I was rearranging and cleaning out my old shop and ran across a set of chrome rims I had completely forgot I had, 14" x 6"s & 15" x 7"s. The old terminology of big's and little's has been common place for years and the width has also play a part in how well the wheels and tires look. In recent years I keep the wheels the same diameter and stagger the tire sizes. Anyone still running smaller diameter on the front than on the rear of your hot rod or custom. HRP
As I read your post, my mind drifted to the "Lobeck" or the "Ohio Look" 14x6 Halibrands in front with a tire that is almost to small for the wheel....Perfect! I love it!
depends on the car. I had 14 x 5's up front and 15 x 7's out back on a car once. 185/70/14's and big tall 15" 78's out back. some cars would not look right with 14's up front.
That was the ticket for my Chevy's back in the day, 60's. I had chrome reverse from JC Whitney, 14" front, 15" reverse painted black Chevy wheels with street slicks for rear, I built the 15" wheels in HS machine shop. I had both 14" and 15" chrome reversed for back on various Chevys with the fattest regular tires that would fit as the street slicks were pretty scary in the rain, changed out as needed. When I started buying mag style wheels rarely had the same front and back wheels, again a looks thing. My 32 had 14" front 15" rear Torque Thrusts, I have always liked the big/little look, my Roadster had 15' motorcycle tires front and 295 x 15 rear tires. I have always mixed tire sizes wheels for the look, it's a car guy thing. My Mercury does have all 4 tires the same with chrome reverse and have not screwed with tire size or wheels on my OT late model hobby cars. Another good memory from my past, HOTRODPRIMER strikes again.
...I think this was quite common and still done with good results, here's my ol 38 with 14' on front and 15's on rear...
Yep! Oh, you meant difference in wheel diameter, sorry, 15 inch front and rear. Thanks Kelly, now that's all I'll be thinking about all day. RIP Barry Lobeck, I loved EVERYTHING you built. The "Ohio Look" has been my North Star since the first one I saw in a magazine, pretty sure it was Barry's' first red deuce hi boy roadster. In my opinion, the perfect front wheel size for a hiboy is a 15x4".
I've usually done my stagger with tires. I'll say it, most 14" wheels won't clear disc brakes. It's also getting harder to find 14" tires at some locations. I used to run the 14/15" deal when I first started because my first aftermarket wheels were 15" for the rear and I already had 14" on the front when I got the car. It's really common with the rubber band tire guys. They are usually 2 sizes different so the practice is still out there. SPark
Probably why 14" wheels have fallen out of favor due to the fact that most cars with disc brakes won't accommodate the 14's. HRP
Coming from muscle cars to hot rods, yeah, that was my typical practice too. I like 15 x 8 1/2 on the rear & 14 x 7 on front, with nice wide low profile TA radial tires. But like you, these days I achieve the big-n-little look with different tires sizes on the same diameter wheels.
Back in the day I'd run extreme bigs and littles (it was the "look" then). Had an OT vehicle (was "mini") with L60-15's on the rear (Pos-a-tractions of course) and E60-14's on the front. HUGE rubber rake. Come to think of it, I guess I haven't outgrown it. Bigs and littles on the '31 and even bigger on the '32..... 32x14.5x15 on the rear and 135r15's on the front. No, cornering is not required..............
I've got 14's on the front and 15's on the back. I had them already so it wasn't a hard choice to make. The slots have been on the car since the 70's and I bought the spokes sometime in the 90's for a Black 58 two door Biscayne.
Big and littles on every car I've ever owned. On the coupe it is 15x6 with 155 Goodyears on the front and 17x9 1/2 on the rear with big ol tires. Can't remember rear tire size and to lazy to get out of my recliner...…….
In the early 60s, I had a late model daily with the little fronts/big Mickey Thompson rears but I didn't have the mullet.
John, I don't plan on eating them. , If your interested in them come take a look, I have the baby moons & lug nuts. HRP
I try to set chassis/suspension rake and ride height to visual/functional then fine tune with wheels/tires. This is 15's x5- 195/65 in front and 16's x8 -235/60 in rear. Ol school bigs and littles. Looking to do 9-10's in rear and tuck closer to body. These are WheelSmiths. Been great to work with. Sent from my XT1710-02 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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