Fitting big tires on skinny rims...who does this?

[Kevin Lee]

Looking for bigger tires for the back of my modified. Right now it's a choice between a Firestone 750-16 and Goodrich 750-17. The Firestone has an overall diameter of 31 inches. And the Goodrich measures 33.5. I'm trying to run as big as possible to get every bit of top end I can out of the flatmotor so I'm really wanting to run the 17's.

Here's the problem. The 17 inch (Budd) wires I have are 3.25 inches wide compared to the 16 inch wires at 4 inches. This is measured at the bead. Is 3/4 of an inch going to wreck the tires or make them wear quicker in the middle? No huge difference? If the wheels absolutely have to be widened I'll just stick with 16's on the rear.

[Antibilly]

Tire shop with a blast bottle

[cleatus]

I'm no tire expert, but I really think you'll be fine - 3/4" at the bead is not going to make any significant difference in your tire profile/contact patch.

[Kevin Lee]

Uhhh...thanks?

Edit: That thanks was for the draglink.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

What the hell? He didn't ask about HOW to mount them, but IF! I've seen 17s with 750s and unless this is your daily (doubtful) it would take a long time to wear out those tires on such a light car. I've been "trad" long enough to know the second season of "Happy Days" and the SHA NA NA variety show were for POSEURS!

[Kevin Lee]

3/4 of an inch seems like practically nothing, until you stop and think that the starting measurement is 4 inches. That's somewhere around 20% of the total width, right? I'm waffling.

[Kevin Lee]

This car will be a daily driver...at least as far into the year as I can make it here in the Midwest. I'll do a lot of highway driving too. Happy Days was rad....never saw SHA NA NA.

[av8]

Years ago Tom Cepek (Dick Cepek, Inc., pioneers in developing off-road wheels and tires) schooled me on the importance of matching rim width to tire size. The most significant and dangerous result is cracking along the bead of the wheel, not the tire, if the rim is much too narrow for the tire size. More recently, Frank Mauro at Stockton Wheel Service confirmed this in a conversation we were having about wheel specs.

Some tire catalogs I've seen have recommeded rim widths in their specs.

[toledobill]

Happy Days jumped the shark when they had Fonzie in shop class talking about the '55 Chevy he was working on -- and the car was a 1953/54 (no front clip). Did NO ONE on the entire set see the problem?

[Kevin Lee]

Looks like I need a Coker catalog then (yes I know Bruce, I know). Don't suppose they recommend a tire with 5.5inch tread and an 8 inch cross section be mounted on a 3.25 inch rim. (those measurements were pulled from their website). Anyone have a catalog handy?

Thanks Mike, I never gave much thought to the stress at the bead.

[modernbeat]

Grimy, a good rule of thumb is to match the contach width to the wheel width. So, for that 5.5 inch wide tread, you should use a 5.5 inch wide wheel.

[12packo94s]

i don't think you will have much of a problem,,, just look at the fronts on a lot of drag cars

on my race car i run a 26x7.5 m/t frontrunner which is a way common tire

i have these mounted on 15x3.5 prostars which is again very common

never had any problem with this combination and this is on a heavy in comparison muscle car

just something to think about

[DrJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Grimy, a good rule of thumb is to match the contach width to the wheel width. So, for that 5.5 inch wide tread, you should use a 5.5 inch wide wheel.

[/ QUOTE ]

What he said with the addition that most tire makers will show about a plus or minus one inch on the rim width, compared to the tread width.
So a 5.5" tread would be ok on a 4.5" rim but a 4" would be pushing it and a 3.25" rediculously too narrow.
Yes, it will hold air.
Yes, it will hold up the car.
Yes, it might split the rim, and since the beads will be damn near side by side they just might roll the tire right off the rim with any good amount of lateral acceleration. (That means turning.)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

[ QUOTE ]
Happy Days jumped the shark when they had Fonzie in shop class talking about the '55 Chevy he was working on -- and the car was a 1953/54 (no front clip). Did NO ONE on the entire set see the problem?

