Hot Rods 8.20's with 10" wheels

Hello, I'm new to this Hot Rod thing, and I just bought me a 27 T sedan. I've got a bunch of stuff I'd like to do to it starting with wheels and tires. I'm about to pull the trigger on some new shoes and I'm thinkin on bias ply of course. I'd like to do some 15x10 in the rear with some 8.20's, but I'm not sure if I can squeeze 10" in in the tires. The sedan is mine and the coupe is the look I'm goin for, but I can figure if those are 8" or 10". Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

 

It's your deal but personally I don't think I'd try 8.20's on a 10" wide wheel. Even if they mounted on ok, the wheel would stick out more so than the side wall and might look too "low rider". Don't want that. The style tire on the deuce above has a fairly narrow tread width and you usually want a wheel width that matches. I'd do the 10" rim for a cheater like mine or any other 10" tread width tire.

 

I know that car! The previous owner used to bracket race it at the Texas nostalgia events. With it he won a lot of races! It disappeared for a couple years and then re-emerged on Craigslist a little while ago. Glad its got a good new home.

But nah, I've seen 8.20's stretched over 10" wheels back in the day and they look stupid! A much better look is with 6" wheels which allow the sidewalls to balloon out past the rims and then look comfortable with the fairly narrow tread width, which needs to be about the same as the rim width to look right.

 

I never get tired of seeing your cars Moriarity! 8.20's on a 6 inch rim is the best look, 7" rims could work but wouldnt look quite as good. Like somebody said above, you would need a cheater or a whole lot of tire for a 10 inch rim.

 

The original Arizona dune buggies ran that combo. GREAT sand setup ...

 

Thanks for the response guys!!!!

I love the cheaters but boy there $$$$ spendy. Cheaters will the second round of tires for her. Those wheels on the coupe must be 8" then, huh? I really like what he has goin on!!! Comin from a "lowrider" background I don't mind a little stretch... I'm thinkin a 6" for the front like this and for the rears just like the coupe.... Bad ass 40!!!
I like the deep look, but am I way off here guys???

 

I am late to this rodeo and maybe this has been addressed. never the less an 8.20 tire has an 8.20" cross section width. That is a little over 1.75" less then a 10" rim. So yes they can be mounted on the rim but they are going to be all spread out. A 7-8" rim would be ideal for the tire and a 6" rim would work just fine but I am afraid that a 10" rim will make it look like a dune buggy.

 

Ohhhh yea it went to a good home!!!! My first lil Hot Rod and I've NEVER had a ride that I've been so excited about,funest car I've ever had!! Thanks for the history lesson on my lil T...

 

I've seen the term "cross section" when researching the tires, but don't understand what it means. Could you explain please?

 

measure across the center of the tire when it has air in it. Usually on old tires the cross section width is wider then the tread.

I'll just about bet if you look on the Coker or Diamond back site they will have a diagram.

You basic rule of thumb is that you don't really want your rim width to be wider then the cross section width.

 

ASPECT RATIOS
If you find aspect ratios confusing, you’re not alone, so let’s simplify it with a diagram. Aspect ratio is nothing more than the relationship between the tire’s sidewall height and the cross section of the tire. The cross section is the width of the tire where it bulges out the most — not the tread width.

As an example, all tires with a 215 size designation have the same section width of 215 mm, or 8.5 inches — but not necessarily the same tread width, sidewall height, or load capacity. So, all 215’s are are not interchangeable. The diagram below shows how four 15-inch, 215-size tires can differ from one another, because of different aspect ratios. Notice how the height of a 215 size tire changes as we go from a 75 series to a 70 series, 65 series, and 60 series tire. Easier to understand?




I stole this from diamondback, I hope they don't mind but maybe this will help a little bit. Just think inches instead of mm and you'll get it.

 

WOW, such helpfull information!!!! Thank you very much porknbeaner!!!

 

Just pay attention to backspacing and tire width when going after the deep look. If the wheel has a small backspacing to achieve a deep dish, the tire is going to be moved outwards from the car's frame. Too much with a narrow type tire and it looks goofy IMO. I dealt with this on my '32 when I put the pie crusts on it. 10" wheel with 5" backspacing worked perfect with my axle width due to the square sidewalls of the pie crusts. Originally I had 4" bs wheels and they hung out too much and looked stupid. Tape measure your brake drum/wheel surface to your frame & body so you get the look you're after the first time.


BTW, check out Towel City for pie crust cheaters. Just over $200 a piece. FWIW.

 

Thanks again more very useful info!! I'm gonna check one those pie crust cheaters ASAP! Do you think the duece in first post have 8" then?

 

So a 10" wheel would probably ballon out much more than this, huh??? I like the way this looks!!! I just Towel City for the cheater slicks $265 not bad!!

 

7" is likely the widest rim good to use for 8.20-15s. In the sixties I used 5-1/2" rims and they looked good with that size tire. I am using 6" rims with 8.20-15 tires on my cabriolet. I would not be surprised if that is what the deuce in the top photo is running, but maybe it is a 7" rim.

 

Google 8.20-15 and Coker The Coker/Firestone tires on the Summit site are recommended to use a minimum rim width of 6" and maximum rim width of 7".

 

We all can agree that wheels and tires can make, break, or drastically change the looks of a car.

Now comes the subjective part ... Because Everyone has an opinion right? mine is that Stretched tires just don't look right and especially on a hot rod. That black coupes rear tires are really pushing it and if it were mine I'd be changing them.

31-10.50 cheater slicks fit really nice on a 8" rim and they are 10" wide.

285/75/15 silvertowns look good on a 10" rim and they are 13" wide

 

Yea, I checked that out also. So I'm figuring by the look of how much the tire is stretched maybe 8" I think the 10" is way out of the question!!! Porknbeaner explained section width with a great example. Summi Racing shows a section width of 8.35. So now if I want a 10" wheel it'll be cheaters, but boy I love that 4" www on the Firestone !! Couple more examples of what I'm shooting for...