Reply to "215/60 15 Front Tires?"

Hi Bob

I don't have a bumper height spec for you. Unless your Pantera is equipped with aftermarket shocks & springs the ride height is not adjustable anyway. The goal is to have a level chassis. That means putting a 24" contractor's level on the door sills, and having the bubble between the lines (level). Or the measurement between the frame rail below the door and the ground is the same when measured behind the front tires or ahead of the rear tires. If the car is equipped with factory springs, the chassis shall be fairly level if the difference in tire diameter between front & rear is 1.7" to 2.3" (nominal 2").

The 215/60r15 front tires are roughly 25.2 diameter. You didn't mention the size of the new rear tires. I'd guess they are 295/50r15 (26.6 diameter). If that's true, that's 1.4" difference in diameter, i.e. about 0.2" outside the "ideal" range. That's not much. What I notice from the side view picture in your previous post is the tires appear to be fairly centered within the wheel arches, and the gap between the tires and fender arches appears to be fairly much the same front to rear. Although the chassis was designed around a bit more difference, the chassis should be fairly close to level from the looks of things. What does the bubble level look like? I think it looks pretty good, pretty much like the Pantera did in 1971, except the tires are significantly wider. But I've only got the one picture to go by.

In the picture before that one, the difference in tire diameters was 4.1", twice what it should be (275/60r15 = 28" diameter. 225/50r15 = 23.9" diameter). If the current set-up doesn't look right, is it possible you had become accustomed to the more pronounced "nose down attitude"?