[/ QUOTE ]

Before that "Happy Days" jumped the shark when Fonzie JUMPED THE SHARK! Also when they added the laugh track it lost the whole retro/American Grafitti feel- so season 2 "jumped the shark", again when Al replaced Arnold, again when Mork from Ork showed up, again when Joannie & Chacchi fell in love, and when they all started wearing '70s disco clothes and haircuts when it was still supposed to be the early '60s was STUPID!

[Harrison]

Dr. J nailed it and JimA must be drinking today.

JH

[modernbeat]

Hey, no ragging on '70s TV. If it hadn't been for HEE-HAW I wouldn't have know who Roy Clark was untill I was in my twenties.

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Woe, despair, and agony on MEEEEE!

[porknbeaner]

[ QUOTE ]
This car will be a daily driver...at least as far into the year as I can make it here in the Midwest. I'll do a lot of highway driving too. Happy Days was rad....never saw SHA NA NA.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lucky you never saw Sha Na NA (Bow, Bow, Bow). I did think Da Fonz was OK 'til he started doing those comercials for the ERA.

Apart from cracking around the bead the real big problem with too wide a tire on a narrow rim is tire shake on the big end. That shouldn't be a problem for you unless your planning on cruising somewhere between 100 and OH WOW, or running a AA Fuel Altered. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif You're not looking at a speed rated tire anyway.

In a perfect world you want the tire and the rim to be pretty close to the same width. The other school of thought is that a little bulge is good to protect the rim from curbs, or you could just try not to curb 'em.

If the tire is way wide you can let a little air out to flatten it, but that kinda defeats the purpose.

I wouldn't worry about it unless it was gonna be extreme. But that's just me. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Unkl Ian]

I checked the Coker site,and didn't find anything relating rim width to tire size.But,on tirerack.com I found a few different manufacturers making your sizes.Most recomend a 5.5 to 6.5" width rim.

[TV]

Grim, It will bulge the tires in center,If that were the only problems it caused, and let me tell you it isn't,don't try and run on a narrow rim.--TV http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Rocky]

Yo, Kevin......I worked in a few tire shops as a younger whipper-snapper and I can tell ya, you don't wanna get too carried away with wide tires on narrow wheels. We hadda guy that usta insist on putting heavy duty 15" 7.50X15" tires on his skinny ass Datsun pickup 15X4" wheels. He was back every week or so for more wheels after the bead would crack off his wheels. We finally sold his silly ass a pair of wider chevy pickup wheels and he never came back.

[Harrison]

Roy Clark was TRADITIONAL.

JH

[choprods]

Grimlock- remember my 29 Ruster pickup rear wheels? I had the wide five 39 steel rims on it and they were narrow. I took a chevy truck rim[1988] IT WAS A 16.....i CUT IT AS CLOSE TO THE CENTER [WIDEWAYS] AND DID THE SAME ON THE OLD RIM ONLY TO THE OUTSIDE- FOLLW ME? WHAT I ENDED UP WITH WAS A 16 THAT WAS ABOUT 5-1/2 -6" WIDEi CHUCKED IT UP ON MY "LATHE"-READ THAT [FRONT HUB] SPUN SLOWLY AS I CUT-with plasma torch....then I assembled it on the same hub- tacking and turning slowly till I corrected all runout.....using my hi tec runout guage[ pop bottle] alongside the rim and after tacking and whacking with a hammer- I welded em solid in and out and only ground down the outside -they worked!I drove them 85 MPH for a 100 mile stretch trying to commit suicide--didnt work- http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ALSO I think total tire height available in a 16 could closely match a 17 so gearing should work fine......

[Kevin Lee]

CHOPRODS...I forgot you widened that set of wide fives. Made some wide five to 5 on 5.5 adapters too, right? Thanks for the input, everybody. Looks like I'm sticking with the 16's in the rear until I find that odd pair of mislabeled Divcos sitting in the back of a truck at the swap.

JimA - You say Happy Days was for POSEURS and yet you can rattle off the anthology as if you watched every season? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I won't lie - I liked Happy Days as a kid. I was bummed that I had blonde hair because I wanted to be a "hoodlum" for Halloween...and all TV hoodlums had dark hair.

[go.daddy.go]

Looking for bigger tires for the back of my modified. Right now it's a choice between a Firestone 750-16 and Goodrich 750-17. The Firestone has an overall diameter of 31 inches. And the Goodrich measures 33.5. I'm trying to run as big as possible to get every bit of top end I can out of the flatmotor so I'm really wanting to run the 17's.

