I need advice on tire and wheel combos for my 58 Ford Ranchwagon. Not sure where to start and where to end! I'd love a resto-mod style w 17 or 18 inch torq thrust IIs w a low profile tire. Looking to end up w a low stance and slight rake. However I have no clue as to the required back spacing, tire size etc... I'm also hoping to find out what stock tire and wheel sizes came from factory. Any experiences, thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've reached out to a few very helpful hambers that have started me in the right direction.
Your car was equipped with 14" wheels when it left the factory and the tires were bias ply 8.00 x 14's . HRP
not a lot of room to run wide rims that big diameter wheels are - but, if you want more of that four wheel drive truck look can maybe run some big wheels/tires - the bigger rolling mass will affect brakes and steering
Thanks guys. What would you suggest? I'm hoping to get at least a 17" wheel in there with minimal modifications.
Mid-50s Fords have notoriously narrow rear wheelwells, unless you want to mini-tub it you won't get much more than a 7" wide wheel, maybe an 8" if you're willing to tolerate some rubbing at various times. On a drag car you can go larger, but they'll rub a lot on cornering. Backspacing should be about 4". I would stick with 15" wheels, absolutely no larger than 16", going bigger means lower profile tires and getting one large enough for the load yet narrow enough to fit will probably be an issue. I had one of those 'back in the day', and a set of 6" wide chrome reverse with 8:20-15 tires rubbed.... and that was with the shackles reversed. Stock height or lower they rubbed bad...
That's really good info Crazy Steve thanks! So 16x7 w a 4" backspace is the safest bet. And if I were to go 17x7 with a 4" backspace I'll compromise the tire.
Measure carefully is the best advice I can give. Too little backspace, the tire will hit the wheelweel lip, too much, they rub on the inner wheelhouse. You can fold the outer lip up for about another 1/4" clearance. Keep in mind that actual tire sizes in a given size can vary considerably by brand or even model in the same brand, so try to maintain at least 1/2" clearance everywhere (failure to follow this advice cost me a set of tailpipes once). If you're trying to get the largest possible tire under the car, determine the tire size first and then order wheels with the backspacing you need.
Thanks again. Any advice as to what and where to measure? Ideally my order of preference is wheel size (17 or 18) followed by tire size. Obviously with the least amount of modding if at all possible
Im no help but I will say it would look good with only factory style black steel wheels, some narrow white walls, shiney lug nuts and with some dual exhaust rumbling for attitude of course. Although not really traditional sizes on a car like that, the sizes you are talking about should look good if you choose a cool lookin traditional inspired wheel and not some generic lookin*****. Also Im not tryin to encourage anything about this car but I do like it ,except maybe for the shin getters but they do make it more interesting I guess..............thought you might be interested to see it anyway.
That's pretty much the stance and wheel I'm looking for! Thanks! Now to find out who owns it and what his setup is...
Pic came from this old thread, my "guess" would be that they are just basic 15x7s http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/charlotte-nc-goodguys-friday-pics.841332/#post-9316145
Go to www.57fordsforever.com for a lot of discusions on tire sizes for the 57's......58's are the same. Not to many of the guys are running 17's though. The main thing with our cars will be the tire width , particularly if yours is going to be lowered in the back. My car (avatar) has 235-70/15's on the rear and 205-70/15's on the front. I have a spring issue to resolve, so my stance is far from what I wanted. In the near future my differential will be narrowed for more tire clearance. Right now I can get the tire off and on without issue, but I have no shocks mounted so the on/off non-issue will probably change when the shocks are added to the back. The shocks keep the axel from dropping a few inches. My front tires were needed to be kept to 205 width because of a heavy duty sway bar I added, if you're running the oem sway bar, you could go to a wider front tire. So you can compare tire sizes, if you don't know what the modern tire designations mean...in the 235-70/15 for example, the 235 is the width in centimeters. divide that number by 25.4 to get the width in inches(235 = 9.25 inches). The second number is the tire height as a percentage of the width (9.25 x .7 = 6.47). 2 x 6.47 +15 = 27.95 tire dia. My front tires are .83 smaller dia than the rears. Forgot...my rear wheels are 15x7 with a 4.25 bacspace, and my fronts are 15x6 with a 3.5 backspace.
I should have emphasized...the backspace on the rear wheels should be 4 1/4 minimum for a 7" wheel. The problem with going to an 8" wide rear wheel is, at least on the wheels I was choosing from, for some odd reason the backspace on their 8" wheels was less than the 7's instead of more, which would have pushed the tire into the fender about an inch and a half!
Oh damn! Good call! I'm hopefully looking at a 17x7 w a 4" backspace torq thrust 2. I'd love to go 18 but it seems like that won't work without heavy fabrication
It's not all that hard to measure, just takes some time and you'll get dirty. First, get a wheel/tire that will fit the car. Lay it on a flat surface, inside of the wheel up. Lay a straight edge across the tire. Measure from the bottom of the straight edge to the ground, that's the overall tire width. Now mount the tire/wheel on the car, lower it to the ground. Measure the clearances between the tire and the inner/outer sheetmetal and anything else that looks like it may limit you (springs/suspension parts usually). Add the inner/outer clearances and the tire width together, deduct 1" (1/2" clearance each side) and that's the maximum tire width that will fit. Note that this is TIRE width, NOT tread width. You can cheat the clearance down less sometimes, but be aware that this may introduce rubbing. Now you need to figure wheel backspacing, and this is where you need to pay attention. This is measured from the inner tire lip (the part that the tire seals against) to the mounting face. Best way to measure this accurately is to dismount the tire, lay the straight edge across the rear of the wheel, then measure from the edge to the mounting face and the inner lip to the straight edge. Deduct the latter measurement from the former, this is the wheel backspace. I'll note here that most wheel manufacturers go to the outside of the lip for this measurement, I don't like this method as there is variation in the lip thickness on some wheels, enough the throw your backspace off by 1/4" in some cases. Here's an example. Let's say the 'measured' tire is 6" wide. You have 1" of clearance to the outside, 1.5" to the inside, for a total of 8.5". Deduct the 1" for final clearance, and you can use a 7.5" wide tire. The wheel you used for measuring has a 4" backspace. If you install the wider tire on that wheel, this will reduce clearance to 1/4" on the outside and 3/4" on the inside. To center the tire, you need a wheel with increased backspace (moving the wheel/tire inwards) by 1/4", or a 4.25" backspace. Where you really need to pay attention is rim width. Installed tire width can be affected by rim width; section width as given in the tire size is 'nominal', but can vary a bit depending on the rim width. I'd highly recommend having your tire vendor mount up the tire you want to use on the rim width you want to measure actual tire width before buying anything. And be aware that not all wheels are available in all backspaces, so this may limit your choices. You might want to look at these (http://www.etmags.com/classic_v.html ) as these are available in custom backspacing.
Wow Crazy Steve! This is GOLD!! Thanks so much for taking the time to explain everything. This helps so much.
I'd also recommend measuring both side of the vehicle, finding a 1/2" variation side-to-side isn't uncommon. Sometimes that can be corrected by adjusting stuff, sometimes not. But it would***** to have one side fit and the other side rub.
Have to disagree a little here, Steve. Backspace as given by manufacturers is from the mounting surface to the back edge of the wheel, not the inside where the tire mounts. Simple, eliminates alot of confusing math. It's the same reason not too many get into using wheel offsets instead of backspacing to get to the same answer...too many calculations unless your a suspension guru who has to know where the center of the wheel is.
Definitely not a suspension guru by any means!! Does anyone know a ranchwagon w a 17 or 18" wheel? I've seen a few pics but never a contact person to confirm.
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