Stock Tire Sizes

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gtsfirefighter

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I have a 79 Town Landau with the turbine wheels. The tires on it now are 275-75 R15. Is that the correct tire size for the car? I cannot find any info for stock wheels. It seems like a really high side wall. I know my old 76 Cutlass ran 215 75R15, which are much easier to find for a car than the 225's.

Can someone offer some clarification?

Thanks

Ken
 
Tire Size for 1977-1979 Thunderbird

Graham:

The standard tire size for our Birds, regardless of what model you drive, is P225/70R15, in whitewalls. Looks the best and rides the nicest. I have used this size with Turbine wheels as well as with the factory polycast wheels. Hope this helps. Tim
Graham: did you read my last post on regarding junkyard Birds?
 
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I have not been able to find a 225/70r15 with whitewalls. They're either raised white letters or black wall. Do you buy your tires at a chain tire store, or special order them from someplace?
 
Tires

I purchased my T-Bird tires at a local tire shop (not a chain; independent). They are a not an unusual size. I'm surprised you cannot locate a set. Keep looking. Someone must have them new with white walls. Tim
 
Our Bird is in need of new tires soon, and I'm having trouble finding a 225/70/15 whitewall. Wal-Mart does have a Goodyear 215/75/15 whitewall, will that work?
 
My wife took the T-Bird this past Thursday and had some new tires put on it. We went with Cooper whitewalls, size 215/70/15.
 

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New whitewalls

Your new Cooper white walls look exactly as they should: a nice complement to the 1979 Bird. Right size and just enough white to say "luxury" but not too much white to say "gangsta". Hope they provide a good ride for a long time. And your wife enjoys riding in the Bird as well: that is enough for a Father's Day gift!!! Tim
 
White wall on turbine wheels, 1978 Diamond Jubilee

Pictured is a whitewall on the Polar White 1978 DJE I finished last year. The combination of the right-sized white wall and colored matched turbine wheels are, in my opinion, unmatched in beauty.
Ford had a better idea!
 
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Tim Cole said:
Your new Cooper white walls look exactly as they should: a nice complement to the 1979 Bird. Right size and just enough white to say "luxury" but not too much white to say "gangsta". Hope they provide a good ride for a long time. And your wife enjoys riding in the Bird as well: that is enough for a Father's Day gift!!! Tim
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim!
We are really happy with the whitewalls, and the car does ride great with them -really smooth and quiet. Unfortunately, my Father's day gift this year was a $800 exhaust repair on my daily driver car(VW Beetle). I was able to have complete exhaust systems installed on both the Bird and my 73 Ford pickup last summer for LESS than the cost to replace one exhaust pipe on the Bug!
Also, that white 78 Diamond Jubilee in your picture is a beauty!!
-John
 
Turbines

John:

Not surprised about the high $ you paid for the VW exhaust. I put 2 1/2 inch dual exhausts and flowmasters on my 1979 Bird 10 years ago for $200.00. Still good as new.

Thanks for the words about the turbines. They ought to be nice: All four were brand new NOS turbine wheels complemented by four new NOS center caps. $1000.00 for everything. The car today is in Norway with a new happy owner. See attached picture.
I'm looking to replace my daily driver 79 Bird (too many miles to count) with either a low-mileage 1979 Heritage or 1978 DJE. T-Birds are so nice to drive. Tim
 
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Tim,
The turbines are my favorite wheels for the 77-79 Birds. I actually saw a set of them for sale at a swap meet last Sunday; I pointed them out to my wife, but she said that she didn't really like them. They did need a lot of cleaning, and only one had a center cap.
I wish I could get by with driving the Bird as a daily driver, but with the cost of gas and the harsh winters we have here in Illinois, it just wouldn't be practical.
That white 78 DJE that you had looks very sharp! I don't think I've ever seen another white DJE. Most of them that I've seen were light blue.
-John
 
turbine wheels

John:

Forgive the repetition if I have said this to you before, but I have an extra set of turbines and center caps if your wife ever changes her mind. I used to run the factory polycast wheels until I found a set of turbines. I painted them myself to match my car color. That was 10 years ago. Still look nice today. Tim
 
Due to some unexpected financial expenses, we may have to sell the Bird(among other things). I placed an ad on ebay to test the market. I'm hoping that things work out OK, and we're able to keep it. If we do end up having to sell it, I'm going to pretty picky about who I sell it to, as I want to be sure that it goes to a good home.
 
Burny Orange on e-bay

John:

When I first saw the "burnt orange" T-Bird" on e-bay, I knew that it was your car, especially with the bright color and T-Bird hubcaps.

Sorry about the financial challenges that have driven into your driveway. Hope you can overcome them and retain your wife's beautiful Bird.

Things are really slow on e-bay for our 77-79 Birds. Even the nicest, low mileage Birds stir up little activity. It is the same with the entire T-Bird market, regardless of what years. Few people are buying and many are trying to sell.

All the best to you.
Tim
 
Thanks Tim,
I'm hoping to be able to keep the Bird, because it's a really nice car, it's fun to drive, and it looks cool. I know that the market for 77-79 Birds on ebay isn't very good right now. I just figured that would be my best chance at finding just the right buyer, maybe like someone who bought one new back in '79 and was looking to buy one like it all these years later. Financially, things are pretty bad right now. It just seems like the cost of everything keeps going up, but my wages aren't keeping pace with the price increases on everything.
-John
 

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