Looking to put new rims and tires on my 55 Fairlane So far Im having a hard time with Tire Rim companies as to just how big a rim and tire I can fit on my car. Not looking for anything outrageous, just 15 inch Cragar S/S or Steel rims I don't want to cut anything up. Due to the gear ratio I would like to go as tall as possible in the back and a shorter tire in the front. Ive measured all my clearances. Coker told me it was a unique situation, its not a unique situation people have been doing it to them for 60 years. Im not looking to put those huge rims like the kids are doing. I was also wondering if I could fit the 05 & up Mustang Bullitt rims Ive seen other 55-56 Fairlanes with them on it. Worried about backspacing I put an 15 inch 8 inch wide with a 4 inch back space Cragar and had about 3/4 inch clearance on front and back of the rim but had no tire Does anybody have any numbers? What size rims & tires do you have on your Fairlanes?
right now I'm running 165 15 doesn't say width on the front and on the back Im running 215x65 -15 on the rear my clearances are as follows outter-most spot on drum to leaf spring is 6 5/16 putter-most spot on drum to outside of wheel well 5 1/4 wheel well thickness is an inch so inner clearance will be 4 1/4 leaf to wheel well is 10.75
Keep in mind that getting the tire/wheel off and on the rear is a major consideration of what size is best. Especially if your car is lowered. Sometimes just unhooking the shocks will allow the oversized wheel/tire to be changed, but it's often a matter of also dropping the entire axle down by unfastening the shackles. This topic has been discussed many times here so there's lots of info available from the members.
ive got 225/70/15 on 7 inch police steelies. on the back of my 55. i have to jack the rear end up enough to get jack stands under the frame. then let the rear end down to roll the wheels out.
As mentioned previously, changing the tire when you get a flat (getting it off/on) should be considered. Also, I ***ume you have and are keeping a stock rear. I went with a shortened rear to get some "meat" on the pavement, while retaining the rear skirts for stock appearance, and lowering the rear a bit; using 245/60/15. I could go a little wider without skirts. I went with a a little taller axle ratio to compensate for the smaller tires. If you are going with cl***ic style tires, I used Diamond Back Cl***ics (www.dbtires.com). If you want stock appearing steel rims, I used Wheelsmith (www.thewheelsmith.net), who will make whatever you want.
FordFairlane55 Those 245/60/15 sound sweet!! no cutting or anything? I like the height of the tire because the 215 I have on the back against the rear end gear ratio puts me 60-70 mph on the highway. I like to go cruising when I say Im going cruising not just over to the local McDonalds or Bobs Big Boy, although we do hit them they are just in other states. almost every night we have cars shows some take 45-50 minutes to get to. I wouldn't mind the mustang bullitt rims Ive seen them on quite few cars in magazines none close enough for me to ask if they are chopped up. Never really was a hubcap fan but I would even consider hubcapping it. If they were sweet enough 57 caddys $500 on Ebay $100-$159 for nice sets of 55-56 caps, another cap I really liked are those spider hubcaps heard (wrong) they were $150 each saw them on Ebay little over $300 each thats just wrong As mentioned previously, changing the tire when you get a flat (getting it off/on) should be considered. Also, I ***ume you have and are keeping a stock rear. I went with a shortened rear to get some "meat" on the pavement, while retaining the rear skirts for stock appearance, and lowering the rear a bit; using 245/60/15. I could go a little wider without skirts. I went with a a little taller axle ratio to compensate for the smaller tires. If you are going with cl***ic style tires, I used Diamond Back Cl***ics (www.dbtires.com). If you want stock appearing steel rims, I used Wheelsmith (www.thewheelsmith.net), who will make whatever you want.
As FordFairlane55 related earlier, swapping in a narrower rear axle is the way to deal with this issue without the need to cut sheet metal or drop the rear housing when changing a tire. Ford finally figured this out in '57 when they went to a very narrow rear axle and put more offset into the rims to compensate.
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