Hello all, If any of you are following my new build (I will update soon, I swear) you will know that I'm in the process of putting together a 53 Club Coupe. I am trying to get it roadworthy for our club's last show of the season on Oct. 17th in Coney Island. Anyway, I took the old tires off the rims because they were shot and I needed to paint the rims anyway, so now I'm planning on just sticking a set of used tires on there for the rest of the season until I can save up some money to get some wide whites. My question is what size tires can I run in the back and still get on the car. There's obviously not a lot of room in the rear quarters to put anything wide and with the whopping 101 hp that the 215 makes I don't think I'll need any big meats!. The car has 15" wheels stock, so I'm just gonna run those painted up real nice. Anyone have any suggestions on what size tire I should run? The front of the car is lowered 3"? (aerostar springs) and I plan on doing 3" blocks in the rear. I plan on getting some tires at the used tire shop this week so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Nathan
In preparation for buying tires for may '52, I've done some research and found that 205/75/15 is a good all-around size that looks good on both front and rear. This is a modern radial size (I like radials) and can be found in blackwall, narrow white wall and wide white wall styles from various manufacturers. I think they will fit the rear without difficulty...but this may depend upon the offset of your wheels. These cars are notorious for the difficulty getting the rear wheels on and off. The reason seems to be a combination of small wheel openings and wide rear axle. Larger size tires and deeper offset wheels make the situation worse. One of the guys on this social group, Geno, is working on a top-secret method of getting larger tires on and off easily...but so far he isn't talking. I think I'd mount one up on one of your wheels and try the fit before I step up for a whole set...especially if you plan on running fender skirts. Good luck!
I don't think I would even go that wide. I was thinking maybe 205/70/15, maybe even 195 just to make sure I had clearance to get the rear wheels on and off after lowering it. What do you think? Like I said before I don't think I need something wide at all.
The "70" aspect ratio you speak of is wider than the "75" aspect ratio. The "205" is one size smaller in diameter than a "215". I have seen 205/75/15 tires on many '52-'56 Fords and I think they look about right...but that's a matter of individual taste. Today's tires are so good that it's rare to have tire trouble when they are well maintained. I, personally, would use the size tire I think looks best...and carry a can or two of "fix-a-flat" to deal with punctures. Just my $.02 Eric
I always get confused w/ the aspect ratio/diameter stuff. I wouldn't mind a tire that's a little shorter just so it makes the car sit lower. If you are running the 215/75's on your car and they look good then I will take your word for it. I'm just gonna go to the used tire shop and get one tire and see how it fits. I have to paint my wheels tomorrow after work, so hopefully I'll have it back on the ground by the weekend. Thanks again.
I'm gonna use Fisk Cl***ic 205-70R-15 narrow whites mounted to stock 6" rims from a '65Ford on my '56 Fairlane. I'll use either stock poverty caps or mini-smoothies. Admittedly, they may appear a bit small but I like the way they look and with manual steering I didn't want to go too wide. There's plenty of room for biggers, and the '52-'54s probably have similar wheel well dimensions. I may put 205-70R15s on Cragar SS's later but that's just a thought for now.
Yeah....I really don't mind that narrow look to the tires. I plan on having the car so low when I'm finished with it that you won't even be able to tell how wide or tall the tires are.
You might want to make your decision on tires ASAP,since Obama put the tariff on Chinese tires it caused prices to spike and Fox Financial predicts a possible 40% increase by the end of the year.The tires I bought at Pep Boys 8 months ago are up $11 as of last week.
Ugh....that's not good news, but the fact that we always buy cheap stuff from overseas is part of the reason why the american worker is such a rare commodity these days. I really wish I could afford to always buy American.
