A buddy of mine is about to transfer a title for a ‘31 Tudor into his name, it’s an upchopped, but channeled body on a custom Z’d frame that is based on original A frame dimensions. Don’t recall how far the channel is, think it’s about 3-4”. The car was set up for a 352 and a C6 I believe, but the owner (a friend of his) is yanking the drivetrain and my buddy has plans to plop a rowdy little SBC and 700r in it. Car has a tube drop axle (speedway product or something of the likes, don’t know exact details on all that yet) and a 9” out of a pickup under it, currently has a 5.5 or 6” steel wheel on it with bias ply white walls on them, wheels aren’t staying on the car though per the seller’s decision. Last night he sends me an offerup link to a pair of 15x10” smooth steelies and wanted to know my thoughts of them for the car. Of course, me being me and liking things a certain way, said “too wide, I’d run smaller.” Normally I wouldn’t second guess my own decision on that, but shorty after I started realizing that a lot of Halibrands and other mags from the 60’s (the era of which he wants the car to appear that it could have been built) were/are 10” wide. This is an unchopped, but channeled and fairly low sitting car though, no fenders in the plans. Now that I have all of that explained, does anyone have photos of something similar with a 10” and maybe also a 7” or 8” wide wheel (for comparison) on the rear? 10’s without anything covering them seem like they could resemble something along the lines of a couple of fat girls with no clothes on, but I won’t know how fat they really are until I see ‘em without clothes, I guess is what I’m trying to say...? As the title states, exactly how wide is too wide for a car like this? That’s what I need to find out... Also, the car has a 5x5-1/2 bolt pattern all around. I immediately suggested converting it to 4-1/2 because of wheel choices. Rather it be drilling the hubs and axles, having rear wheels (like Rebels) redrilled for the stock rear end pattern and just drilling the front hubs for a smaller pattern, or totally swapping hubs and axles, what would be the best/most inexpensive way to put bitchin’ wheels on a car that bitchin’ wheels won’t fit on?
To me wheels are not a big deal. They're so easy to change. I have a pair of 8''- 16'' American mags that match the front one's on my coupe. { But they are on slicks!} kinda in your face on a fenderless Rod! I drive it a lot on the street, so I run a pair of 16'' - 10'' ET-3's with Hoosers, too wide? But I like'em! I'd like to see some pictures of the fat girl beside the Hot Rod. It would help me with your question. Also I like Wheel adapters. Change the wheels for a new look.{ Easy }
I appreciate a girl with some meat on her Bones as long as the correct proportions are there! Now............. what was the question?!
up to the individual builder as to what works for them - sometimes just need to try different parts to get that "just right" look
Maybe I'm the only one who ever had this problem. I like wide rims but I have had issues when the extra width was all on the outside, making a very deep dish wheel. I had a pair of American Racing 15x10 aluminum slots with correctly sized tires that would not bite for crap. The contact patch of the tires was heavy on the inside of the wheel. I replaced them with a pair of 15x8 (same company/style) but with the wheel mounting surface more centered in the wheel. I also went to a narrower tire to fit the wheel. Traction was much better as the contact patch was spread across the entire surface of the tire. So 15x10 is OK if the mounting face is close to the middle of the wheel. If the wheels are heavily offset to the outside, then they may look great but not work as well for bite.
Super channeled A sedan on a Z'd, homemade tube chassis with tube axle and SBC/700r4, 10" wide smoothie wheels sounds like they'd be right at home on that car.
I think a lot of it comes down to how your roads are. I see you are from AZ, so I don't think it is an issue. I live on Long Island and trying to get to the mainland, by the Cross Bronx Expy. or the Belt Parkway. can be white knuckle with wide tires. Trying to navigate the 18 wheeler grooves in the blacktop can be downright scary. The really wide tire can't find the groove and tries to, so you have to constantly fight the wheel. Some of the grooves are 3" or 4" deep. One of the guys with 22" Mickeys on the rear of his '32, gave up and changed wheels and tires. Rain can also be an issue but you don't worry about that ether.
