Painless Wheel/Tire Upgrade?

[Rocket989]

Bet it's somewhere close!! The 3/8" with 4.175 BS is likely closer to where mine would end up. I plan on leaning on it pretty hard (semi-delusional auto-x plans!) so I wanted at LEAST a half inch, better 3/4! I doubt it'll move that much but guess we'll see.

Jim - You gotta be champing at the BIT man!! Can't wait to see it in the new shoes!!

[poboyjo65]

Well....I've jumped in up to my neck. My 215/65/15 and 235/60/15 Cooper Cobras arrived today. My 15x7x3.75BS Torq Thrust IIs are supposed to be here tomorrow. I hope to get them mounted this weekend, and we'll find out if theory and reality agree. I sure hope so.
Jim

we'll be expecting pics!!

[Jims65cyclone]

Wheels arrived today, as expected. Now, if my son-in-law doesn't have to work this weekend, I'll take them over to his shop and get them mounted.
Jim

[poboyjo65]

Wheels arrived today, as expected. Now, if my son-in-law doesn't have to work this weekend, I'll take them over to his shop and get them mounted.
Jim

Take the camera too!!

[lavron]

So I was looking back over this thread and Jim you can confirm this maybe (or anyone who wants to jump in) and if I remember correctly you only had rub on your drivers front tire but none on the rear.

I am interested in the calculations for the rear anyway to maybe determine if what I am planning will work; first on yours Jim, if I figured this right - you should have a 58" wide rear plus 6.5" of wheel width to the outside (3 1/4" for each side) makes a total width of 64 1/2" plus your tire cross section guessing in ballpark of an extra 2" overall making 66 1/2"+ or -

What I am wanting to do on my rear is 16x8" wheels with 4 1/2" BS, tire would be a 235/55R16 so it would have the same tire cross section of 9.3", rear end will be 56 3/4" (56 3/4 + 7 + 2) so around 65 3/4" so it should fit? I am not worried about inside frame and wheel wells I will tweak those, only the outside.

Since your fronts were pretty close to fitting I hope mine will but I am doing a totally different front end so that is yet too see, but was looking at 15X7" with 3 3/4" BS and 195/65R15 (25x7.7") so shorter and narrower than yours but wheel specs the same.

If I am way off in my calculations let me know guys.

The only thing that really doesn't thrill me is I have only found Kuhmo tires that match in both these sizes (but they are not that expensive a bit over $300 for the set)

See Ya,
Mike

[poboyjo65]

Mine are different brand front to back. I got tired of looking both are white lettered, other people may notice it but I dont ever think about it .

When I had mine all tore apart,no rear end, no inner wheel wells ,I could stretch a tape across from lip to lip on the outer wells , not for sure I believe it was 67.25 by looking at a diagram I drew up ,but I had 67'' wrote in my notes where I was figuring my rears length.

[lavron]

both are white lettered

I was wanting white letters as well, I guess for the classic look, but the problem is the 16" tire in white letters I think, it is a small concern for me however black walls are fine.

When I had mine all tore apart,no rear end, no inner wheel wells ,I could stretch a tape across from lip to lip on the outer wells

Thanks for that measure that certainly makes it easier having everything out of the way, there is a lot of guessing on my part right now and learning what everyone else has done, I guess eventually we need to compile a sticky on tire and wheel fitment and get them all in one place, the issue of course is the variables we all eventually have in 50+ year old cars, but getting a close baseline of stock cars we can figure in the rest.

I for one have a non-stock rear from a Maverick that is 56.5" and will be switching to the 8.8 Narrowed Explorer at 56 3/4" so it always leaves me with a couple of more inches to calculate in, looking at what others are doing helps me visualize my project.

See Ya,
Mike

[Rocket989]

Without trimming or rolling the lip, with an 8-inch rim and 235 tire, I'd want 4.75 to 5-inches of BS (especially if you're not concerned as much about the inner side!!).

[lavron]

Without trimming or rolling the lip

I will most likely trim the outer lip and move the rear back about an inch.

See Ya,
Mike

[lavron]

So I think I mis-calculated a little after looking at the wheel specs, the 8x16 wheels have zero offset and 4.5" BS, which means there is 4.5" in the front as well (if I am figuring right ) which really I don't care about but the tire cross section is 9.3" adding that one tire full width (which gives me both outside measures) equals a total width of approx. 66.05", if John's measure of 67 or 67.25 I fit with about a 1/2" of clearance and then if I trim the lip back a little if needed I could gain, what, another 1/4 to 1/2" on each side?

Finding wheels with more backspace and cheap has been a bit of a challenge, I could go 7" wheel but would like the additional dish the 8" wheel would give me. Not sure how much cross section difference it makes between the two wheel width differences, I will check on the Tacoma site Jim linked earlier and see what it shows.

Maybe I should move these over too my build thread?

See Ya,
Mike

[poboyjo65]

Anything you might want to find later you should put in your build thread. sometimes I cant even remember titles to threads after a year or so but if it is in the build thread you can always find it. My flanges ,,wheel well lips were nearly an inch wide,at least 3/4''

one trick I used was a drywall square with a framing square together to measure from lip to lip & inner w well to inner w well . both squares had 2'' wide on the big side, just held them together & sometimes clamped them together.

