I'm interested in putting Radir slicks under my car. The 8.20 x 15 size. I don't have radiused wheelwells and want to tuck the slicks in the stock wheel wheels. Anybody done this? If so, what size wheels are you using? Backspacing? Thanks!
My buddie put them under his 56 chevy pickup. He had to make a mini tub about 2 inches to fit them.Kept the stock rear. Nothing but problems with the tires. ( kept getting flats, Low spots, etc) Hes running a street tire now because of the problems.
I don't have the Radir slicks but i have the Firestones of the same size. This is on a '57 Chevy. I'm using '85 Impala wheels on a stock rear and spring setup. I believe the wheel size is 15x7. That was the closest offset wheel I could find for my application. I had a little tire rub on the inside of the tire and the leaf spring clamps, so I took 2 badly rusted brake drums and cut the faces out and used them for spacers. I occasionally get minor rubbing on turns, but nothing bad. I also installed longer wheel studs to compensate for the spacers but it was worth it because I love the look. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Thanks for the feedback. Squirrel, that cracked me up. The car has made it 52 years without anything other than a hole for the floor shift, so I don't really wanna be cuttin' on it. It's a nice, solid car. I really like the Radirs but haven't seen anybody put the 8.20s under a tri-five chevy with stock wheel wells. I'm open to other brands, just really liked the look of the Radirs.
I fitted them under my '57 wagon, on a set of junkyard steel wheels. It was tight, but made it. I don't know about rubbing though, because I didn't drive the car with them on (a 1.6 rocker swap toward the end of the build turned into a full cage, different engine, new transmission and Mopar 8 3/4 rear with a leaf-link suspension, springs moved inboard. Beware the weekend rocker swap!) One problem getting the slicks under the fender was that there isn't enough room between the top of the drum and the fender opening. To do it, I needed to keep the tire on the p***enger side, jack up the frame rail on the driver's side and let the driver's side spring go into full droop. By leaving the p***enger side tire on the ground, that side of the rear end/spring was in full compression, which levered the driver's side of the housing down another inch or two. You can't just lift the whole rear off the ground and let it droop--you have to lever one side down to fit the tire into the wheel well, above the brake drum. And even at that, I needed to shoe-horn the tire in...pulled the quarter out by hand a little bit, wedged it up in there, etc. And now that I think about it, the inner fender lip was rolled too. Once up in there, it seemed like it had plenty of clearance inside and outside, though I can't speak to sidewall deflection going around a corner. The inner wheel housing isn't as big an issue for clearance as the leaf springs. Moving the springs inboard will get you a bit more clearance, and you shouldn't have to mini-tub it. -Brad
Not sure what size these are, but they look right. From memory a 15 x 7 wheel with 4" backspace should get it done with room to spare.
I'm not running Radir's but I am running 15x8 under my 55 with stock wheel well openings. They have a 5" backspacing and are old StreetStar Weld wheels. I'm also running a 12 bolt which was actually a few inches wider than the stock 10 bolt. No mods in the trunk either. No problems in the 20+ yrs they've been on the car. To get them in/out, either unbolt the shocks and let the rear down or let the rear down as far as it'll go with the shocks hooked up and let the air out of the tires.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=502105&d=1222042088 these are 8.20 radir slicks (second set they keep wearin out!!) on 15x7 torque thrust 4" back space enjoy they will work fine.
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