Here's the problem. The 17 inch (Budd) wires I have are 3.25 inches wide compared to the 16 inch wires at 4 inches. This is measured at the bead. Is 3/4 of an inch going to wreck the tires or make them wear quicker in the middle? No huge difference? If the wheels absolutely have to be widened I'll just stick with 16's on the rear.

Those tires will not fit on that wheel due to the width of the wheel and the cross section of the tire ( 8.00 ) and the footprint ( 5.80 ). The recommended rim width for this tire is @ the smallest a 17x5.5 & @ the most a 17x7. This means the best rim for the tire would be a 17x6 to 6.5. You would be better off with a 17x6. It'll give you a much better ride w/ out worries of popping of the rim or cracking. This is the best advice....... :cool:

[rotgg]

i asked about a month ago if u could run 750 or 700 on 16x4 rims and the only answers i got were yes with no problem and i talked to coker and they said no it would not be a good idea i am lost :confused:

[Automotive Stud]

i asked about a month ago if u could run 750 or 700 on 16x4 rims and the only answers i got were yes with no problem and i talked to coker and they said no it would not be a good idea i am lost :confused:

Aside from rim stress as mentioned above, I'd be worried about wearing the center out of the tires. I had a car with 14x5 wheels and 235 60 14's on it, the center of the tread wore out quick.

[JimA]

[QUOTE=Grimlok]JimA - You say Happy Days was for POSEURS and yet you can rattle off the anthology as if you watched every season? [img][QUOTE]

Remember when my name was "DO NOT DELETE"- those were the days! Still a poseur, always will be.

[Automotive Stud]

[QUOTE=Grimlok]JimA - You say Happy Days was for POSEURS and yet you can rattle off the anthology as if you watched every season? [img][QUOTE]

Remember when my name was "DO NOT DELETE"- those were the days! Still a poseur, always will be.

Yea, what's up with the mysterious 'Do NOT DELETE"? Always has a 0 post count. Creepy... :eek:

[hotrodA]

[ QUOTE ]
Grimy, a good rule of thumb is to match the contach width to the wheel width. So, for that 5.5 inch wide tread, you should use a 5.5 inch wide wheel.

[/ QUOTE ]

What he said with the addition that most tire makers will show about a plus or minus one inch on the rim width, compared to the tread width.
So a 5.5" tread would be ok on a 4.5" rim but a 4" would be pushing it and a 3.25" rediculously too narrow.
Yes, it will hold air.
Yes, it will hold up the car.
Yes, it might split the rim, and since the beads will be damn near side by side they just might roll the tire right off the rim with any good amount of lateral acceleration. (That means turning.)

What THEY said. I'm the tire guy (32 yrs). The idea is to have the bead width equal to the tread width. Ideally the bead shouldn't be cocked to a severe angle on its seat, either.

[sewman]

Now if you could find some 20" wires some 7.50's would get some speed.
Bob

[modernbeat]

What THEY said. I'm the tire guy (32 yrs). The idea is to have the bead width equal to the tread width. Ideally the bead shouldn't be cocked to a severe angle on its seat, either.

WTF!

My quote came up with DrJ's name?

[Mad-Lad]

Tire shop with a blast bottle


What he said.....I had the same thing done to my tires...."STAND BACK!!!!!"

Scared the living crap out of me when they fired that thing off.

[Nimrod]

Bias plys and radials are a lot different...it would be no problem at all to mount them, and I don't think you'd really have any problem at all but it may look a little funny...that is a pretty skinny rim. 7.50's on 4" rims are really common, and I've never had any problem. I'd guess the original rims used for those tires couldn't have been more than 4.5 - 5" wide.

[modernbeat]

Nimrod, that works, but it's not ideal. When you stick a 7.5 inch tire on a 4 or 4.5 inch rim you end up with a funny contact patch as the shoulders of the tire bend over to mate to the rim. The middle of the tire gets worn out prematurely.

It works, it just doesn't work right. Doesn't mean that you can't do it. You'll just have to put up with the downsides.

How has your tire wear been on the roadster with the 460?

[Kevin Lee]

Where the hell did this come from? I think I want to be a poseur for halloween this year.

