So on my 66 dart sedan, which still has 9in drums, I have replaced the 13s with 14s. SBP still, steelies with the dog dish caps.
The tires are these Hankook H724 with white strip. the size is P205 R75 14. Which fit fine.
I am getting ready to get all new tires, and wonder about my size options. Like I see guys do narrow on front, and wider on the back. Could I do that? And what sizes will work on my rims?
thanks for any advice.

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66 dodge dart 270, 225ci, 3.7l, L6

You could do narrow on the front but wider on the back, but why? If you want to do it for a specific look, OK, but there are reasons most street driven cars have the same size tires on all corners. First is practicality. Do you really want to haul around two spares? Second is purpose- skinny fronts and fat rears are derived from 1/4 mile drag racing where you want to save weight and drag in the front and have fatter tires in the rear for more traction. Dragsters are the extreme exaple of this. Cars that go in a straight line do not really need good steering traction. But street driven cars do.

The small wheel opening on the front of your Dart limits the size tire you can run, but you should have lots of room in the back to run a wider tire. Tire rack and other online tire and wheel websites have recommended wheel widths for the sizer tires you look at. If you want to run really fat tires in the back you may need to get wider rear tires.

You can run up to 235/60/14 on the front and 245 / 60 /14 on the rear. You need rims with the correct backspacing and width.

I did this with 14 x 6 Ansen Slots on the 65 Valaint ….bolt pattern 5x 4.5 ….discs

I have also run 205/70 on stock rims . 5x 5.5 LBP

Keep all your tires the same size on the street. in your car.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

A 185 75 14 and 195 70 14 have the same diameter as the stock 13s did.

205 70 14 is close enough and tends to correct for the usual speedometer reading high.


If you have the 14x4.5 rim, you should only use the 185 75 14.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Awesome ideas guys. So screw the different sized front. I ain't no racer and dont want to be a poser.
So all same size.

Now how can I tell how wide my rims are without dismounting the tire>

I assume is the 205s on there now are ok, then I can certainly assume they are 14x5 rims...right?

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66 dodge dart 270, 225ci, 3.7l, L6

Never ASSUME anything...…..


The stock 14s were 4.5 or 5.5


Take tire off and lay on ground.
Put yard stick on top of tire.
Measure distance from ground to yard stick. Say you get 8.5"
Measure distance from yard stick to closest edge rim. Say you get 1"

8.5 - (2 * 1) = 6.5. That's the outside width of rim. Subtract another inch to get inside width ….. 5.5"

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

If you're planning to stick with the original bolt pattern (usually 4" BC), then the rim width will typically be 4.5". The recommended minimum tire section widths to use with a 4.5" wide rim are usually 175 and 185 mm and a 5" for a 195 and 205 mm tires. You can install wider section widths than what is recommended, which carry the following risks (see Mid America Motorworks: UNDERSTANDING BASIC WHEEL & TIRE DIMENSIONS, TERMINOLOGY & DESIGN ASPECTS):

• difficulty to mount the tire and posing an increased chance for bead damage during mounting
• may also cause the tread/shoulder area to deform, which may lead to increased wear at the center tread area
• potentially decreasing the tire’s design performance

I'm using a P195/75R-14s on 4.5" wide rims on the front of my car. It seems to handle adequately well and I haven't noticed unusual tire wear. I plan to switch to wider (and possibly larger 15") rims when my 14" tires wear out.

Another way to check your rim width with a mounted tire is to use a rim caliper which tire shops usually have.

My guess is that your Dart has a 32 tooth speedometer pinion with a 2:93 axle. You need a P195/70R-14 or a P205/65R14 tire to keep your odometer accurate. P205/65R14 is an uncommon size so you're better off sticking with the P205/75R14 tire using a 30-tooth pinion if you want keep your 14x4.5 rims. Compare your odometer trip distance with a GPS to check its accuracy

You can calculate the tire size that keeps your odometer most accurate. See Tire Upgrades.

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1965 Plymouth Barracuda,
225 engine, Quadrajet, HEI, Dutra Duals, 904 Torqueflite, 2.76:1 axle, Addco front bar
Rods & Relics - Fort Erie, ON / Collector Car Tech

There are 14 x 5.5 sbp (4") stock rims. That's what I have.

You need to measure to find out.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I have 14 x 5.5 rallye wheels with 195/70R14s. I am happy with them for everyday driving.

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“Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
― Hunter S. Thompson

Back in the day. I put 215/70 on the rear and 185/70 on the front. I wanted the BIG and little hot rod look.

Ok i tried measuring. Do i measure to the lip closest to tire or to the hump?
Total width is 7 3/8. Then if i measure to the outer lip, that is 1 in. X2 subtract and that is 5 3/8. But if i measure to the hump prior to the lip, then that is 1.5in x2 subtract and that is 4 3/8.
Also right next to the stem there is a Chrysler logo, and on the right of the stem is stamped 12. To the left of the stem is stamped 5.

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66 dodge dart 270, 225ci, 3.7l, L6

Those sound like 14x4.5

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

so now that I know it is 4.5 rim, and it seems I am running a p205 on them, which is too wide.
What would be a good size to switch to? 185? Does the size of the tire change the way it gets aligned?

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66 dodge dart 270, 225ci, 3.7l, L6

185 75 14

Won't change the way you get aligned, but somewhere on this site are better alignment specs than the old stock (bias tire) that are in the manuals.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

The P185/75R14 is good choice and it looks like there are many choices in this size.

Since you already have the P205/75R14 mounted on your rims, I would run them until they're worn out and then replace them with P185/75R14. I would keep an eye on tire wear and adjust tire pressure accordingly.

For alignment specs, I would stick with the granny setting:
See Turn of the screw: front end alignment for performance on classic Mopars

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1965 Plymouth Barracuda,
225 engine, Quadrajet, HEI, Dutra Duals, 904 Torqueflite, 2.76:1 axle, Addco front bar
Rods & Relics - Fort Erie, ON / Collector Car Tech