It's always good to remember that the middle number in a tire size is the percentage of the tire that is the sidewall. In other words, if you cut a cross-section out of a 205/75/15, and laid it out flat, 75% of that cross-section would be taken up by the two sidewalls and 25% of it would be the tread. And...generally speaking, the more sidewall you have, the more cushy of a ride the tire provides. This is because the sidewall acts as a kind of spring. It's becoming very popular in the streetrod world, these days, to have what are often called, o-ring tires with huge rims on everything (I think it looks ridiculous, but that's my opinion) and these tires often have a very small number in that center tire size category (like a 30 or even a 20). And since that means that only 20% of the tire is sidewall, the sidewalls have to be very stiff and offer almost no cushioning. There's a guy down the street from me with a beautiful hotrod and he's running 20's on it. Needless to say, it rides like a tank and he has to be very very careful about how he drives it. I think it's silly....but again, that's my opinion and worth exactly what you paid for it.
So a 70 series is shorter and will allow more clearance? I wouldn't go with anything smaller than a 70 series. Will that make the tire wider?
Due to the clearance in the rear wheel wells it is really best to run a 75 series tire,original equipment was a 670X15 bias which is todays P205/75R15 the 750X15 was used on Ranch Wagon and Convertibles which is now the P215/75R15.I have seen posts on many other sites where larger than 205's they actually deflate the tire put it up in the wheel well then reinflate it,Gee wouldn't that be fun if you had a flat in a storm?? Another thing that will cause some frustration is this I bought new Gabriel shocks for my '54, my tires are 195/75/14's on a 14 X 6" US Mag and I could not get the rear tire back in ??? Well it seems that the new shocks are shorter that the old OEM shocks and would not let the axle drop down far enough,so added Mr.Gasket 2" shock extensions which did the trick.
[quote: "...Another thing that will cause some frustration is this I bought new Gabriel shocks for my '54, my tires are 195/75/14's on a 14 X 6" US Mag and I could not get the rear tire back in ??? Well it seems that the new shocks are shorter that the old OEM shocks and would not let the axle drop down far enough,so added Mr.Gasket 2" shock extensions which did the trick."] That's exactly the problem we're having with my '56. I was about ready to order another set of shocks! I bought Gabriel HiJackers for mine and sure enough, they're too short to fit even when extended completely. I was about ready to flame the ebayer I got 'em from for sending the wrong shocks. And I just ordered a set of standard Monroes, hoping they'd work but prefer the air shocks cuz I want to have a slight rake (rear rise) to the car. QUESTION - do you have the Mr Gasket Part # for those shock extensions? I'm pretty sure that would solve my problem as well.
1290 for 3", 1290A for 5". Summit Racing has 'em. You can still flame the eBay vendor, he did sell you the wrong shocks. Imagine that. An eBay vendor who sells the wrong stuff. Unbelievable...
You can still flame the eBay vendor, he did sell you the wrong shocks. Imagine that. An eBay vendor who sells the wrong stuff. Unbelievable... I hear ya....ever since I started looking on CraigsList, my eBay purchases have dramatically lessened.
Well before I flame the seller I'm wondering if it's not Gabriel that's listing 'em incorrectly? Notice Jeff's post above? Says his Gabriels were too short for his '54 too. Apparently their reference info is incorrect. I'll go with the extenders, thanks Eric for the part #s. After I asked about them I checked online and found that the local Murrays/OReilly's has 'em in stock so I'll pick them up tomorrow on the way home from work.
I have two new sets of extensions if anyone needs them,but you need to check your shocks as some are co**** thread some are fine,(I have both) $10 a pair shipping included.It's not the ebay sellers fault,it's Gabriel's, flame them!, regular and Air shocks are both too short and if you check the listing catalog they only show two part numbers with top and bottom stud mountings,the 52-56 Ford listings are also the longer of the two.If you have lowered the car 2-4 inches the travel would be OK.There are posts on other sites where guys with lowered cars have had to undo the shock mounts to change a tire.
So the Gabriel shocks will be the ones I want to use when I lower the car. I can live with having to undo the shock mounts. The cars look so good down low that it's worth the h***le!
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