Technical Should I leave It or Change It?

Yeah, but high heels are a turn on. Wearing out the middle of your tread way too early....... not so much.

 

If you want to wear high heels that's your choice.

Keep in mind there's also a safety aspect to running tires on narrower wheels than they're intended for.

The manufacturer recommended size for a BFG 275/60 is 7.5-9.5.

 

Oh, forgot to say, that is a super nice '57.

 

Correct. Running a 275 on a 7" rim with the low pressure needed to keep the tread face on the road will cause excess heat buildup in the tire. Heat is the enemy.......

 

I’ve run 275’s on 7’s many a time. I know what to expect and how to combat the issue of tread loss in the middle. Keep in mind guy’s, this car will expire the tires by expiration prior to bad tread wear or even wearing them out entirely.

 

If you go with the Cragar don’t forget these!

 

Lol, I have a set sitting in a box that I never put on the blue/white 56.

 

I thought I had my say but since Cragars and Lakewood traction bars were mentioned, here's a little story......my second car in high school was this 57 BelAir, partially financed by my mom and yard mowing money, having my face glued to hot rod magazines kept the gears turning in my head 24/7, so many mods were planned for this car but with limited funds some things had to wait, one thing for sure was Cragars were going on it one way or another.
Just so happened that a schoolmate hung around the shop of our local Funny Car hero who was sponsored by Cragar, he told me he could get four new 14x7" wheels for $75.00, luckily it was summer and yard mowing season, did not want to pass up that offer so begged my mom to front me the money, a week later they showed up and there was not a happier kid on the planet but any further mods needed some creative "non $$$" action, they are hard to see but those are homemade "Lakewood" bars, hardware store snubbers even looked right, glued on the logo from a magazine ad, nobody knew the difference.

 

I've been doing exactly this for years: Steelies and dog dish caps/Torq Thrusts or Cragars and big and littles/period-correct whitewalls and factory full wheel covers. It's like having three cars in one! Hope everything's going to be okay health-wise. Over the last 22 months I've dropped close to 40 lbs and have never felt better...

 

During high school days Rich Lanarz that we knew worked at Cragar. We’d get wheel’s cheep thru Rich via blems or seconds depending on how you looked at it. Damned it I ever could find the defect in the finish.

 

While I used to be a huge fan of cragars they been slowly losing appeal to me. But if it tingles your dangle and the fact you're even considering that option shows you really wanna do it. I say do it

 

I was actually referring to other safety considerations as well. Too wide a tire on a wheel reduces stability and can cause issues with how the tire is required to flex around the bead of the wheel and how well the bead actually seats. This can lead to premature failure.



If you think you know better, go ahead. "I've always done it that way" is a statement I hear a lot in failure analysis after failures occur.

A 275/60 looks great on an 8" wheel, and the whole package looks great under the rear of a 55-64 Chevy.

 

When I get home we’ll see how many degree’s a 1/4” per side really affects things. Not like I’m try to mount a 295 onto a 7” rim. Hmm?

 

Cragars and Tri Fives belong together !

 

Here’s a simple to scale illustration using tire diameters and tread widths on a 7” rim width.

255/60/15 -Tread width 8.2” -Diameter 27.1”
275/60/15 -Tread width 8.9” -Diameter 28.07”

As the drawing I drew up there is only 2 degrees of difference between the 235 and 275. At a 3/4” deep rim bead that’s only 1/16” of compensation required.

Now I placed a protractor on this illustration and the degree come out to 18 degrees. When I scale that out using a 3/4” deep bead there is a 5/16” of gap.

 

Johnny , have you looked at 255 70 15s ? It's been my tire of choice lately. Haven't put em on a 7" rim but it would work . A little taller slightly narrower...

 

I have them on the blue/white 56 on 7” rims. Ya, a little too tall for the 57. I’m afraid that’ll bog the car (Turbo-Glide trans) a little too much on take off for my liking.

 

ive run 275s on 7 inch wheelz on a jeep comanche 2wd dropped 2 inchez no rub they where on it 5 years no problems . but a 285/70/15 would look coo! on cragars or some 8 in steelies and leave the fronts the same as now

 

I like it AS IS.....But, if you're gonna change it, Cragars are the way to go.

 

I miss Rich. Hearing his stories from Bell Auto Parts, cruising the Clock with George Barris, working on the Baradini Roadsters, The Freight Train dragster....etc. We all had Cragars, from Rich, til he went to Centerline, haha. (FYI...it's LeNarz)

 

Hey, it’s been a lot of years ok! Second, blame how Woodlawn Elementary educated us to spell. “Sound it out”.

 

Sorry, not this one. Maybe if the Turbo-Glide goes out. It was rebuilt just before I purchased the car by an old time trans guy that worked on them back in the day. So don’t hold your breath to long.

 

In the kitchen prepping Father In-law’s coffee and cookies this funny one came to mind. His 55 Nomad (if I recall it correctly, may have been just a wagon) that the quarter panel fell off in the Clock’s parking lot after Maywood/Bell Chevrolets body shop repaired it.

 

Cragars and save the Steelies for an occasional change up. Hoping you have a good outcome on your health problems and get it behind you.

 

Great looking 57. Like the stance with the Cragars. All the best on your health issues.

 

I’m not a Cragar guy because of the chrome outers and the “ledge” safety pressed in. Unless continuous care it’s a catch all and rust starts.

 

Cragars look great!

Best of luck with your health!

 

I like the look both ways. But if it was mine, I'd get some 8" steelies for the rear with slightly bigger tires and put real 'Moon Discs' all the way around on it!

 

I ran 235/75-15s (on 15 x 7 wheels) on my '57 150. Just tall enough to fill the rear wheel wells nicely, and narrow enough to mount without any problems at all. I later replaced them with Hurst pie crust cheater slicks - and they were recapped 235/75-15 radials!