direction. 70 series used to be the standard in radials, now you see 40 series.

 

I run Avon brand LT215-85R-16 on my 48 F1. It's pretty close to stock and with an 8 ply rating they stand up like the old bias plys - 50 #'s of air makes for a stiff ride but I prefer the look and durability over comfort....after all, its a truck right?

I do run modern rims with those tires. Your tire dealer should be able to help with your selection.

 

Same here. I run Cooper LT215/85/16's radials on the original rims. Look at the black truck photos. The original bias to radial conversion gets down into the 195 range (I can't remember the exact size, but it is mentioned on multiple old threads.). But you won't find them very easily on the commercial market.

 

Jordan , used a '50 merc wheel for a spare on the 1ST-RIDE . It being an old riveted center rim it leaked so bad it would not hold air for 6 hrs. Tried another rim and it held air quite well .Just FYI . Later , Denny

 

Okay im a firestone fan so im looking at the Transforce AT and the Transforce HT. The AT is more of the off road stiffer tire, where as the HT is a lighter duty on road tire. It rides better, but I want a tire that is not mushy and swimmy So Do you think i should buy the stiffer tire and have the handling or the HT for the better ride? I cant decide and will those work okay on the 4.5 rims?

 

You definitely need Lightweight Truck (LT) tires. I tried a set of P metric tires and they just didn't cut it for me. Get the best you can. The rims are narrow without a safety bead. If one loses air pressure, you're going for a ride. I had a set of Firestone Transforces on 2 different vehicles. I was not impressed with the wear at all.

 

So what firestone tire would you suggest? I looked at the lts but they are like a minimum of 6 inch width on the rim.

 

Firestone Transforces are available in LT versions. My pick for one of our classic trucks would be the HT over the AT version because it resembles an older bias ply more than the AT. I'm just telling you my experience with those particular tires. I put a set of Transforce HT's on a Ford Expedition and a set of Transforce AT's on a Ford F250 at the same time. She drove very conservatively and I drove my truck like I stole it. We had to have new tires in just barely over a year on both vehicles. As far as the minimum rim width, etc. recommendations, I imagine that my Coopers have probably the same recommendation. All I can tell you is they've worked so far, but it's a risk we take with the original rims.

 

I have had good luck with the transforce ats dads 01 f350 has 105000 and is on its second set with plenty of life left. I was thinking the ht also may be my best bet.

 

I'm running BF commercial t/a LT 215/85R16 (16x5 wheels) on my panel truck and I have 195/75R16 on my '48 car (16x4.5 wheels).

 

I researched this one to death, reading old posts here and doing math with the tire calculators out there... and I will offer another thought.
From some really old post here I found the specs on what the tire dimensions are: 6.00x16 worked out to
28.4" diameter, 6.4" width, and 738 revs / mi
which is an 88 aspect ratio

So if you want a 6.4" wide tire that is 28.4" diameter you are looking at a modern size of 172/88/16 - which never existed in modern size (they are sized in incriments of 5) . Closest might possibly exist is 175/90/16.
I understand that might actually be available on the other side of the Atlantic over in UK and such - but no such luck here in the US.

So if you want to keep a 6.4" width tire then you are going to a much smaller tire 175/80/16 or 175/75/16 etc might exist. I opted to go the other direction, filling the wheel well from the curb was more important to me and I "gave in" on the width (i.e. I kept the 28.4 diameter and let the width wander).

Since the 2nd number is a percentage height to width when you change one you have to change the other to keep the same diameter. i.e. no longer looking for a 90 series when you go to a wider tire.

Tires I found, and the diameter and availability forced a decision... go with a slightly taller to keep it cheap and available or pay through the nose for a "oddball" size.

Calculators used:
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="185"><col width="185"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 139pt;" height="17" width="185">http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp</td> </tr></tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="185"><col width="185"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 139pt;" height="17" width="185">http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos</td> </tr></tbody></table>
Actually made tires that are as close to 28.4 diameter as possible:
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="373"><col width="64"><col width="78"><col width="71"><col width="89"><col width="71"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" height="17" width="64">
</td> <td style="width: 59pt;" width="78">
</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" width="71">
</td> <td class="xl67" style="width: 67pt;" width="89"> width</td> <td class="xl67" style="width: 53pt;" width="71"> dia</td> </tr></tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="373"><col width="64"><col width="78"><col width="71"><col width="89"><col width="71"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td class="xl66" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" align="right" height="17" width="64">205</td> <td style="width: 59pt;" align="right" width="78">80</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">16</td> <td class="xl66" style="width: 67pt;" align="right" width="89">8.07</td> <td class="xl67" style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">28.91</td> </tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="373"><col width="64"><col width="78"><col width="71"><col width="89"><col width="71"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" align="right" height="17" width="64">215</td> <td style="width: 59pt;" align="right" width="78">75</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">16</td> <td class="xl67" style="width: 67pt;" align="right" width="89">8.46</td> <td class="xl68" style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">28.7</td> </tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="373"><col width="64"><col width="78"><col width="71"><col width="89"><col width="71"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" align="right" height="17" width="64">225</td> <td style="width: 59pt;" align="right" width="78">70</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">16</td> <td class="xl67" style="width: 67pt;" align="right" width="89">8.86</td> <td class="xl68" style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">28.4</td> </tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="373"><col width="64"><col width="78"><col width="71"><col width="89"><col width="71"><tbody><tr height="17"> <td class="xl67" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" align="right" height="17" width="64">235</td> <td style="width: 59pt;" align="right" width="78">70</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">16</td> <td class="xl67" style="width: 67pt;" align="right" width="89">9.25</td> <td class="xl68" style="width: 53pt;" align="right" width="71">28.95</td> </tr></tbody></table>
Discount Tire and Tire Rack were used to find how popular a tire is. i.e. If there was 2 brands and 4 models at $160/tire to choose from then I consider that to be an expensive oddball, if there was 37 tires at $88/tire then that is a common.

I chose a slightly more popular tire the 225/75/16 - yes the size is a bit larger, but we are talkin less thatn 1" from the smaller 6.00 and ~0.4" from the taller 6.50 - not enough to be noticed. (Coincidently, if you have a good scrounge junkyard, that is the size used on Econoline 250's for almost their whole existence).





Understand I have 16x6 modern repop rims, I was young and dumb this spring and bought them before I found out about FTE - so they fit my 6" just fine,

 

I'm speechless

 

Ok doc, are you saying I explained well or babbled too techie and it's all "know it all" trying to go over the head... I can try to be more articulate - wasn't aiming for athlete's scalp - just sharing all the research I have done.

 

Wow thanks for the good info! ill have to read that a few more times to let my brain wrap around it....