I got new 15 steel wheels. 6” wide for the front and 7” wide for the back. Front suspension is stock with 1.5 coils cut out. Back is an 8.8 ford. I bought cheap Hankook tires in case I got it wrong. I didnt know at the time Hankooks have some of the smallest treat eidths. Niether front or back look right with narrow tread for its section width. So bad choice of brand period. 205/75-15 up front which is similar to F78 or 6.70-15, listed as 27.2” diameter. I thought one size smaller would give it some rake and ensure I clear frame. Even with the springs cut they look too small in the wheel opening. And they are smaller than 27.2” listing. I chose 225/75-15 in the back which is similar to an H78 or 8.00-15, listed at about 28.5”. The diameter looks ok, but still the section to tread width looks horrible. There isnt allot of width in the rear fender wells. The conservative side of me says to go with G78 up front and H78 4” bias ply tires in the back. Or H78 all the way around. has anyone run a L78 in the back with success?
I'm just beginning to go on this journey with my '50 coupe. Got a couple wheels with rivets attaching inner to outer halves of the wheels. Until I take off a rear wheel and actually measure my "tire room" I won't know. I did have a pair of American 8.5" wide wheels on the back of my 50 chevy delivery but they caused some grief. I'm thinking a 7" rim on the Pontiac wheel centers being very careful on welding them to get the best offset and hopefully a 255/70 tire. We'll see. I think I'll stick with stock 50 Pontiac front wheels with maybe a 215/70 tire. I found Speedway sells an 8 inch hoop for $40 but I'll just bet money it'd take a lot of work to squeeze an 8 inch rum under there. In the past I've run a semi fat 16" truck radial on a skinny Pontiac 5 inch rim. Ran them on the back of my black 41 Pontiac coupe. I only ran about 22-25 lbs in them and the ride was deluxe. Not enough tire pressure to split a rim. Looked kinda "puffy" Take a look. I dunno....maybe I'll just do that again with stock 50 Pontiac wheels. Haven't got any dismounted to measure but I'll bet they're 5.5" wide. Lotsa ways to go.
Nice cars. The pic below isnt the best since its before engine install. But you can visualize the front being lower and how the tire looks small. But, on your 41 coupe it looks good. On my 50 4 door sedan a similar combo just doesnt look right. I didnt jump into the blind. I fit up an old Delta 88 6” wide wheel with a 235/75 radial on it. It fit, but I was concerned the same tire on an 8” would be cutting it way too close. So 7” it is. In the end I thought the 235 looked too much over sized. I also tried it on the front, no freaking way that would work. So I tried a 225/75, real close. I waffled between a 205 and 215. Should have gotten a 215/75 or 225/70. I would like to hear how you make out. Im going to measure off what I have to figure final size
Mine is a Canadian Pontiac so same as Chev. Rear is 56 Chev and rear tire /wheel combo is 225/70 x15 on 7” chrome reverse. Good clearance and tire fills wheelwell pretty well. I had tried 8” chrome reverse with 235/75x15 but they rubbed.
51pontiac, your car sits several inches all the way around judging by the clearance from rim to fender opening. I like it
It has 56 Chev rear with 2” blocks on rear, stock springs. Front is 195/75 x14 on 6” chrome reverse with 1 1/2 coil cut. I would not recommend the cut coils due to harsh ride. Cheers
Cant get great pics in the garage and living PA, well enough said. I think the front tires are too small. As it sits, the height from floor to front of rocker moulding is 10 inches. In the rear it is 11.5. So 1-1/2 of rake. 205/75-15 front 225/75-15 in the back. So a 215/75 or 225/75 up front will come close to leveling it out and filling the fenderwell. I dont want to go any lower up front because when the bumper on its only 9 inches to the ground.
Here is a pic with an H78 on the front which is about 1.5” diameter larger. Looks better but still too high for my liking. I already cut about a coil and a quarter, looks like it needs another coil cut.
I cut another coil 2-1/4 total. Its a small block with aluminum heads and engine set back about 4-5”. My guess is 250 lbs lighter up front plus center of gravity shifted back. Might have been too much? Still needs a bigger tire up front. Probably going to need custom springs.
