What wheels for a Model A w/fenders?

[my2nd40]

I would love to know some wheel tire combinations others are running on their Model A's. This car will have the fenders, the rear end is 56" from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface, and the front axle is a 46" superbell, 40 spindles and brakes. I dont know the front end mounting surface dimension because that part isn't together yet. I want to run steel wheels, 15 inch.

Got some ideas guys?.......offset, tire dia, tread width, radials, bias-ply?.....

[Berdoo John]

Well I can't help you with 15"s but this will give an idear.
I didn't offically measure my wheel widths yet, but I believe the fronts are 16x4.5 and the rears are 16x5, and the tires are 6.00s and 7.50s. Running a 46" 4" drop Superbell with '40 spindles. This pic is with only the main leaf and no motor. The front end needs to come up a couple of inches. The rear is a 9" from my '59 F100 and still needs to be narrowed a couple inches (it's hanging out on the other side).

[Berdoo John]

rear...

[C9]

You need to tell us whether you're dealing with a 28-29 or a 30-31 A.

Here's a pic of a bobbed 29 fender on a 31 A.
Fits fine, requires redrilling of mounting holes because the pattern is different between 28-29 and 30-31.

Rear end is a 9" Ford, 56" outer drum to outer drum.
Wheels in the back are 6 x 15" with 3" backspacing.
Tires are 235/80R-15 which are sorta bias ply looking due to their narrowness.

You can't tell it in the pic, but the 28-29 fenders are 1" wider than the 30-31's.
The 30-31's work ok with this combo, but the additional 1" clearance with the 28-29 fenders helps because this car is quite low in the back.
There is a 30-31 fender on the left side and the tire does fit under. It has a nice close to the tire look, but using this fender requires the rear of the car brought up an inch or two. Otherwise there will be a conflict between tire and inside of the fenders outer edge when the rear suspension bottoms out.

Present plans are to raise the car rear up 1" and install a 28-29 fender on the left side.

I'm guessing that you may not end up with similar additional clearance with a 28-29 fender on the 28-29 body.
I believe the 28-29 body is narrower in the rear and the fenders were wider to center the tire/wheel combo properly.
With Henry Fords penchant to re-use things he probably set the 30-31's up with a narrower fender for the wider body so he could use the same rear axle/wheel combo - far as width and backspacing goes - on the 30-31's as he did on the 28-29's.

[my2nd40]

The car is a 30. I didn't know the 28/9 fenders were wider. This frame is z'd just the width of the frame, and I want to get a nice fender to tire look, like you have done. Thanks for the helpful info guys and great pics.

[my2nd40]

What size tires/wheels and backspace do you have on the front of your roadster C9?

[Berdoo John]

http://www.wheelvintiques.com/measure.html
http://www.turbinecar.com/tires.htm

The overall diameter of my 6.00-16 is 27.9".
The 7.50-16 is 31".
An 8.90-15 is also 31".
A 31" tire fills that rear fender real nice.

[my2nd40]

Thanks John.....good information.

[C9]

[ QUOTE ]
What size tires/wheels and backspace do you have on the front of your roadster C9?

[/ QUOTE ]

185/85R-15 tires and 5 x 15" wheels with the same 3" backspacing.

My friends full-fendered 28 A roadster runs a 7 x 14" slot mag up front, I think with the same 2 7/8" backspacing on what I believe is the same slot mag the 31 was originally rolled out on.
Fairly sure the tire is a 185/70R-14.
What I'm not sure about is what the axle width is, but it's whatever TCI supplies with their frames - he bought a semi-roller with front axle and brackets for the 8" Ford rear axle.
The tire does fit under the front fender ok, but it could use a narrower wheel to bring it in some.
At the time my 31 was stored at his shop and we were gonna try one of my narrow front wheel/tire combo's on his car, but didn't get around to it cuz we spent the weekend wrestling with a 600# lathe and 2000# Bridgeport - and wrestling is putting it mildly.
Just looking at it, I think the 31's front tire/wheel would have been just about perfect on his car.
Regardless, the car does fine with the 7" wide wheel, doesn't hit the fender on turns or mild bumps with the steering wheel cranked way over. It may rub if and when he hits that killer angled driveway, but so far not.

Here's a pic of the 31 on roll-out day when the rear was shod with 10 x 15's having a 2 7/8" backspacing - 56" axle width - and BFG 31.50 x 15 light truck tire which was the only thing in that size range available ten years ago.
Used to run them on my 32 with the same size wheels and now the 32 runs BFG 285R/70-15's, a passenger car tire that rides much better than did the 31.50's.
The 32 has a 55" wide rear axle and also runs four bars between tire and frame in the back. A close fit, but it works.

The 32 runs 195/70R-14 front tires on a 5 1/2" x 14" slot mag.

My friend is looking for this same size slot mag and will take narrower - down to 4" - if he could find a pair.
I wouldn't mind finding a pair of those myself.

Ironic part about all this is, he got four slot mags for free about 5 years ago and gave me the narrow ones.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[finkd]

i KNOW THIS ISNT WITH FENDERS BUT FRONTS ARE 17" AND BACKS ARE 16" wires.