I'm going to get some new tires for my 76 Valiant. It has the original 14 inch wheels. The radial tires on the car now are Michelins, but the thing is, they say 185-14 X. There's only two size numbers.... Does anybody know the right size tires for these cars? It's got front disc brakes, if that makes a difference. Usually I just go to the junkyard and grab tires with the rims off junk cars as I need them..."new" tires are a whole new realm for me.

P185/75R14.

195/75-14 .

Cool...thanks for the information. So say I asked for 195 over 185...does that mean the tire will be taller, or wider?

The whole key to tire size is maintaining the same overall height of the tire as it came factory, that way your speedo calibrations will be the same, I think (tirerack.com) has some info on this called upsizing. Anyhow check out a tire website & it should give you some info on how to read the p-metric system used in the tires, My 62 has 205/70/14's, they rub occassionally, but once the front end gets re-worked I think that will fix the flex(43 year old bushings). good luck & enjoy your car!!

195 is wider than a 185
75 is taller than a 70
14 is your wheel size


JZ

195 is the section with in mm.
75 is the "height" of the tire, from the wheel, to the outside diameter of the tire, in %of its with. 14 is wheel size in inches...

A 195/75R14 is supposed to be taller AND wider than a 185/75R14.
they are really just guide lines, I have had 225/75R14's that were no wider(they were much taller though) than the 205/75R14 snows I just took off to put my slots back on.

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I didn't know a simple question was going to start a debate, lol. But that's some good info. I'm trying to keep this Valiant as stock as possible, so I'm sticking with the skinny little tires, and yes, I got whitewalls. After all, it's a Brougham....these cars were designed to go head to head with the El Dorado and Continental. I'm gonna stick with the one barrel too. I'm not trying to win any races.