Nice car! I have the same back tire. Judging your wheel to quarter, I would say yours is approx two inches lower in the back. The front looks similar
Malibu, I run Hankook 205-75 on the front and 215-75 on the rear on 6” rims for both and 1-1/2” drop in front on my 56 Ford and they are perfect. I wouldn’t mind more tread on the road but I do not want any more width thru the centers. Good luck finding the look your after..
I measured the heck out of the rearend. Rocky brought up the thought of 255/70-15, it appears they will just fit with 1/2" per side. As a plan B, the there is a removable panel on the inner fenderwell that actually sticks in almost 0.63" beyond the quarter panel lip. So, if necessary, a 1/4" or 3/8" wheel spacer could be used and the with modification to this protrusion on the inner fenderwell. I don't think I will have to do that, but if you did, you could probably get a 275/60-15 in there. Note, I saw a project on sale online and thought the rear tires looked pretty wide. I was able to zoom in on the photo and read the tire size was indeed 275/60-15, the tire is definitely closer to the wheel lip and it did not appear to have any frame modifications. So, I assume that is what he did. I got 215/75-15 for the front. I will update with issues or photos in a few days.
One thing I’ve noticed and remembered. A bumper jack is the only way I can get a rear tire out of the wheel well Without two jacks
Here are some pics of the ford 8.8 and the 255/70-15’s. I have exactly 1/2” clr to frame on both sides. I am probably going to have to massage the outer wheel house. Barely 1/4” clr there. The 8.8 from 01 v8 explorer is 59-1/2 inch face to face stock poncho was 60”, so very close. Centersection is offset right 1.5”, but who cares it doesnt affect anything. Load levelers are comint out today and std shocks going in. 1.5” lowering blocks. 9” ubolts from napa, usa made, in stock and only 10 bucks each.
8.8’s are everywhere with great ratios for OD transmissions glad yours was right. I needed 2 short sides for mine to be right and narrowing is ez.
The problem with trying to size tires for older cars is that as size designation methods changed over the years, most 'conversion' charts pay more attention to load capability rather than actual physical size. So a 'equivalent' tire can end up considerably smaller in diameter and not fill the wheel opening very well. I've ran into this multiple times, so I don't believe the charts anymore. What I will do is search out the original size diameter, then try to find a tire that matches that. Two examples.... I used to have a '56 Ford Sedan that I bought from the original owner. This car was available with two sizes; the 6.70-15 'standard' tire and a 7.10-15 as an option. Now if you used the charts, this would be supposedly the same as a 205/75R-15 for the 6.70 and a 215/75R-15 for the optional tire. Both are two sizes too small to match diameter. How did I know? Because I still had a OEM 7.10-15 spare in the car to measure. To match that, I had to go up to a 235/75R-15. I've got the same issue with my current project car, a '60 Ford convertible. Again, stock sizes were a 7.50-14 as standard with an available 8.00-14 option. In a 80 aspect ratio, this is a 195-14 or 205-14, a 75 aspect ratio bumps them up one size. The car currently has the 195s on it, it looks like they should be on a mini-truck. This tire is a full 1.5" smaller than OEM, the next size up is 1"smaller. It shows... Now if you were trying to do a restoration, you can't even buy a correctly-sized tire for these anymore unless you go to a specialty manufacturer like Coker, and you can forget radials. I'm switching to 15" wheels and with a 215/70R-15 I'm just about right. The caveat to all this is the 'old' (mostly the '50s, but you need to pay attention up to '64 when sizing changed) tires were pretty much all very tall and skinny; aspect ratios could be 85-plus so when matching diameter the 'new' tire will be considerably wider. On the '56 above, I used early-'70s Ford OEM 15x6 wheels and that 235/75 just fit... I had very light rubbing under certain conditions on both sides of the wheelhouse. But it did fill the wheel openings 'correctly'. So there may be some trade-offs involved if you have small wheel wells. I'll also note that a given size can vary by up to 1/2" +/- in both diameter and width between manufactures, so if you're cutting it close I'd highly recommend checking their website for actual sizes.
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