Hi, I am struggleing with what size wheels and then tires to use on a original 67 GTX show-driver. I do have the original 500s which are 14 inch but I am thinking along the lines of a 16,17,or 18 inch by 8 inch with about a 5 inch back set. I want to stay around a 27 inch high tire. I have measured and know that the 8 inch wide with 5 inch back set will work on the back but have no idea whether or not they will work on the front.Taking into consideration the availability or lack of availability (16 inch) tires does anyone have good solid advice as to what size and combintion I should go with? The wheel I want to use is the torque thrust D with dark spokes. Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

Here is a tire size calculator. There are a few different calclulators online and I just found this one tonight. It's a little different than the one I have played with before. Good luck. Rick

http://www.rimsntires.com/specs.jsp

 

Not sure about the bigger rim sizes, but I may be able to help with the front.
On mine, I think I have a 4.25 (stock) backspace with a 15 x 7 rim and the tires are 235 70r 15. They clear fine. The only time I think they rub is if the tires are completely turned all the way and the car is at an angle. This basically never happens with me, so they have been fine.

Oh, and for the back- are you going to grind away some of the inner lip? "18 inch by 8 inch with about a 5 inch back set" sounds pretty big to put back there. Remember, just because you are able to get it in does not mean that it won't rub. You may have trouble getting the tire on and off, and it may rub the inner quarter when you hit a bad bump or when there is weight in the back of the car and you hit a regular bump. Just something to think about.

Hope this helped.

 

Just weent through this the hard way with my '66 Belvy. I had ordered 15x8 4 1/2 backspacing for the rear and 15x7 with a 4mm offset for the front. The backs were fine, but the fronts were the issue. The inner wheel well lip was about an 1/8 inch away from the front suspension when I turned the wheel sharp. This is without tires mounted. A larger dia wheel (16, 18,) would give you more, but it sounds like you are actually thinking about going with 8 wide, and that could definitely give you problems. I didn't have tires mounted so I sent the rims back but had to cough up 50 bucks for shipping. If I would have mounted tires, I would have owned those wheels.....be careful!

 

No I won't be modifing the inner lip.I did some measuring and what I came up with is if you measure from the surface where the rim seats(with a straight edge) inward there seems to be about 6-1/2 inches to the spring and about the same to the inner wheel well so with a 5 inch back set I still should have about 1-1/2 inch of clearance. This would also leave me about 1-1/2 inch between the out side of the rim and the outer quarter panel lip. If some one sees a problem with my thinking on this please say so. I don't think I want to go as large as 18 inch wheels. I think I will try to go with 17 inch. I am sure the front will need to be less than 8 inches wide. Thanks

 

"INNER WHEEL WELL LIP" was about--Do you mean the inner wheel lip or edge of the wheel? No I don't think I can go as wide as 8 inch up front unless the offset could be adjusted outward. No offense meant but I am an american so, what is 4 mm? (in english) NEED MORE HELP PLEASE!!!

 

No tires mounted so it would be the inner most edge of the wheel. As for the 4 milimeters, it is a bit over an 1/8 inch.

 

I would recommend checking your spacing on both sides for the rear. The rear end is not always exactly in the middle, so you may be ok on one side, but not on the other.

 

Agreed......mine is about 1/4 inch different between the 2 sides.

 

Same here about 1/4, tighter on drivers side

 

One thing to remember. An 8" wheel is actually wider than 8 inches.
The stated width of the wheel is measured at the inside of the flange/lip.

If the lip of the wheel is 1/4 or 1/2" thick the overall width of the wheel may be as much as 9 inches.

Offset is measured from the inside of the flanges.

Backspacing is measured to the outside of the rear flange.

(Believe me, this is what I do for a living)