15" BB's or 17" lo-pro's

[67JET]

So, I got a question. I'm lucky if i get to drive my cobra an hour or two a month so the question is -- Should i go with the 15" BB's or the 15" Avons? I like the racing look of the BB's and want to put numbers and racing stickers on my car but the black sidewall Avons or another agressive type tire look great too. With limited driving will the BB's sidewall crack in a couple of years or get bad flat spots compared to the Avon tires? I know it came with 15's and they look good but is their anyone that has had both 15's and 17's with an opinion on which is best? The 17" wheels and low profile tires look great and I'm sure handle good too. Any takers on the subject?

[IndyCobra]

Based upon the look and performance you're after, it sounds to me like you should go with the 15s. I sure many purists will faint at the thought of 17" but that's what I have on my car. I'm not after the traditional race look, I went more with a custom hotrod appearance. Since you like the racing look, you might look for some 15" that give you performance you want without the drawback of older tire technology.

[SP01715]

I switched from 15's to 17's. I like the look of the 15's, but also like the looks of the 17's and the performance on the 17's is much better.

[john chesnut]

I Have 18's on my scratch built Cobra. From a performance standpoint the 17's are much better. They also allow for larger brakes if and when you want to add them. Watch the offset of the wheel so that you don't screw up the scrub radius!

[Madmiles442]

I had 15's, went to 17's, then was bitten by the originality bug and went back to 15's with Blue Streaks. With comparable tires, the 17's would handle better, but I (currently) like the look of the 15's better. Pics of both in my Gallery.

[REAL 1]

No doubt the 17" tires will perform better then old technology bias ply BBs.
The 15s will ride nicer.

I have BBs on mine. They need time to warm up. Cold,they feel greasy. Once warm they are fine but they hunt and track all the little imperfections in the road. You get used to it. I have had no problem with flat spotting over the winter but I increase the pressure to about 40 lbs during winter hibernation. Note they are NOT DOT approved.

BB are definitely the correct Cobra look.

[SMOKNAC]

I have BBs on mine, and love the way they handle & look. I hear a lot about guys having flat spots, and a shimmy around 60 MPH. After around 5 to 10 miles down the road the flat spots are gone. Wouldn’t put anything else on my Cobra

[venum14]

Great question and the replies are bound to cause a heated debate!

I would have to say that your decision depends on the look you desire and the performance you expect from the wheel/tire combination. Speaking from my experience, I started out with 17” wheels on my Cobra in 1994. With my cars unique suspension and large brakes, I could not find a 15” wheel (pin drive) or a street legal high performance tire to meet my needs.

I went with 17” P & S Engineering wheels and Michelin’s Pilots sized at 275 and 335. The looks, ride and handling were very good but deep down inside I felt I lost the ‘vintage’ look and feel of the car. Larger wheels result with a modern wheel/tire appearance. In my opinion, you end up with a “black rubber band stretched over a rim look.” From the side view of the car and with the Cobra’s large rear wheel openings, 17’s look a little off…

Fast forward to the present day of the numerous wheel and tire combinations… Bob from Vintage Wheel built me a custom set of 15” wheels last December and they are fitted with a set of Avons. Yes, they are quite a bit narrower than the 17’s at 245 and 295 but the diameter of the wheel and tire look awesome! The larger tire diameters fill the wheel openings, traction is improved and the new wheel/tire combination is the best thing I have done on the car in years. I debated about this investment for over six months. If the Avons were not available I probably would have stayed with the 17” setup. The bottom line, the Avons provide the best of everything: looks, traction and they are a 100% street legal radial.

Tire and wheel upgrade- Priceless $$$
Time spent in the dog house- Two weeks!

Good luck,
Jeff

[lovehamr]

Hey Jeff, great post but it needs pics!

Steve

[Jake]

I have tried the 15" BFG's, Yokahama's, and BB"s. I love the look of the BB's but I did not like the way they drove on the street. they are really sticky when they get warmed up and I loved them on the track. The down side to having sticky tires on the street is they pick up all the rocks on the road and I was afraid of starring the fiberglass from the bottom-up. I did also experience the hunting on surface streets.
The 15" BFGs are pretty good, though they are not the best for traction. They are sometimes hard to get balanced so you don't get a wobble in the steering wheel. I actually had to have mine balance on the car which helped the issue. The 15" Yokahama's seem to be a better tire then the BFG's and I have no complaints with them. I have 17" Sumatoma's on the car now and they have a bit stiffer ride, but perform very nice and they are about $100 a tire! no balance issues either. There are two down sides with 17's that I can see. They don't look traditional if that is your thing and they do not make the correct tire size anymore to get the 27"-28" height. I am running the 315-35's on the back and they just don't fill out the wheel wells like the 15's did. I am hoping that someone will start making a 335-40-17 or a 315-45-17 by the time I wear out my Sumo's. They used to make a Good year F1 Supercar that was the correct height but it was discontinued a few years ago. They even discontinued the Michelin Pilot Sports that I liked.
The other thing I noticed with the 17's is they don't have the sidewall bulg that you get with the 15's, and that also impacts the look of the tire filling out the wheels wells. they almost look like they are the pushe a bit to far into the wheel well and they need a spacer. If you can afford it get both 15's and 17's and switch back and forth.

My 2 cents, Jake

[mdross1]

For me there was never an option it's all about the look.After having the car scaled the performance and handling work great together.I guess I can live with that.It has to be up to you since you look at it more than we do.Handling? again you put it through it's paces.Either way the car will look good.There is another option a set of 15" with BB's along with a set of 17" for a little more serious track action.

[67JET]

If 2 sets of grips were an option there would be no question. When my wife thought i could take my car apart and completely rebuild it for 2000.00 (my estimate for her) she was OK with it. When I got up to 6500.00 and i still need carpet and upolstry, wheels and tires, and in my opinion a paint job she TWISTED UP on me. So i'm trying to stay in my short money so i can at least sleep in my own house. Don't get me wrong i'll trade in the bed for the dog house before it's over but i have to pick and choose my arguements. All this input is great. It seams that every post someone adds something new to think about. How hard would it be for someone to make 17" Billboards???? I guess it all comes down to the -- Back in the day race car look -- or the --Pro touring look. I've searched for pic's in the gallery then get side tracked with pic's of motors and rear suspensions and wiring and aluiminum trunk liners and ect.........

[SoTxButler]

I like the look of 17's. I am not a purist and find many more tire choices at 17". And, they handle better and I believe the ride should not be a reason to go with 15's.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by SoTxButler

I like the look of 17's. I am not a purist and find many more tire choices at 17". And, they handle better and I believe the ride should not be a reason to go with 15's.

The big thing is that in a 15" tire it's getting harder and harder to find speed rated tires. Here's another vote for 17"s