Hello,

I am looking at getting some different size tires for the Z. Right now it has 215/60/15 BFG's. These tires are a full inch shorter than the originals. This of couse makes my gearing lower and changes my speedometer reading. My 3.73's feel like 4.10's or lower...

My question is:
What size tires are people typically running on these things without rubbing? I do want the same size tire at all 4 corners.
The wheels I have are rally wheels. I just want it to look and drive right. A few that I have seen were either running 245/60/15 or 235/60/15. To get to the stock height I would need to be at 26.6 in tall. A 245/60/15 BFG is right at 26.5. Will these rub? Or I guess I could run a 70 series tire...


Thanks,

Anthony

From what I understand the 245/60/15 will rub on the front of any first gen Camaro. (Someone else please confirm)

Playing with the numbers it looks like a 225/65/15, 215/70/15, or 235/60/15 are your best bet to get the height you desire.

215/70/15 - about 26.85 inches tall - mighty narrow
225/65/15 - about 26.52 inches tall - not a common size
235/60/15 - about 26.10 inches tall - wide and readily available

For reference, your 215/60/15s are about 25.16 inches tall.

Hope this helps.

A 245/60/15 rubs but just barely, depending on the vehicle tolerance, could get more to none. Its on the edge. My experience though is mostly '68

Then I will probably stick with 235's...

Thanks for the help!

I have 215/65/15 bfg's on my 69z28 with stock rebuilt suspension. They fit nice on 15x7 rallye wheels without rubbing, and fill the wheel well without looking to small.

I used 235/60/15's BFG TA's, no problems, using stock wheels. (15 x 7) YH's. Looks nice and a wee bit aggressive without looking fat.

ChuckD, can you post a picture? I'd like to see those 235s on all 4 corners. Thanks

215/65R15 on 15x7 and 24 tooth speedo gear is dead nuts on. 235/60R15's rubbed.

The tire size calculators show the 235/60/15 and the 215/65/15 to be nearly the same in all dimensions except for the width. The 235 is about 3/4" wider. Is 3/4" the difference between rubbing or not?

Anyone running these?
E70/15 – Speedway Wide Tread RWL Goodyear

The P215/65/R15 was used on the 1982-1987 Z28 Camaro's with 15" wheels. It was the O.E. Size. Note I said Z28's, not IROC-Z's I know this because I had a 1984 Z28 with that size and I sold tires at one time back in the day. My 1988 IROC-Z had P 245/50/R16's on it.

The P 235/60/R15 is a little wider and a little shorter and will give you a wider footprint/contact patch on the ground than P215/65/R15 This will help cornering, braking and dry traction. The 235's are what I replaced my 215's with on my 1984 Z.

I ran P245/60/R14's on the front of my first and since sold 1969 Camaro without them rubbing, on a 14x6 Rally wheel. On the 2nd 1969 I bought a few months ago I now run a 15x7 Rally wheel with P 235/60/R15's all the way around. They haven't rubbed yet. I heard that these do rub on a car with weak coil springs and in some cases on the rear wheel housings with weak leaf springs. But most guys I know are very happy with P235/60R15's on a first gen Camaro with a 15x7 wheel. I'm curious to see if they will rub on 15x8 Rally's all the way around.

The Z28's in the late 1970's and the Corvette's as well used P225/70/R15's on them. These were also used on police cars (Impala's,Caprice's,Crown Vic's and some Mopar's) up until the early to mid 1990's when most cars started going to 16" and even 17" wheels and or the product was redesigned or dropped in favor of another model.


I hope this info helps!!

Good Luck!!