Technical 16 x 4 1935 ford spokes / tire question

I just purchased some 1935 16 x 4 ford spokes rims. They are on the way. I plan on running white wall firestones 750s in the rear and 550s up front. Coker is telling me that I need a 5 inch rim for the 750s. Does anyone know if this is an accurate statement before I order them?

 

yah everyone does it

 

<----- Right there, 750 firestones from Coker on 35 wires. And 550s on the front. Went right on, look great.
-Pat

 

thanks, I wonder why they are telling me this

 

It is what most vendors advertise. I suspect for liability.

It doesn't mean that's what most hot rodders use. Tim

 

<-------- Firestone 750's on the rear, 600's on the front...all on '35 wires. They fit. However. The contact patch is compromised a wee bit....the patch width wants to be a wee bit wider. Only way is to run wider rims....or a little less air. Don't fret it, it works. But for ideal performance, a slightly wider rim would be better. 3 years and many miles, mine work just peachy.

 

10 years, 3 sets of 6:00 front 7:50 rears, all on 35 wires
No problems in about 40,000 miles.
Do it. Here's another set!
<======== see

 

If we stayed within the design engineers' original designs and specs, we wouldn't have hot rods, nor this forum! Think about it. ;-)

 

Hnstray.
In this particular case, the 7:50 on the 4 inch wire rim has about 60 years of history to back it up.
Also, the fact that the 7:50 is about 3 inches taller than the original 6:00 that was on the 35 wire
gives the side wall that much more "give" which actually reduces the side stresses put on the wheel,
because the side wall flexes more easily than the rim spokes.
Just my $.02

 

I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with. Seems we are agreeing, actually. What you just described are, in and of themselves changes from the original design intent. Example; simply removing fenders to lighten a car is a change from the original design intent. Was it recommended by the engineers? I doubt it. But without such modifications, the advent of the 'hot rod' may never have been.

 

My Dad is running that exact wheel/tire combination on his Coupe, it will work fine and look great.

 

Thats all I use.

 

It seems like there is an overwhelming consensus on this but I will add my .02 cents.

I talked briefly with a guy recently who was very surprised I "got away" with dozens of things on my car because mechanically it just shouldn't work or isn't right. To him, Drum brakes are not worth the risk, especially non-energizing. Also split bones up front were dangerous and a '40 Steering box couldn't respond like modern ones will. He noted the model A door latches and mechanical fan, old 2 barrel carbs... I realized he was picking out the things I was proud of. Well- It's fast, turns like a Porsche and stops on a dime. One test is worth 1000 simulations. It's not a BMW and I never intended it to be but it works for me. Including the 750 16" Tires on my 4" rim

 

Wow, thanks guys! I'm doing it!

Wish me luck

 

In 1972 my first job out of high school was running the lube rack at the local Chevy dealership. I was driving a 52 Customline 2dr with a flathead V-8 followed by a top loader 4 speed. The mechanic working next to me had an AMX with a 390 and 4 speed that he was burning the rear tires off of every couple months. I had the old 15 inch skinny's all the way around, but had read an article in Hot Rod or Rod and Custom about running wide tires on narrow wheels with lower pressure to get a flat contact patch, and I wanted fat tires. No, I needed fat tires, every kid needed fat tires.

Anyway, I told him if he'd pull his tires off a little earlier this time while they still had 3/16 or so of tread, I'd give him 15 bucks apiece for them. I don't recall what size they were, but they had about a 10 inch tread width. Around that time someone traded in a couple year old Mustang on mags and the stock 14 x 6 wheels were still in the trunk. The used car guy came over one afternoon carrying one of the wheels and asked if I had any use for them. Hell yes I had a use for them. I wasn't concerned about safety.... the big boys were doing it and getting away with it. At 17, I wasn't too concerned about the safety of anything, shit man, I was invincible.

We mounted up the fat tires on the narrow wheels and after some experimenting with air pressure by running through a puddle in front of the wash rack and watching the wet track to check for full contact we decided on 14 pounds of air. My old flathead wouldn't spin them even on a wet road, so I ran those tires for 2 years until I sold the car. I never had a moments trouble with them and they weren't squishy or weird in a corner either. The traction on snow was unbelievable. I live in the hills and could push new snow with my front bumper (maybe a foot deep) going uphill on my street. I could go a lot of times when guys with their 4 wheel drive pickups (on skinny tires with no posi) couldn't. Hey, it worked for me.
Gene

 

Lighter car and lower pressure will work to your advantage in 7.50 X 16 on a 4 inch wide wheel.

As for VW 5.60X15 tires on 8" wide wheels under '64 Impalas, avoid hopping, turning, and driving.

 

7.50's and 5.50 white walls will be perfect.

 

This combo may work because the vehicle hangs from the spokes --- that are more robust due to over-engineering. What do you guys think? Would disc wheels work as well?

 

• I would run them on 5 inch rims. Which is what I have done. You can widen the rims to the desired width. Heaps of posts on here on this topic.

 

A couple of thousand miles on these 750 x 16s on original rims......

 

Yup, the combination has been around about as long as the hot rod. Back in 1959 (16 years old) and my grandfather and I had just finished roughing in my Av8, I needed tires. As my birthday was only a month away my grandmother said she would like to see me on better tires as in her eyes I was hell bent on killing myself in my new "hot rod". She took me to the Western Auto one town over and had them mount 5.50X16's and 7.00X16's on my nicely refinished '40 rims. Those tires saw me through the last 2 years of high school and 2 years of college (practical bald by that time) when I made one of life's stupid moves and sold the car.

Frank

 

Well stated, Dreddybear, well stated. These types of guys will never experience the joy of driving a car that was built in their own garages with blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention many original parts which have been proven decade after decade to "work". It is his loss.

 

So what did you finally end up for rim size and what has been your experience with the choice? - I run 550s fronts and 700s rear on Kelsey Hayes bent spokes - was lucky to find 4.5 inch KH rears but originally ran on 4 inch wide

 

I had 8.90-16 dirt trackers on '35 wires with zero problems. To my knowledge the same tires are still on that car, many years later. Engineering be damned.


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Interesting thread as I have been collecting 35 wires one at a time for my Model A.
I can relate to the too skinny tire on too wide of a rim thing as I ran VW tires on 15x7 rims on the front of my 48 for a while years ago.

I'd have to think that most guys who run the 7.50's on 4 inch rims never carry enough of a load to put a real stress on the rims though.

 

Just to piss in the Cheerios, I'm running 7.50x17's on a 33-34 17inch ford wire which is a 3.5 inch wide rim on the rear of my pickup...

 

Got 750s on stock 16" spokes too as seen in my avatar. Goes down the road fine! Even stops well with mechanical brakes!

 

5.50 up front 7.50 in the rear. 16.4 inch rim


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Paul, I was standing beside you at Top Notch when that guy started ripping your ride from radiator to taillights. He probably doesn't even own a hotrod, but he was willing to shit on yours. You did an admirable job of putting him in his place without calling him an asshole. More restraint than I could've mustered.