Tires

[poppa]

Who makes a good tire (am I opening a can of worms). Looking more for handling . ride .then appearance. 69 , 440 , 14"

                                                                                         Thanks

[alfaitalia]

In my experience you choose one or the other...ride or handling. You need stiff short sideways (low profile tyres) for handling or taller, more flexible sidewalls for comfort. Most choose a compromise somewhere in the middle. However if you are sticking to those 14" rims them you will be far along the comfort end of the spectrum as anything much less than a full profile tyre would look silly on a car that big.

[71charger_fan]

When I still had 14" wheels, I had 235/60 tires. They were as good a compromise as I could come up with.

[HPP]

14" means your limited to all season type, S or T speed rating, cruiser tires. They are all pretty comparable.

[poppa]

what's the stock back spacing for these rims? May go to a 15" as I could use new rims anyway.

[68CoronetRT]

Your tire selection will greatly increase going from a 14" to a 15" rim too. 14's are hard to find these days. Even 15's are getting hard to find decent sizes in.

[Laowho]

Your tire selection will greatly increase going from a 14" to a 15" rim too. 14's are hard to find these days. Even 15's are getting hard to find decent sizes in.

One of several reasons we went to 17" wheels, 245/50s all around. No hot-rodder, has OD, recently stiffened (SF connectors/torque boxes/shocks/springs/rear sway bar), we're looking forward to a more modern daily driver that uses same all-season tires as many luxury class cars--Pirelli Cinturato P7--and expect to reap the benefits in both departments...comfort and performance. Quieter too than our BFG RTAs. Backspacing is usually 4.5" front/5" rear for common set-ups of bigger in back.

[HPP]

Your 14s are probably 5.5" wide, so 2.75 to 3" backspace maybe?  Stepping up to 15" does  increase the sizes available to you over 14" but is still going to be limited to predominately S and T rated tires of all season tread design unless you get a more racing oriented tire. However, going 15" will allow you to  look for 6 to 10 inch widths  which will give you more options for the appearance of your car.

So what are you wanting in the look?  Mostly original with square sizes all around that retain a stock (skinny, IMO) look? Do you want a more day 2 appearance with wider rubber? Do you want a staggered front/rear look?

Improvements in handling won't come from tires until you get into the 17" diameter range, and even then,  you will be suspension limited. To step up the handling of the car, even with 15" tires, would, at a minimum, require an alignment change. To  improve beyond that, changes to hard parts are required.

[poppa]

There are after market rims on now ,about the width I think is good. (I'll measure next trip to garage). The side walls just seem REALLY soft. Right now I think I'll go with 15's and I will try the offset uca bushings with an alignment to 2005 Mustang specs as I've seen on this forum. Had to cancel my alignment because 'if I order the rims today , I should get then by August 5th'. Any other suggestions welcome. Thanks