Tall tires for 16" and 17"

I have thought of going to 16 or 17 wheels to assure future availability but don't seem to find same tall rear look available in these diameters. Any thoughts/sources?

Well this has been a dead thread so will contribute what I found out. Info is compiled from TireRack and Discount Tire sites. Forget about tall 17s. Her is some info on 15,16s. I am preparing to JW my rear. This has lead to this search. Hope columns line up but you'll get the gist.

GY Eagle GTII 275/60/15 28.00 10.84 $85
BFGRadTA 285/70/15 30.8 8.50
295/50/15 26.7 9.5
BFGRadTAonly 305/50/15 27.1 10.3 $120
BFGDragRad 315/60/15 29.9 11.0 $158
325/50/15 28.0 10.4 $152
345/55/15 29.9 12.0 $175

16" sizes:

275/65/16 30.1 8.9 $119
BFGRadTA 295/50/16 27.6 9.5 $128
GYEIINascar 285/60/16 29.1 9++ $91
GY EII 285/60/16 29.4 8.9 $93
295/65/16 31.1 9.2 $93

I may have spoken to quickly re 17" sizes. Most are for trucks/suvs so probably side wall "issues" re handling, noise, etc. Tirerack web site has specs and reviews with owners' comments that may be of help. Chart is size, height, tread width, section width, rim widths to be used. The site has page for you to learn about section width, speed rating, etc.

275-60-17 30 10.5 11 7.5-9.5
255-55-17 28 8.7 10.6 7.5-9
275-55-17 28.8 8.8 11.2 7.5-9.5
215-45-17 24.6 8 8.6 7-8
225-45-17 24.9 ? 9 7-8.5
235-45-17 25.3 8.5 9.5 7.5-9
245-45-17 25.7 9.1 9.7 7.5-9
255-45-17 25.9 9.4 10.3 8-9.5
255-40-17 25 9.1 10 8.5-10
275-40-17 25.6 10.4 11.2 9-11
285-40–17 26 10.7 11.4 9.5-11
o Note the 17" tend to have closer tread and overall width dimensions than 15 or 16; the "look" of width is "section width" not the "tread width" and if you mount on a wheel at end of width range cited, you do pick up 0.2-0.4 extra "tread width".

Would love some comments from users of various sizes. As I rebuild my 40 I think the Firestone Firehawk SS20 RWL (raised white leters) seems way to go in 15".

Good Luck,
Kevin

Kevin, I see you have a GTD. It would be nice if one or some of the competitors from the GTD Club would reply with their observations and experiences. I know some of them have been running larger wheels on the track. It would be beneficial to understand the impact that reduced sidewall height and subsequent increased stiffness has on the handling characteristics of a car that was designed with 15" rubber in mind. As for me in New England, we have some pretty bad roads and I would fear breaking the wheels when encountering irregularities the pavement. Brian

The "tall look" may be an optical illusion a 15"-60 should be the same as a 16"-50. I went with 255-50-16"s in the rear and 225-50-16"s in the front. If you go with a 16"-60 it's not going to fit. With this wide of tire you've got plenty of section height to deal with bumps and the 16" wheel lets more air to the brakes and/or allows for a larger disk if wanted.

ERA talks about wheel tire sizes on their site.
http://www.erareplicas.com/gt/faqs.htm#tires

Another good wheel tire site is Team III
http://www.cobracountry.com/team3/home_frm.html

RE: the tires....you might want to check out the Goodyears that Shelby uses on the Series One....Jimmy Price from Superformance told me that they use these on the Daytona Coupe that they are building. He said they had the same general profile as the 15" and kept the "look". As the daytona and the '40 used the same general size these may allow a correcr look while using the new technology.


Rick