[Nimrod]

Nimrod, that works, but it's not ideal. When you stick a 7.5 inch tire on a 4 or 4.5 inch rim you end up with a funny contact patch as the shoulders of the tire bend over to mate to the rim. The middle of the tire gets worn out prematurely.

It works, it just doesn't work right. Doesn't mean that you can't do it. You'll just have to put up with the downsides.

How has your tire wear been on the roadster with the 460?


True, but the tread width on the 7.50-17 Goodrich is only 5.5", same for the 7.50-16 Goodrich, the 7.50-16 Firestone is even narower at 4.88" acording to the Coker catalog. I like to try and match tread width to rim width, it looks best, with the rim any wider than the tread it ends up looking a little less traditional to me. I don't think there was anything wider than about 5" to hot rodders before the later '50's.

Tire wear on the roadster is terrible! I go through a set a year...but they do wear pretty even. And I mount all my own tires anymore, I've had too many pinched tubes when I've taken bias plys to shops to have mounted. I use one of those cheap Harbor Freight tire mounters...its one of my most used tools.

[Tudor]

True, but the tread width on the 7.50-17 Goodrich is only 5.5", same for the 7.50-16 Goodrich, the 7.50-16 Firestone is even narower at 4.88" acording to the Coker catalog. I like to try and match tread width to rim width, it looks best, with the rim any wider than the tread it ends up looking a little less traditional to me. I don't think there was anything wider than about 5" to hot rodders before the later '50's.

Tire wear on the roadster is terrible! I go through a set a year...but they do wear pretty even. And I mount all my own tires anymore, I've had too many pinched tubes when I've taken bias plys to shops to have mounted. I use one of those cheap Harbor Freight tire mounters...its one of my most used tools.

So-Verdict is. 750 - 16's on a 16" x 4" wheel - it will work but not ideally. I think as long as it has been done and it has not failed - I would do it.

[Retrorod]

Like a dumb-ass I tried to wedge a set of too wide radials onto a set of '35 wires. After spending the better part of a weekend on them I finally gave up a put the right size tire on them. Now I have a set of tires that are brand new but have been pushed, shoved, wedged and stretched to the point that they are probably unusable for anything! Thank God the rims were still ok, that little experienced cost me $400......chalk it up to "educational expense".

[Corky Coker]

Hi guys....

I would not suggest using much narrower than a 5 inch bead seat on a 750 cross section tire. Using a rim that is too narrow will not only look pretty funny but you will not get good service on the tire because the contact patch will be the very center of the tire only. Pretty much right on is the recommendation that the tread width is a pretty good rule of thumb for the rim width.

Drive em boys! Wear them tires out!

Best to you all,

Corky Coker

BTW...we will have the recommended widths on our website update soon too.


Looking for bigger tires for the back of my modified. Right now it's a choice between a Firestone 750-16 and Goodrich 750-17. The Firestone has an overall diameter of 31 inches. And the Goodrich measures 33.5. I'm trying to run as big as possible to get every bit of top end I can out of the flatmotor so I'm really wanting to run the 17's.

Here's the problem. The 17 inch (Budd) wires I have are 3.25 inches wide compared to the 16 inch wires at 4 inches. This is measured at the bead. Is 3/4 of an inch going to wreck the tires or make them wear quicker in the middle? No huge difference? If the wheels absolutely have to be widened I'll just stick with 16's on the rear.

[hiboy32]

Where the hell did this come from? I think I want to be a poseur for halloween this year.


that was already done last halloween.

[flynstone]

happy days is where jump the shark term started when the fonz jumped the shark tank with his bike...............the rest is yea i know bla bla bla back to tires

[3pedal]

The answer to your question... Who does this? Is only a person who dosn't care for your saftey. Match tread width to wheel width.

[tommy]

Why not get your wheels widened to exactly the size that your tires require. You will feel better knowing that they are perfect and I think they look cool too.

The ones on the left have a 3" band added to run late model 16" wide tires resembling the stagger block dirt track tires. You could get them widened to exactly what you want.

http://fototime.com/{CB219035-7656-422E-853B-6698D5480962}/picture.JPG

[slazzen]

my buddy is running 750's on 16s it looks great