Seems too wide for me. An aggressive rake and wide wheels go together.....especially a high boy. With a channel and probably not an aggressive rake....10" is too wide for me. Running 8" wide would be plenty wide.....10" wide and the above mentioned grooves in the road is a pain....plus would have the " I had some 10" wide wheels laying around, so I used them", look. Someone will probably post a pic with 10" wide wheels, and it will look good! There are always exceptions.
I've got 15x8's on the rear of my roadster and would like 7's, look a touch modern.. Early ford steel wheels are 5 on 5.5, wouldn't be the cheap option but I'd rather spend money going in the right direction than almost none at all. Widened chrome reverse for the rear and chrome for the front.. probably wouldn't mesh with the rest of the car though?.. Respectfully I have to disagree with Ron that wheel and tire choice at this point don't matter.. I usually design my chassis around along with suspension to get the stance right. If you change up after the car can take on a random look..
When they look out of place for the rest of the build they are too wide. Lately I have seen too many that were too narrow or too short for the rest of the build. It still comes down to the does this blend into the total build as a cohesive and 100% contributing part or does it stick out and look out of place. Sent from my VS988 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Gasolinefed I agree with you. I narrowed the rear to use a set of 16''x10''ET III's I've been a wheel collector,{ hoarder } for years. I've had my Rods for 40 plus years. So its just a way for me to change things up a little. Some of my old mags, and wheels have two lug patterens. Plus with spacers and adaptors I can just play with them. My wife has a closet full of shoes. So I have a building full of wheels. Lol
I’m liking the 8’s on that with the tire size... I think he would agree, as low as this little A is, I think a wider wheel and tire is going to be a tad much, especially since it is a sedan.
Chrome reversed wheels wouldn’t be bad on it, it would fit the 60’s style he wants and still work with the tunnel ram he’s planning on running on it. I can see a set with some cheater slicks on it already.
That truck rear end will be way too MF damn wide . Now wide girls are one thing. Some get sorta round ish and lumpy. Hard to tell if they are coming or going so I look for the thumbs, it's the only way to tell. Lol about as attractive as the yellow thing right up there.
x 2 If the mounting face is towards the inside the dish it might look great but you are putting a lot of stress on the end of the axel (even on a 9"). It might be good for the trip to the shops and the occasional foot into the gas. But if you are going to be hard on it you might want to think about a floater rear. mounting the face close to centre or smaller wheels 15x8
That brings up a good point that I didn’t really think about yet, being that the car has very little clearance from the inside of the tire to the body, even with the skinnies that it has had on it, it will definitely need small or no backspacing and a decent offset to set the wheel outward enough to clear the quarters. I imagine that having a wide wheel, with the sort of wheel construction I explained above, would destroy axle bearings and it makes me wonder, just how often are those getting changed on “stock” 9” equipped cars with 10”+ wide wheels that have pretty deep offset? My guess is quite a bit more often than normal.
Well max I say is 10" wide on the sedans... Some people here hate my car but it was built by me for me. 15x10 rear with a 255/70r15 on there, was a raised white letter bfg I had shaved down for a nice whitewall. the way the sidewall looks on the 10" rim gives it a bit of bias look without the crappy handling and traction issues. The rims are 3.75" backspaced and I have never once had traction issues with this car only in the rain or on dirt. Street and track its got tons more bite due to my chassis design. 8s or 10s is my vote, I have put 8s on here and pulled them off immediately. Oh and don't let anyone tell you a truck rear is too wide, the rear on this car was out of my grandfathers 1969 dodge truck, fit perfectly with big brakes. If you have an issue sticking too far out, then get a little less offset.... Cheers man, hope this helps.
Have a straight on photo of just the rear? That’d give me a good idea of I’m looking for, after that I just need another similar car/photo with 8’s on it for good comparison. I’m sure I’ll find one on here sooner or later though.
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