Hot Rods Wide wheels on a 56 Crown Vic

These wheels don't look too bad when lowered enough... Maybe there's hope haha.

17×7 & 17×8 with 245/45ZR-17

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0805sr-bud-wolfes-56-ford-fairlane-victoria/

 

I have had 7s under the back of a '55 with 8.00sx15. Seems like I eventually went to 6s with 9.00s. And both were a tight fit. I liked the 6s with the 9.00s best.

Some of the guys were running 14"chrome reverse wheels under them but they were reversed OEM wheels so not real wide.

 

Its not 48 Chev thats wrong but you.
17 inch wheels are stock mid 30:s size and not for this site.
Not even in the 40:s anyone used those wheels.
You should read the rules of this forum before you post so you understand what is all about.

 

Wow, just wow... Thanks to everyone else that gave input. Much appreciated and helped a bunch.

 

Running 235/60/15 on the back on my car...I have about a finger of space on each side....I have seen one guy fit a 245 in the back but he had money so told me he went through a bunch of different offsets on his wheels making it fit....unfortunately he couldnt remember what the final offset was...

 

Hi Everyone, got a similar case and need some guidance, I have an 1956 Ford Victoria 2dr Hardtop, I got a 9" Ford rear end and I was told to buy 17" rims which did not work sadly so I am in need for new rims, as far as I can see 15" will be ok, can you please confirm that, if that is the case what would be the correct size for these wheels for front and rear separately, and what tires would go with these rims, I would appreciate any help.

 

No one can tell what will fit your car as there's enough variation in these that any attempt at oversizes quickly runs into clearance issues in the rear. How much rubbing will you tolerate? Willing to pay for custom-offset wheels? Or modify the wheelhouse? With a 9" installed, is the axle width still the same as OEM? Centered exactly in the car?

Generally speaking, on a dead-stock car if you limit rear tire size to a 235/75-15 on a 6" wheel with 4.25" backspacing you may have light rubbing occasionally. Go lower profile 235 (70 series), more rubbing, enough you may see sidewall damage. 60 series, probably down a size or two to a 225 or 215. There won't be much width difference in these sizes, mostly diameter and IMO the larger diameter looks better. With the axle change, any difference in axle width will have to be accounted for and can change some/all of these measurements.

Any tire/wheel that fits the rear will fit the front unless you have an oddball deeper backspacing.

I will warn you about trying to totally fill the wheelwell. Not all tires in a given size are actually the same physical size, sizing with a specific brand/model of tire may cause problems at replacement time. I learned that one the hard way...

 

Thanks Steve,

The main thing is that I am not after installing the biggest wheel tire combination, the main thing for me is to find the right size rim for an 15" rim and the tire that will go with it, so for a 9" which size would be perfectly fit without causing any problems.

 

Check with 1st Grumpy

 

I had a buddy with about the same size tire on his 56 a number of years ago. It was an absolute pain in the ass to remove and replace a rear tire on that car. You had to let the air out of the tire to get it in place and air it up after you got it bolted on. Just as bad to take off when he had a flat on the road which we did one night. Even the stock wheel and tire is a bit of a challenge to install on those rigs.

You might want to read the rules for the forum too as we don't do ugly oversize wheels here. And why the hell anyone would consider screwing up a Crown Vic by tubbing it is beyond me. Best looking Post War Ford ever built and you want to screw with it?

 

Hi,
No you got me wrong, I am just trying to find the optimal 15” wheel and tire so that it does not rub ans create a problem. Main main goal always is to keep the car as original as I can only make changes with the mechanical parts of the car.

 

Don't anyone get under there cars with a strait edge and a tape measure anymore? Most of these cars have a rolled top edge of the wheel house so ride height has a lot to do with how a tire fits from one car to another. Sometimes ya just gotta do your own Math, or at least double check what one person tells ya worked on there car. It may not work on your car.

 

artooks…the 56 in the photo has American Torque Thrust D’s 15x6 with their standard 3.66” back spacing front and rear. Tires are 215-75’s in the rear and 205-75 in the front. AeroStars are in the front.

American TQ’s 7” wide have a 3.76” back space. That’s 1/10 of an inch on the back so the rest 9/10’s of an inch on the front.

The rear end is an 8.8 cut to stock width with drum brakes. There is room to remove the rear tire IF THE BODY IS JACKED UP. I carry a scissor jack for the axle and the stock bumper jack to get the body up. The problem is the widest place on the tire clearing the inner fender opening lip to the brake drum. I WILL NOT CUT the inner lip for a tire.

There are NO rear lowering blocks. If I had discs on the rear I’m sure 7” rims or wider tire could be used. It also has the exhaust thru the bumper which swing over by the tire.

When it’s on a tire or lube rack the shackles will reverse and if I’m going to where one is I bring 2 pri bars to use when the lower the car. NO ONE has any idea what to do and I need to be there to do it or show them.

I’m a rolling resistance guy . . . .skinnier is better so that why the 75’s

 

Well done jimmy six! Nice ground profile and the Tires fit just right in the wheel opening for a Car like yours. When I get my 57 H.T. done I hope it sits as nice.

 

What we're trying to tell you is on these specific cars the rear wheel wells are so narrow that non-OEM tire size selection can vary between supposedly identical cars due to production variations. Do any changes such as an axle swap that change any of these dimensions and tire size can change yet again. Add in the fact that tire construction and sizing has also changed over the years, as well as variations even in the same sizes between manufacturers, this on a car where as little as 1/4" difference can mean rubbing or not rubbing. The rear wheel wells on these were tight-fitting even when new, as things changed it got harder and harder to properly fit modern tires.

