Rear 55 chevy question?

Okay........
What is the largest size tire I can fit under a 55 chevy rear without moving the springs and minitubing it (stock suspension)

 

I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but here's some 30" tall slicks on a 55.

 

here's my ol man's car. I hate the ralleys on in now. They will soon be changed. Have a set of old 8.5 chrome reverse with cheaters for it. Waitin on a narrower rearend.

 

Any old style tall n' narrow slicks would look cool on your 55. I'm only a fan of radiused wheel wells when they're done well, and look right. IMO, most 55's look great with or without a radius on the wheel wells. My 2 cents again.

 

around 69-70 the full size chevy had a 5 on 4 3/4 bolt circle 15x7 steel wheel. stock 55 wheels would be 15x51/2 or 6.

 

I dont like the radiused wheel wells personaly. Heres a cool one without them.

 

I scrapped a 76 Pontiac Ventura that had 15 x 6 rims all around. Nice skinny set of steelies for the front!

 

I had H60's on standard off set seven inch rims on my '55. That's about nine inchs of rubber without moving the springs. Those where biasply tires.

 

this is my dad's 55. it's got 29" tall 8.20-15" Radir slicks on 15x7 late model impala rims on the rear. the main reason for using those rims is because they have the lugs around the hub for the baby moons to snap over. he did have to use a 7/16" wheel spacer i believe, though. the springs are in the stock location, with a stock 57 chevy rear. the ends of the rockers needed to be notched a little bit, too. on the front, it has the stock 15x5 55 chevy rims. i don't remember the tire size of the top of my head.

 

Thanks for the ideas so far. Really appreciate the pics to. Scrp8 do you remember what year that impala was by chance? I was wondering also if a 275 60 would fit on a 15x7 for the back?

 

my dads 55 aint got radius rear arches and its got pos-a-traction rear tyres

 

...here's one of my old 55 I had back in the late 60's, had homemade reversed rims using 49-52 Chevy wheels. This was one of my all-time favorte cars; six, stick-overdrive.

 

This is what I got for the wifey!!!

 

In the early '60's in Virginia, most of the hot street machines were '55 Chevies, often cars that ran in the still largely streetable gas class at the strip. They all ran the biggest small block the owner could afford, 265 at the poverty level, 352 with full counter weights for the wealthy.
Tires for the strip were starting to get bigger, and as "the look" was racecar, everyone wanted radiused wells on their dechromed '55. Again, there were class levels; kids with no money and rudimentary skills smeared some primer above stock wells (and hood and trunk...) to suggest that cool work was underway. Those with skills went to round openings, level of skill varying greatly. A few with a bit of money and skill worked in Nomad wheel openings.

 

i believe they're mid 80's impala rims. as for your tire question, i really don't know.

 

Hoosier 31x12.50R-15LT Pro Street tires - but not stock chassis, sorry. At least you can see how the tire height looks. There are mopar police wheels, widened by our own wheelkid.

I plan on cutting out a huge panel and attaching back with dzus fasteners to remove the wheels rather than radiusing.

*note that these are lengthened wheel openings shown, not stock..i'll be pulling them in to fit the tires better.