15" Black Side wall Tire Recommedations?

[kmseddon]

Hello - I have 15" Vintage Halibrands from FFR on the way and looking for recommendations for best steet-able, radial tires with black sidewalls with minimal lettering so I can stencil the sidewall. Any suggestions? Thank you and Merry Christmas!

[luvaz]

Hello and Merry Christmas!

I have Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T's on my Mark 3 Roadster with those same wheels. I like them better than the BFG Radial T/A's that I had on it years ago.

PS- What are your cross streets in Scottsdale? Mine are N 141st St & E Dynamite (Rio Verde Dr).

HTH,
Will

[CraigS]

These MTs have gotten good reviews
https://www.mickeythompsontires.com/street-tires/sportsman-s-r
26x10 front and 26x12 rear

[totem]

In case you didn’t know, all tires have a black sidewall.

Tires that have white walls are black on the other side. You can mount them black or lettered/white.

[CobraboyDR]

These guys have T/A's with a "Blackwall Smoothy" in meaty sizes for a Cobra, perfect for a Goodyear Billboard stencil. I've had T/A's on my SPF and had zero problems with them, traction or otherwise, but then again I never drove that beast to the outer edge of traction.

I have this page bookmarked for the day I pull the trigger (if only FFR would engineer their IRS for 15"pin-drive wheels...)

https://dbtires.com/product/diamond-back-iii/

[kmseddon]

Thanks Will for the recommendation. Did you put stenciling on your tires at all? We are looking to add "Goodyear Eagle" to the sidewalls. Here is the look we are going for: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/album.php?albumid=1811&attachmentid=139461

We live at McDonald and Hayden, but we are building the car at a warehouse near Tempe marketplace. Hope to connect when the world returns to normal!! Be safe

140471

[kmseddon]

Hi ToTem - year, we are aware. The issue is most "black walls" still have the raised lettering from the manufacturer that would interfere with the "Goodyear Eagle" stenciling we are looking to add.

Thanks,

[kmseddon]

Thanks! did you add any stenciling to your Smoothy tires? I have a 65 corvette that has original Goodyear Eagles on them where the rubber is so hard that the car is almost underivable on the street because the tires are like stones until they warm up. They are only meant for track. I assume these T/A's you are talking about are more of a modern day tire that are easier on the kidneys?

Fwiw, I am working with Wilwood and we have figured out how to get 15" wheels on the IRS rear tires. Keep nagging me and I'll post pictures over the next two weeks and we implement the modifications to the rear spindles.

Cheers,
Ken

[KDubU]

Just a FYI if you did not know, it’s easy to remove the black lettering on a tire. Just go slow and carefully remove the raised sections. I did this on my MT’s with no issues.

[luvaz]

Thanks Will for the recommendation. Did you put stenciling on your tires at all? We are looking to add "Goodyear Eagle" to the sidewalls. Here is the look we are going for: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/album.php?albumid=1811&attachmentid=139461

We live at McDonald and Hayden, but we are building the car at a warehouse near Tempe marketplace. Hope to connect when the world returns to normal!! Be safe

140471

Hi again, No, I did not put stenciling on my tires. I thought about stenciling 'Eagle' on it since the 15's have the real estate for it, but competing priorities have pushed that further down the to-do list.

Thanks,
Will

[CobraboyDR]

Thanks Will for the recommendation. Did you put stenciling on your tires at all? We are looking to add "Goodyear Eagle" to the sidewalls. Here is the look we are going for: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/album.php?albumid=1811&attachmentid=139461

We live at McDonald and Hayden, but we are building the car at a warehouse near Tempe marketplace. Hope to connect when the world returns to normal!! Be safe

140471I didn't use those smoothies. I WILL on my build, however, and do the Billboard stencil.

My comment is the tires used are Goodrich T/A's which are a good all-round tire for a streetcar. I suppose they were ordered with smooth walls by Diamond Back tires, except for the required DOT letters.

It seems to be the most elegant solution.

[Gumball]

Avon CR6ZZ - vintage style tread, sticky (50 treadwear rating), and decent life. Mine have 16k miles on them and are holding up well - which I attribute to the fact that the car is really light and my alignment is set somewhat neutral.

I did the stencils on the sidewall myself using paper stencils from a big-box office supply store - otherwise, they're plain blackwalls.

[CobraboyDR]

Avon CR6ZZ - vintage style tread, sticky (50 treadwear rating), and decent life. Mine have 16k miles on them and are holding up well - which I attribute to the fact that the car is really light and my alignment is set somewhat neutral.

I did the stencils on the sidewall myself using paper stencils from a big-box office supply store - otherwise, they're plain blackwalls.Nice tires, but $2k for a set is in spendy territory. The best application would be street/track. But for a pure streetcar not pushing traction limits...which prolly accounts for 85+% of Cobra replicas...think they're overkill?

DBtire smoothies with a Billboard stencil would look totally cool and work well for the street...for $1000 less cheese. Only a tire tread geek would know it's a BFG T/A and not Goodyear, and there is no effort expended in smoothing the raised letters. Heck, you could even put an Avon stencil on them.

But, as usual, opinions vary, all blessings...

[dstelter]

I too went the Mickey Thompson route. 26x10 for the front and 28x12 for the rear. Then tried 3 different type of lettering. Finally went with TredWear glue on lettering.

140599140600

[MIG]

Avon CR6ZZ - vintage style tread, sticky (50 treadwear rating), and decent life. Mine have 16k miles on them and are holding up well - which I attribute to the fact that the car is really light and my alignment is set somewhat neutral.

I did the stencils on the sidewall myself using paper stencils from a big-box office supply store - otherwise, they're plain blackwalls.

I have the Avons and they are the closest visually and tread to the Goodyear Billboard (Bias Ply) while still getting a radial. Also easy to stencil. VERY expensive but let's face it, if we wanted a cheap daily driver, we would get a Kia Elantra. This baby will be in your garage most of the time and if she does not take your breath away, each time you look at her, you are missing an opportunity (IMO).