Suspension and tire questions

[1974ChevyC10]

ok ol red will need new tires when i put the truck rally's on her.currently the rally's have bald goodyear wranger 31x10.5r15's on it.i will be replacing them with p255/70/r15's.i looked on tirerack.com and in that size they list the following tires
Kumho Road Venture APT KL51 (Highway All-Season)-87 per tire
Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 (Performance All-Season)-89 per tire
BFGoodrich Radial T/A (Performance All-Season)-93 per tire
Firestone Destination LE (Highway All-Season)-93 per tire
General Grabber HTS (Highway All-Season) -102 per tire
Continental CrossContact LX (Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season)-104 per tire
Goodyear Eagle GT II (Performance All-Season)-110 per tire
Pirelli Scorpion STR A (Highway All-Season)-248 per tire

i checked locally on this size tire and i know its kind of an oddball size tire alot of places would have to special order them i have yet to call discount tires or big o directly as for some reason i always feel like i lost 10 I.Q points whenever i call them about tires.most places ive talked to locally have quoted about 470 dollars including tires,mount,balance,road hazard,valve stems and all other taxes and fees.so tire wise do ya all think i would be better off getting them local or mail order them and have em mounted later.if i end up going the mail order route is there anything i can store to keep the tires in good shape in the event there in storage for a long time aside from keeping them out of direct sunlight and near anything sharp.also im considering lowering ol red 2 maybe 2 1/2 inches in front and 4 maybe 4 1/2 inches in the rear and what would you all suggest is the best way to achieve that height.im considering this because due to medical problems my knees from time to time give me problems along with my back and it would getting in and out of the truck alot easier for me but not as troublesome as getting in and out of my car can be for me due to its really low height.any opinions on both subjects are welcome.

[BIG10]

I called my local Sears for that exact tire size in the BFG Radial T/A and they quoted me a little under $500 mounted/balanced/out the door and they had them in stock ready to go. I bought some BFG Rugged Trails for my wife's SUV from Sears last year and they were almost $200 cheaper than our local tire shop. I wish I had discovered that years ago. You might give them a call.

[old Rusty C10]

I would not put any kind of firestone or any of their other brands tire on my truck simply because of quality issues. While i do believe that the issue with Ford was both a tire and truck design issue, over the years i recall more problems with firestone tires than any other tire out there.. they have had issues with tires coming apart for years. Id rather put my money into a different make tire. I do like goodyear or michelin, however if there is going to be off road use michelins sometimes have weak sidewalls

[MobSled]

Not trying to sway you away from your plans but how about this... 3/5 drop because all the people I've talked to were never satisfied with a 2/4 drop and always went lower. 3/5 drop is easy achieved by dropped spindles or simple lowering srpings all depending on how much you'd like to spend. Spindles will cost you 250 and srpings will run you 100 bucks. For the rear go with a flipkit. Your drop will range between 4 and 5 inches depending on what leafs your running and how worn the leafs are.

Tire size id personally go with 255/55/15 and 275/55/15 Cooper Cobra. Same as bridgestone Radial GTs just a lot cheaper.

Peopke that usually drop their trucks always wanna go lower a couple of months down the road. Just my .02.

[1974ChevyC10]

Originally Posted by MobSled

Not trying to sway you away from your plans but how about this... 3/5 drop because all the people I've talked to were never satisfied with a 2/4 drop and always went lower. 3/5 drop is easy achieved by dropped spindles or simple lowering srpings all depending on how much you'd like to spend. Spindles will cost you 250 and srpings will run you 100 bucks. For the rear go with a flipkit. Your drop will range between 4 and 5 inches depending on what leafs your running and how worn the leafs are.

Tire size id personally go with 255/55/15 and 275/55/15 Cooper Cobra. Same as bridgestone Radial GTs just a lot cheaper.

Peopke that usually drop their trucks always wanna go lower a couple of months down the road. Just my .02.

when i got orange crush(predecessor to ol red) in 1999 it had p275/60/r15's all around the truck wasnt lowered and the low profiles to me looked silly and out of place.i know alot of guys get bit by the lowering bug when they starting lowering trucks but im honestly considering it for the fact that my back and knees bother me from time to time.im not a big fan of slammed trucks.do they make 2 inch drop springs because if you change spindles you have to get an alignment and im sure ol red's alignment is good so i would like to avoid alot of downtime if possible.do they also make a 4 inch flip kit for these trucks.im on a budget here so i need to stick to it as much as possible but i would like to avoid the complete cheap route so heating/cutting springs is definately out as is removing leafs and anything along those lines.basically anything unsafe will not be considered at all.

[MobSled]

You might have to do an alignment either way depending on the condition of your front suspension (balljoints, tierod ends etc...). When you lower it it'll put more stress on your front which may result in a negative camber (your tires wearing out faster on the inside). Its always safer to do a alignment to any car or truck after modifing your suspension unless its been slightly modified.

Regarding the flip kit. I've done numerous flipkits and from my expirience a flipkit will get you beteen 4 and 5 inches of lowering all depending on the strenght of your leafs. You really won't know until the flipkit is installed. The "for sure" way to get 4inches of lowering in the back is to go with dropped shackels and take out leafs which is more work in my opinion. Shackels will get you 2inches and taking out 3 leafs will get you another 2 inches.