I am working on a '60 Thunderbird right now and want to give it a fresh look. I am wanting to purchase a set of Supreme's for it and plan to run a small white wall tire. I have read that Allied makes the best quality wheels that are reinforced. I am planning to upgrade from the factory 14s to a set of 15x7s but I have been unable to locate (after searching the web for 3 days) the proper backspace I should order so they will work on my Bird. Also looking for recommendations on tire size to order that will look best. Trying to give it that old school look, but want to be prepared for down the road when I upgrade to disc brakes. Thanks in advance
Had a 60 Thunderbird, sold it about a year ago and had 14 x 7" chrome wheels with narrow whites on it when I wanted the custom look. Also had a set of Torque Thrusts 15 x 7 " on the front and 15 x 8 1/2" on the rear when I wanted to change the look. The 15 x 8 1/2" were tight but didn't rub, Had to jack it all the way up and let the rear end hang as far down as the shocks would reach to mount them.
First off that was a good looking bird. Do you remember what the back spacing was on the 15s? And on another note what was your grill out of?
Them do look good, if I could just figure out for sure what the back spacing should be for my tbird I'd be really happy lol I hate to order the wrong wheels lol
Maybe go to the local pick-n-pull and find a stock 15 off something like a grand Marquis with a 235/75 and see how it fits. If it rubs you should be able to guess a smaller tire that would work.
OEM tires: 205/75-14 (664x205mm). Bolt pattern: 5x114.3 (5x4.5). Offset: -2 to 2 mm. Tires up to 684x205mm. Rims up to 20x7.0". I looked it up on RimsnTires.com 1960 Thunderbird, with Fender Skirts. I got my Wheels and Tires through Performance Plus Tire.
When I replaced mine they told me the backspace was zero and the height of the original rim with a tire if you measure that as long as your rim/tire combo are no higher than that you are good. The biggest rim/tire combo on the back is 18x7 and the front is 17x7. I went with 17x7s all the way around so I could rotate them properly
I apologize - I didn't get a chance to respond to the message you sent me back in May when you started asking about backset. To establish a baseline/starting point, I have attached a drawing showing the stock wheel dimensions for the '58-'60 T-bird wheel, but don't know if you can open or download it from here. I figured a 5/8" offset from the center line of the stock wheel to the mounting face of the wheel center and a 3-9/16" backset from the inside face of rim to the mounting face at the hub. With the stock wheel being 5-7/8" wide at the outside of the flanges, that would leave a distance of 4-5/16" from the mounting face of the wheel hub to the outside face of the stock wheel. The stock 800x14 tire had an overall height of between 27.02"-27.58" and section width of 7.65" (just over 7-5/8") - subtract the 14" rim diameter at the mounting bead and dividing by 2 leaves a tire height of 6.51"-6.79"; a 215-75R14 tire typically has an overall diameter of 26.69" (shorter than the stock 8.00x14) and section width of 8.1". I'm trying to get dimensions for wheel clearances for a chart I'm working on to put in VTCI's Thunderbird Scoop as well as answer questions like this when someone asks in the VTCI Forum, but I don't have a '58-'60 close by to measure. Can you do me a favor? Put the car on jackstands, and with the wheels off, take a plumb bob and drop it off of the face of the brake drum on both sides, and make a couple pencil marks on the floor (one on each side) to establish axle width at the mounting face for the wheel. Next, drop the bob at the wheel opening's inner lip at the axle's center line. Make another set of marks (one each side) on the floor. Measure the distance between the first and second marks to establish clearance between the brake drum face and the wheel opening lip, and write down the measurement on both sides. This will also help in establishing if the axle is centered to the car. Then, drop the bob one more time on the inside of the wheel tub on each side, just in front or to the rear of the axle tube, make another pair of marks and measure the distance from the outside wheel opening lip mark to the mark for the inside face of the wheelhouse tub. Feed me the dimensions and I can start to draw up what you should expect for clearances. One key dimension I don't know is the width of the axle across the face of the brake drums. I have the width of the axle housing at the mounting flange for the backing plate (50"), and assuming 2-1/2"-wide drums that should make the overall axle width somewhere around 55" from face of drum to face of drum.
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