So let's talk about tire sizing. The OEM size for these was a 6.70-15, with an aspect ratio in the 85 to 90 range. This produced a tall, very skinny tire with a narrow section width. A 7.10-15 was optional. The OEM wheel size was a 15 x 5, again pretty narrow.

So let's talk first about tire size equivalency charts. There's two types out there. The first is by load-carrying capability. This one we don't like because as tires were improved, so was load carrying and this chart produces tire sizes that are visually smaller in diameter than OEM, sometimes much smaller. They rarely look right and will change effective gear ratio. But in terms of fitting, because they're smaller they'll fit with no issues.

But if you want to maintain the original visual appearance, you need a tire that's either the same or very close to the original diameter, and a harder task. You can buy a exact reproduction tire from Coker, but these will have to be ordered, won't be cheap, and you'll be limited to a bias-ply. If you need a replacement when traveling, you'll be SOL. There's guys that swear by these, and guys that swear at 'em.

Want an off-the-rack tire that looks 'right'? Then you need to look at the 'other' chart that attempts to match tire diameter. I'll be honest here, I don't particularly trust these either as these charts also produce slightly undersized (by diameter) tires. I used to own a '56 ford coupe, when I got it it had a OEM 7.10-15 spare still in the car. I physically measured it and found that a 235/75R-15 was the closest match in terms of diameter, several sizes larger that what the 'charts' said. This tire fit, but barely; it rubbed lightly on both side of the wheelwells, but not enough to cause damage, just made noise. This was a completely stock car, I used a OEM early '70s Ford 6" wheel. A 1/4" less room anywhere and I would have had a serious problem. This tire could just be removed without deflating it or other issues, but I wouldn't guarantee that on a lowered car.

With all that said, let's look at this 'diameter' chart. Again, the original size was a 6.70-15. These tires were typically in the 85 to 90 aspect ratio range, tall and skinny. This changed to a 7.75-15 in the '60s, the aspect ratio dropped a bit; the tire got wider slightly. Then they changed to letter sizes and lowered the aspect ratio again, now it's a F78-15, so the tire got a bit wider yet again. Finally they switched to the now-current metric size to a 205/75R-15, again gaining width. I'll note that none of these tires are exact matches for diameter, all are slightly smaller than the 6.70 it started with. But the last one is a fair amount wider, and width is the sticking point on these.

And you've noted an axle swap. Is it the exact same width as OEM? If wheel-mount-surface to wheel-mount-surface is between 57" and 57.5", that's probably close enough to stock width. Either side of that and/or if the WMS is not exactly centered in both wheelswells that can change clearances enough to cause problems, possibly even with a repo 6.70 tire. You can pick up some outside clearance by 'rolling' the wheel opening lip up (don't cut it) but I don't recommend it and you can't do it if running fender skirts. 'Standard' backspacing on most currently-available 15 x 6 Ford steel wheels is 4.25", as noted most alloy wheels will be different and that will affect tire clearances. Custom backspacing to center the tires in the wheelwells is available, but will be more $$. Generally speaking, you'll want a minimum of 1/4" clearance everywhere, but this may produce slight rubbing; 3/8" or more should eliminate it. You can cheat down to less than 1/4", but rubbing will very likely appear, possibly enough to mark or even damage the tire sidewall.

Bottom line, we can tell you what worked on our cars but no one will guarantee that it will fit yours because of the tight clearances involved. You really need to physically measure what you have, you can then make a decision based on your specific car. Pull the rear wheels, support the rear under the axle so the car is sitting on the suspension, and with a crayon, straight edge and tape measure, measure axle width and the relationship of the WMS to the inner and outer sides of the wheelwell on both sides to determine what you have.

 

As Steve said and why I say get out a Tape measure. Axle width is just one part. I have found as much as 1/2" width variations in wheelhouse space as well as 3/8" off set from Center of wheelhouse in these Cars. When messing with 1/4" space you must know that the tire is on center on Both sides of the car. My Virgin never been apart or bumped 59 Ford has the Body 7/16" closer to the Axle flange on the Driver side and the passenger side wheelhouse is 1/4" narrower overall than the Drive side. I don't think it's all that uncommon. That will really Screw you up if your working with a 1/4" space.

 

Hi,

Really nice car , we both have the same color which is my favorite, thanks for giving me your wheel and tire information.

 

Thanks Steve for the detailed information you have given, what I will do tomorrow is I will take measurements from the wheel well and the rear end to see which wheel and tire combination will suit this car, so I will use the given wheel and tire measurements as a reference, but certainly it will help me a lot.

 

Thank you very much, really nice looking car you got there, this is what I will do, as I can see from your information that, in these cars we are working in a very tight space to decide which wheel tire combination will fit best.

 

Remember measuring is good but doesn’t guarantee the wheel tire combination can be installed or removed in the car with the axle hanging down. That’s why I mention the distance between the brake drum and the inner fender lip which is quite wide if you check it. Fords have 11” drums and when I did my swap I made sure they were in the same place since I was already running 15x6 torque thrusts. A rear disc brake rear can take a wider rim/tire combo.
Also hanging straight down on a lift is different than a single side. Like I said my shackles will flip on their own letting a wide combo work but not on the side of the road..