Tires, Wheels for a Corvair

Mavis has 185-75-13s for $37 each, whites can be painted on?

http://www.mavistire.com/productcart/pc/_tiredetails.asp?id=51486

Just adding to the chorus of wanting a Corvair of my own, particularly a late convertible. I'd likely have gotten one already to be honest as I've had several good chances, but SWMBO's limits on how many cars I can have (as well as the practical space we have for them...) mean that I'd either need to lose the Elky or the D or not have an open 'slot' to pick things up and fix them.

I've always thought the Corvair looked good with good ol' fashioned Chevy SS wheels and tires with raised white letters. Ala late 60's - early 70's. BFG still makes the Radial TA in raised white letters. Don't know if they come in the size you're looking for.

You can still get slot mags:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/US-INDY-MAG-14-4-LUG-ALUMINUM-SLOT-WHEELS-DATSUN-240Z-280-NOVA-FALCON-MUSTANG-MG-/252172638171?nav=SEARCH

http://m.ebay.com/itm/American-Racing-VN69-Ansen-Sprint-15x7-4x114-3-0mm-Polished-Wheels-Rims-/371488486922?nav=SEARCH

I've been playing this game for a friend, he's probably going with the new 185/70R13 Kumho Solus TA11 for reliability reasons (because it's a 3000lb 76 Buick Skyhawk/monza), but these maypops were also a contender http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-X-New-Milestar-MS775-P175-80R13-86S-White-Side-Wall-All-Season-Touring-Tires-/301796388617

This post came back from the dead, but if you're still looking for 13" Whitewalls, Maxxis Tires has the correct 185/80R13 that is the factory Corvair size. All the Corvair folks are scooping them up.

http://www.amazon.com/P185-80R13-Maxxis-MA-1-White/dp/B00CJG0JAY

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Yeah, I did bring it back from the dead; I was doing a google search for something Corvair related and my old forum post came up. The internet...one big circle.

The reason it came back up, though. was because I just bought another '64, a 4 door sedan, and I'm looking at doing a disc brake conversion on it. So the wheel bolt pattern was a concern. I ended up going with 14" wheels for my convertible- got them custom made by Paul Paulson in California. They weren't expensive- about $60 each or so- and took the 14" hubcaps just fine.

Whitewalls seem to go in and out of production. I should probably buy a set now that they seem to be in production now, for the new '64.

Bought four of the Maxxis tires. 100 bucks a piece is a stink for what used to be a $50 tire, but when there's a monopoly on their production...

Coker's marking them up to 150 each. sigh

Just for future reference, IIRC early Corvair wheels were a popular cheap choice for "wider" wheels back in the early '70s (when most cars with 13s were around 4.5 inches wide and the 'Vairs are 5.5) on Datsuns, etc. so 240Z stock wheels might be a cheap swap for 14s. Double check this, though, because I'm operating totally from memory here.

I ran 205/60R-13s on a '65 Corsa back in the day and they worked very well. IIRC they were Vredesteins, back when they were a really good handling tire. Or they might have been Semperits or Phoenix Stahlflex 3011s, can't remember. All unobtanium today, but the size was great.

Yeah my '68 Monza has 205/50R13s on it but they are all ancient and they definitely don't produce 205s in 13" anymore

Federal 595 still shows as being produced in 205/60R13.

That's cool, but I want bigger wheels

I bought a set of 14" wheels from an older RWD Toyota that have the 4 x 4.5 bolt pattern. Problem is, the center hole size was too small for the Corvair hubs. So while the Corvair wheels might work on the Toyota (or other import), it won't work the other way ' round.

Anyone need a set of 70's Toyota steel 14" wheels? $40 for the 4 of them, will ship.

Back to the disc conversion, I've been doing a bit of studying and internet research, pulled the front brakes on my '64 Convertible last night (which were godawful, holy crap, I can't believe I was driving on them!) and I'm ready to buy some rotors and engineer a new front brake system.

My top candidate for rotors are:

86-88 Mazda RX-7 (4 bolt pattern, some had 5) 91-96 Infiniti G20 (shares with some 240SX and others)

And the real oddball:

85-91 Colt Vista AWD wagon (AWD had a different front rotor which seems better for my application)

The plan is to buy one of each and try them out. I have a few different calipers on hand, we'll see if any look like they're work. If not I may start buying calipers from the above cars and seeing how they'll mate up with an adaptor plate. And probably some plumbing fittings, as the Corvair is standard and all those above will be metric.