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[serafina]

Hi, My name is Cheryl. I live in the suburbs of Chicago. I just purchased a 1965 Corvair Corsa. I will need new rims and tires. Not sure where to get them or what is best. I do not plan on showing the car. I just want to drive it around in the summer months. Any suggestions and advice would be very much appreciated..

[gbullman]

Welcome and good luck with your car. If you have the original 13” wheels there is pretty much 1 car tire that is the correct size and they are generally manufactured in batches so availability varies. The tires are Maxxis 185/80 R13s.

Many choose to go to 14, 15, some even larger wheels since there are more tire options available. This site gives a good write-up of suitable wheels, it may be a little dated but still good from an education perspective; http://autoxer.skiblack.com/tires.html

Popular 14” choices for Late Models are Rally wheels, S10 truck wheels, many choices. I have mid 70s 14” Rally wheels with 215/60 R14 tires on mine, handles and rides great, speedometer is within 1 or 2 MPH at highway speeds, even closer at lower speeds.

[caraholic4life]

Welcome Cheryl!

Is there a specific reason you need new wheels? Are the ones on the car in poor repair ir ones you just don;t care for?

As already mentioned, if the car still has the stock 13" wheels on it, the Maxis tire is about the only choice out there at the moment in a size that is correct for the car. There are other 13" tires out there but they are typically to small in overall diameter which will result in speedometer reading being off and requiring the engine to run at higher RPM's than most might be comfortable with.

If you decide to get new wheels but wish to retain the stock appearance, a 14" steel wheel would accomplish that for you.
IF you go with a 14 inch wheel that is 6 inches wide, you should be able to get away with almost anything out there.

IF you want a 7 inch wide wheel, you will need to be careful that the "Backset, Back Spacing, or Offset" is correct for the car. Ideally with a 7 inch wide wheel, you will want between 4" and 4-1/2" Backset or Back Spacing. The Offset should be about -12MM if my memory serves me correctly.

A good 14" tire size would be a 185/75R-14 which has a 25" Outside Diameter and has 833 Revolutions per mile.
The late model Corvair Speedometer is ideally looking for 825 Revolutions per mile to be accurate (When they were new)

IF you prefer a whitewall tire, the Uniroyal AWP II is one of the few available these days, I have a set on my '65 Monza convertible and like them very much although I went with a 185/70R-14 which is a bit smaller at 24.3" Diameter and my speedometer reads a little fast. I wanted a wider profile tire and it was available when I wanted tires.

Here is a photo of my car with a vintage set of 14 X 5-1/2" Aluminum wheels I like. (First Photo)
Here is a photo of my car with a vintage set of 15 X 7" Aluminum wheels I like. (Second Photo)

Note that the 205/65R-15 tires have a 25.4" Outside Diameter. The wheels have about a 4" Back Spacing and the front tires rubbed the front edge of the wheel opening when turning and the top of the wheel opening when turning into a driveway.
These 15" wheels are now on my Greenbrier and work perfectly on it.

[joelsplace]

More info on the Maxxis. Be sure it is the MA-1. They also make trailer tires in that size and you certainly don't want those.
A set of the Maxxis tires will run around $500 but that is way cheaper than tires and wheels.
I have one set of the Maxxis tires that are almost 10 years old and still no cracks. That is almost unheard of in today's tires. They usually are only good for around 5 years.
One very inexpensive wheel is the '82-'92 Z-28 wheel. They are 15x7 and fit well but you will have to buy new lug nuts with the proper taper and you may have to get longer wheel studs. I've picked up several sets at swap meets for $60-$80.

[Lane66Monza]

My 66 Monza Coupe has 15" x 7" US Mag UT-102 wheels. Not the ideal back spacing at 3.75, but no tire clearance issues with the Goodyear Comfortread tire P205/60R15. With car on tires and 270 lb friend on the fenders, no fender contact was made with the tires.

My 66 More Door has 15x6 Vision Ralley wheels 55-5661. Again, not the ideal backspacing at 4". No tire clearance issues with the Goodyear Comfortread tire P195/60R15. Goodyear techs confirmed there would be no contact with fenders. The P205/60R15 tires I requested made contact with fenders. I found the center caps on ebay. They are mid-60s Corvette centers with 66 Corvair wire wheel spinner bars fitted. Center caps fit the car great. Better than the 5" plastic derby caps. Too bad the vendor didn't balance the caps.

[jimbrandberg]

There is a Chicagoland Corvair club, also Madison and Milwaukee depending on how far out you are.
I have used 13" wheels but I'm north of Minneapolis. Shipping would be difficult and expensive, much more than the value of the wheels.
I'm sure folks would be glad to help you along with information on wheels.
Please be mindful that you may need longer wheel studs and different lug nuts with different wheels.
Also be aware that a lot of new wheels are uni-lug to fit different wheel patterns with little washers and such. I avoid them like the plague.
If you want stock 13" wheels, don't buy tires that are too small, they can look dorky on a car a sophisticated Corsa like yours.
There's a lot of stock Corvair wheels around from people going to something different so you shouldn't pay a lot for them.
Jim Brandberg
Isanti, MN
CorvairRepair.com

[joelsplace]

Well I shouldn't have bragged on my 10 year old Maxxis tires. Still no cracks but one came apart. It was only in the 9th year.

[Dennis66]

More on the "came apart" please. Question: Is your car kept outside or inside? Makes a big difference in tire life. Dennis

[66vairguy]

Well I shouldn't have bragged on my 10 year old Maxxis tires. Still no cracks but one came apart. It was only in the 9th year.

I've had perfectly good looking tires separate internally and bulge or COME APART!!! They were always over eight years old.

While there are no regulations about how long you can run a tire on a car --- most of the "experts" recommend not to use a tire over eight years from the MANUFACTURING DATE. In some of Europe it is illegal to sell or mount a tire older than eight years from its manufacturing date.

[joelsplace]

More on the "came apart" please. Question: Is your car kept outside or inside? Makes a big difference in tire life. Dennis

See picture above. They were mostly out of the sun except for the last 2 years. No cracks though which is what I would expect from sun damage.

[Dennis66]

It's interesting...and disappointing. My 2003 Subaru Baja uses a compact spare that is secured UNDER the bed of the vehicle. The size tire hasn't been made in years. When I bought the truck about 6 years ago, the existing spare was aged and cracked. I found that the Outbacks of the same vintage used the same spare and I could readily find them in the boneyards in perfect, often never used condition. Put one of these under the car and within a year it too is cracked (maybe the ozone?). I had one the I had kept in my garage away from the sun and heat. Went out a few months ago and it was split. Now going to full sized spare so I can keep a newer tire on the car. As the commercial used to say "Tires ain't pretty, but you have to have them"...for a while. Dennis

[1949chevy]

My car has these OLD'S 442 7X14 wheels on it now for about 8 years. I have another set even in better condition than these for sale. I will take $350.00 for the set of 4. They are complete with all trim.