Wheel and tire help

[Ezzz]

Hey guys, need some wheel and tire help.

My '69 has a vortec 4.8 with a t56 behind it, 4.56 gears with a posi and is lowered 4/6.5. I plan on doing a cam and wcch stage 2 heads, but as it is I can't help but spinning the tires all the time and never use first. I have 16x10 cragar 69 deluxe wheels (smoothies) with temporary wimpy 255 tires that barely fit.

I'd like to stick with the wheels I have but can't find anything sticky, tall, and wide in 16". Mickey Thompson recently discontinued the two sizes in 16" that I was looking at so I'm leaning towards going up to 18" and going with the nitto nt555r in 305/45R18 (almost 29" tall).

Does anyone know a 16" tire that's over 28" tall and hopefully around 305 wide?

Otherwise does anyone know of a 18x10 smoothie in 6x5.5 that comes in black or I could powder coat black?

Also, what's the real world performance difference between steel and aluminum? I'm guessing there's a pretty noticeable weight difference.

Now I'm rambling but would 16" up front and 18" out back look funky if I go that route?

[Mike C]

Everyone has their own likes when it comes to wheels and tires, but a sticky tire is what it sounds like you need. You just may be buying bunches of them. You should be able to get a 275 60 16 BFG drag radial which will help a lot. You may want to look into some of the other DOT legal drag tires for choices in the 16" wheel size.

On my '69 short step I have 235 55 17 on the front and 275 55 17 on the rear. That is the widest tire that will fit on a short step that has been lowered. I have 8" rims on the front and 9" on the rear with 4" and 4.5" backspace respectively. They are Hankook AS for an SUV but the only thing I could find with enough height at near 29" tall.

I have experience with the 275 60 15 BFG drag radials on my Camaro and they are absolutely unreal in comparison to a regular tire. You may start out spinning them, but after a few dozen rotations, they just hook.