Me thinks these tires won't work!

So I decided to get some newish (used) tires for my Starliner as the ones that are on there are old, cracked, and have slow leaks. I cannot say when the last time they were off the car (perhaps 5-10 years). I got the car jacked up on stands and got all the lugs off but.....The rear tires would not come out of the wheel wells! I ended up taking most of the air out and with a lot of hemming and hawing I got them to drop out. Seems as if the tire side walls were getting jammed between the inner wells and the cover of the read drum. The "new" tires are getting put on now and I told the guy the issue so hopefully he can put on some smaller tires but in the mean time anyone know if this is "normal"? Was I doing it wrong? The rear tires were 195 75 R14s. The fronts were 205 75 R14 and the wells are larger so it was no issue getting them off. I posted a photo of the rear.

 

If the rear has been lowered then that is the issue. Looks like its been dropped a couple inches.

 

Jack up the car by the frame not the axle.

The rear axle will drop when jacked up like this.HRP

 

~~~~smacks self in forehead~~~

 

Yeah, this is the way it used to always be done. The car came with a bumper jack and if used, the axle dropped down. I don't think anyone would use a bumper jack anymore, I wouldn't .

 

hahaha,that´s funny, been there, done that!
Mostly works by lifting the car on the frame. On my 56 Chevy I have to unbolt the airbags and shocks to get the rearend low enough to remove the tires. I never had a flat in 12 years since I drive that car but I surely hope it won´t happen on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

 

you can also loosen one end of the shocks to get the axle a little lower.

 

Pretend it never happened and we won't tell anyone. You can get aluminum racing jacks cheap and put one in the trunk. Shit you could put 30 of them in the trunk of a Starliner. We're all human and have had those days. Heck, this morning the door handle fell off, the stove knob came off... I'm afraid to go to the bathroom.

 

You real issue is the negative offset of the wheels you are running, this has always been an issue with 50's & early 60's Fords.You could run a much larger tire with a positive offset wheel as an example a buddy has these in the rear of his '54 Ford which has very shallow wheel wells: http://www.newtakeoff.com/mustanggt...llip23555zr1798wpzeronerocharcoalbullitt.aspx

 

More pics of one of my favorite cars.. 60/61 Starliners are very cool

 

Thanks, those look great (probably in the ball park of the style I will eventually go with). I want to go a bit bigger (16s in the front, 17 in the back?) and know that will probably turn into a headache later but for now with the newer tires I don't worry about a tire exploding in the night.