Customs 1957/8 Ford Ranchero WWW tire size?

Heres a pic e

 

That stance looks pretty good, IMO...I can see another 1/2", though, too...it's funny, you wouldn't think a half inch could mean so much...but it will keep me up at night!
I'm gonna still, eventually, put some bias-plys back on the Ranch, and THEN look at the stance again, under that light...... I'm not quite satisfied, but...for now: close enough to run...and smile!

 

Just reading here...
i just bought a 57 running stock wheels and tires. I want to change up to 15 inch chromies and lower it maybe 3- 3.5 inches.. Just wondering what back spacing you guys are using? I was thinking of the Diamondback 205/70 15s but not sure about rubbing issues.

PS I love your ride Dirtythirty!

Here she is today:

 

Your Ride looks clean already brotha but ya i hear what your saying...Mine are 15" bias plys denmans been my daily driver for 5 years never had any problems with them...Heres my 57

 

it would be hard to improve on your ranchero all i could suggest would be doing something to "breakup" all the black paint but it looks cool as is

as far as the tires go why give up the steady tracking of radials to please some idiots whos opion doesnt matter in the end anyway id tell those complaing about your radials to pound dirt

 

I see this thread pop back up. Just to change it up I put a set a old chromes on my Ranchero that I had sitting around. Mounted 205R 70 on a 5 1/2" rim in front, 225R70 on a 6' rim in back. Rims are reversed so yeah, got a bit of tire rub in the back as you go up driveways, ect.
As much as I hate to admit it, it drives much better with the radials but I still like how the bias look.

 

That is pretty.
I'm thinking of this in wide whites and spyders.
thanks for posting.. I'm pumped.

 

Mickey Thompson G60-15s on 15X8 Stockton Wheel Milners with 5.5" backspace to center them in the wheelwell. Widest you can get with no mods without risking rubbing.

 

How is it to pull the rear wheels off?

I need to do something on my 500 too.

 

i have g-78- 14 on mine.... coker classics

 

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Bro, I like the side trim on the red and white one, matter of fact I like the whole fuckin' thing........

 

HAHAHA the arrow thing didn't work out so good when they moved me to the next page........

 

I hope you think it looks good seeing as how it's almost a twin of your's!
205's would be no problem if you keep a close to stock offset on the wheel. With the 225's and the reversed wheel I had to do some carefull finessing with a pipe to move the 1/4 panel out to clear, was rubbing full time.
FWIW there is a pic on page 1 of mine when it still had the WWW on it. WWW with chromes and spyders would look good but I went with blackwalls, feeling more of a 60's vib these days!

 

Great looking ride. Makes me want to run out and find one. Coker now makes wide whites that look like bias ply but are actually radials. I'm putting 600x 16's on my 50 ford. This tire is 28.3" tall with a narrow cross section. Looks like a bias ply rides and handles like a radial. Don't have them on yet but hoping for the best.

 

Simple, but my shakles are flipped so there is clearance when the chassis is lifted and on jack stands. If it were lowered, I think it would be somewhat difficult. If it were bagged, could the bags be inflated enough so when the frame was lifted and the diff unloaded that the diff would drop enough to allow easy removal? That would be key.

 

We are planning to break it up when we repaint it, with some white pearl, and small 'flake
I want do a white diamond tuck ( Or ??? ) bed cover, and interior panels, shave it, and a few other things, like maybe beta tape inside the trim ( if they still even make that??? ) or, perhaps abalone, or mother of pearl, something to really play with light...We'll see when the time comes...

Haha...yeah, if it was someone else giving me shit about the radials, I would tell 'em to pound sand, but, it's ME that is just mildly rubbed the wrong way by the tread, and the cross-section. The '57/'58 has a high wheel arch, and it makes it hard to get it to look low I think, with a lower profile, and shorter tire. I loved my Denman G 78's on my coupe, and they look awesome on the cars posted here, especially with that super-wide white wall, but, it looks like Denman shit the bed on us now...can't seem to get them anymore. I imagine I'll run these tires down, and get my $$$ out of them first, but, then I'll be lookin' for some Firestones or Denmans again...

It's difficult to get a lot of White Wall up past the fender lip, without ending up with the frame on the ground on these. A taller tire is good, and the more narrow, I imagine the more it puts it in shadow.

Lono,
Thanks man, I've always had a Ranchero fixation, and it's nice to actually be playing with a fairly solid one myself!
Yours looks really clean...I am running a 7" wheel on the back of mine, with 3 1/2" offset, and with a 225/70/15, it fits, doesn't rub and I had no wheelwell mods to do...I have a 6" wheel up front, and it rubs ever so slightly in a hard turn...

Haven't tried to get 'em off yet...I assume it will be a bitch, just from previous 50's Ford experience...Let the air out, jacks, blocks of wood, prayers, magic words, etc...We put 'em on before we flipped the shackles...haha...


By the way, the blackwalls on the one above on the chrome wheels look great, too...I was thinking maybe I'll get some Pro-tracs or something, in a pronounced big and little setup, for down the road when I get bored...

 

Very interesting.
Right now I've got 2 inch lowering blocks on the 500 and the rims that came on the car... to take them off.. off comes the shock and deflate the tire. It sucks and i dont want to repeat it in the ranchero.

I need to simplify both rides.
Gawd there's some sweet rides in this thread. Thanks all for posting!

 

What about drum wrap material?
Take a look at the stuff available for drum recovering:
http://www.precisiondrum.com/html/wrap.html

 

Funny, that was also one of the ideas that came up last night in conversation!
Yeah, I'd like something with a cool texture, and reflective...and, of course, durable too.
Some of those are just beautiful!

 

i,ve run coker 195 -14 radiel,s on all 4 wheels with 2 " blocks and 1 coil cut in front it sucks if you get a flat in back need 2 jacks

 

With both the G-78 14s on stock rims and the 225R70 on 6" rims I've run on my Ranchero required a seperate bottle jack between the frame and axle to get the rear wheels off. Guess it's just a curse of 57/58 Fords.
Maybe you could sneek the stock original equiptment 7.50 14 off without the extra jack but who here runs stock tires?

 

I tried out a set of 15 x 7's chromies today on the fairlane 500.

They had 205 x 75 on them. Made for snug fit but got through the body/ drum vortex without rubbing. The back spacing was approx 4 inches.
The 215 14's that were on it have to have the air let out of them before they can be pulled off or put on, even then its a scrub and rub to get them in there.

 

So I got it home and it was running 195 14's.

I've switched them out to 205 75 15's.
Lots of clearance and fill the well real nice. No rubbing, easy on and off.
I'm installing aerostar coils 4 inch blocks this week.

 

That looks nice!

 

Just thought I'd pass these on to you.
These are 205 75 15's from diamondback.
The top picture is its present ride height and the bottom is with a 3 inch drop (doing that this friday).

 

This post is a godsend. I have been hating the 14's on my '58.
Part of my wanting to go to 15's besides the better look is the fact that you can get them in a higher load rating, for when we tow the trailer.
I currently have 215 75 14's on ford granada steel wheels with no issues. Not sure what the offset is.

 

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I have a new set of 15x5.60 fronts and L78-15’s that I was wanting to try on my wagon but don’t have wheels yet. I was curious about the rears fitting too. Gotta love the HAMB