[Jims65cyclone]

I am interested in the calculations for the rear anyway to maybe determine if what I am planning will work; first on yours Jim, if I figured this right - you should have a 58" wide rear plus 6.5" of wheel width to the outside (3 1/4" for each side) makes a total width of 64 1/2" plus your tire cross section guessing in ballpark of an extra 2" overall making 66 1/2"+ or -

You're pretty close, actually right on if you take into account a couple of subtle details you probably weren't aware of. My actual outside sidewall to outside sidewall width is now 67-1/2" vs. your estimate of 66-1/2". The additional 1" comes from the following:
1) The "measuring rim" size for a 225/65/15 tire is 6.5" wide. My rims are 7". For each additional 0.5" of rim width, the tire cross section increases by 0.2". So, that adds almost 1/4" to my width.
2) My wheels have a -6 mm offset, which shifts the center line of the rim approximately 1/4" further outboard than if the offset were 0 mm. That adds another 1/2". So, the rim width and the offset together add about 3/4" more to my total width.
If you take into account the above adjustments and back your way into the calculated width of my rear axle, you come up with 58.3", so, short of pulling the wheels and measuring, I'd say you're right about me having a 58" axle.

I used info from the links below together with field measurements when I was figuring out if my desired wheel/tire combination would fit, and it turned out VERY close to what I had predicted. The scrubbing issue I had on the leading edge of the driver's side front fender was the result of suspension/alignment issues that I temporarily corrected with spring spacers, and will permanently correct when I rebuild the front end.

http://www.tyresizecalculator.com/tyre- ... calculator

https://www.rsracing.com/TechWheel.aspx#fitting

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... p?techid=7

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?ti ... -215-65r15

Hope this helps.
Jim

[lavron]

Thanks for that confirmation and correction Jim, it so much feels like a mystery at times

See Ya,
Mike

[Jims65cyclone]

This thread's been dormant for a while, but I wanted to add an update concerning my tire/wheel selection journey. I briefly mentioned in this and some other threads that all went well with my tire/wheel choice EXCEPT that I was experiencing some tire scrubbing issues on the front tires when making sharp turns, especially if there was a gutter dip in the road like at an intersection. The tires would scrape the front fender wheel lip forward of the wheel. The addition of some spring spacers helped the situation some, but it would still occasionally occur. This year, at PF, a gentleman from Alabama stopped by for a little while on Saturday in his 65 Cyclone. First thing I noticed was that he had the same wheels and tire size combinations I have on my Comet. I asked if he had problems with his front tires scraping the wheel lips on turns. He said "not anymore". I told him I was having problems and asked him what he did to solve it. He said his son was a paint and body guy, and he had loosened the mounting screws that attach to the lower front corner of the fenders and spread them outward slightly, then tightened them back up. Duh! Could it be that simple?? I was on the verge of buying two new 205/60/15's to replace my 215/65/15's. When I got home, I loosened the three bolts on each side that connect the lower part of the fender to the frame and bumper and, using a bar clamp set up to spread instead of clamp, I put it between the bottom edge of the fender and the frame. It didn't take much pressure to move the bottom of the fender about 3/8" outward before tightening the bolts back up. Took it for a test spin and BINGO!, no fender scrub! I've driven it a good bit since then, taking turns a little faster than normal trying to make it scrub, and it hasn't. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this problem, but this 20 minute no-cost fix cured mine. That's the kind of stuff you can pick up for free at the PF gatherings! (A little sales pitch for PF, there. )

Jim

[lavron]

Hey gents,

Tax season has paid off and I got the go-ahead from the wife to use some of our refund to go towards a new set of wheels/tires for my Caliente.

Tire/Wheel sizing is not my specialty, so I am a little intimidated at the prospect of figuring it all out.

I am looking to get a set of Cragar SS wheels paired with Radial T/As.

While on ePay, I stumbled across this set:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331635938999?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Basically 15x6" in the front and 15x7" in the back with matching tires. Price seems a little high compared to other avenues like Summit/Jegs, but they do mount and balance the wheels.

My question is:

Would this MOST LIKELY be a painless swap? Mainly, I want to avoid any form of hillbilly 2x4 mods to my wheel wells. I imagine the speedo gear might need to be changed, but I need to do that anyway. Hell, new wheels might even bring it back within range.

Can anyone chime in on how these would fit in a caliente with no wheel well mods? Car currently has stock 14" rims and Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires (not sure on size)

I had my wheels in a Summit cart for a year before I bought them they kept lowering the price until I order them I guess really the TT 2 wheel were the only ones I could find that matched the15” and 16” in the width and offsets I wanted.Every diamension is an 1”smaller on the fronts than the backs OCD Showing again just wish someone would make 16” white letter tires, I guess 16” is too modern of size, tire places need get on the stick, but for my driver maybe all season tires are the best choice jut not very classic lookingstill looks ok and just enough rear tire Width Obie an aggressive look and the triangulated 4 link appears o keep the rear dead centered so no rubbing issues like leaves alone might allow triangulated stuff is pretty cool to `me and looks like it works so well especially with the air ride jut uses a lot of real estate that exhaust system might use I f the car was not so low I could have run lake pipes on the carat least one operational and a dummy pipe on the drivers side.. Most likely they will stay as is dumping in front of the rear axle, because they are done and I have other things to occupy my time and money on
Like the luxury A/C