Guys,
I've got to tell you about this cause there's some good information you can take to the bank in this post.
I got my U.S. Wheels 8" 462 mag wheels in today and tried them out on the car. These wheels look EXACTLY like the Cragar SS wheels I have. The back is a little different but the front is the same. You'd think the same manufactor made both. The center caps are exactly the same also so I'll be able to run the Cragar center caps. Mounting holes are the same size and shape of the Cragar's but they suggest using round washers instead of the excentric washers like Cragar uses for mounting. The biggest backspace for the 15 inch 462 wheel is 4.750". During my calculations I'd figured the 4.750" offset would put me in the center of the wheel well. WRONG. The correct backspace I needed to put me in the center of my wheel well is 5.000". U.S. Wheel doesn't make this big of backspace in their 15" wheel. Neither does Cragar. So a 4.750" backspace is what I got. Now the fit.
The distance from the edge of the mounted wheel to the closest place on the fender lip is 1.125". The distance from the mounted wheel to the closest place on the spring is 1.625". The section width of the Hoosier tire I'm putting on is 9.75". That will give me .750" clearance from tire to fender lip and 1.250" clearance from tire to spring. ( I'll never forgive myself for giving a guy grief on here about wheel clearance when I didn't know what I was talking about.)
Anyway, I could have used a bigger tire if I had wanted. My wheel well ended up being 11.740" so basically if I'd used a wheel with a backspace of 5.00" I could have put a tire on there with a section width of 11.250" and still have had almost a 1/4" of space on each side of the fender well. I had no idea you could put that much tire underneath a 57 Ford. As for mounting, the 55 Ford Shocks should let me mount a 27" tire without any problems. Hope this information helps someone. Jim
How about some pics, Jim? :D
That's a good idea. The tires are shipped but they aren't here yet so I can get a picture from the back of wheel well showing the wheel in the housing. I'll do that tomorrow. Jim
Jim:
I think you'll find that the fender lip is not the tightest spot in the wheel well. The inner fender curves toward the center of the car rather quickly, and that's where a wide tire rubs first. Be sure to look at that area when you get the tires.
John
P.S. Enjoyed meeting you at Columbus.
John...I know from your background experience you've dealt with this many times and know what you are talking about, so I'll ask 'cause I'm not understanding why the backspacing on the wheel wouldn't make the difference of whether the clearance is tighter at the inner wheel well vs. fender lip?
Maybe it's not undestanding whether you meant "curves towards center of car" meaning center of car front to back, or center of car side to side. Thanks Rich
John,
I was having such a good day. Jim
Ok, I'll try this again. Here are the pictures. I'll have to split them up in different posts. These pictures are what the wheel looks like. Jim PS. The top picture is the US Wheel and the bottom is ithe Cragar. The center section of the Crager is a smiggin bigger than the US Wheel.
OK, the measurements this time. The glare won't let you see it but the spring side is 1 5/8" and the fender side is 1 1/8". I could have ordered a 5.00" backspaced wheel and had 1 3/8" space left on each side of the 8" wheel. Jim PS
John, I'd have to have a very tall tire before I got into the top of the inner fender well where it curves back into the center of the car.
Good info. Any mods to the suspension? You mentioned the '55 FORD shocks, did you mean the mounts, can you elaborate?
Thanks
Ron
Ron,
I found out by accident that if you put 1955 Ford rear shocks on a 1957 Ford that the rear axle will drop 3.5" further down to enable you to put a 27" tall tire straight onto the drum without having to worry about the tires section width having to fit between the fender and the drum. This is why we couldn't put big tires on our cars without having to loosen the shocks to get big tires on the car. The drawback to using 55 Ford shocks is that you have to jack your car up another 3.5" to get the tire off. I carry a small section of 6" X 6" wood post so my scissor jack won't have to go up too high. Look in previous threads for all the perticulars and part numbers.
This isn't a big concern if you only use your car now and then at a race track. But, if you use your car alot, especially trips, you want the security of knowing you don't have to take your car apart to change the rear tire. Jim
Rich:
I meant curved inward side to side. If you look in your trunk at the wheel wells you'll see what I meant. If you use tall tires or lower the car a lot the interference will be in the upper part of the wheel well.
John
Guys,
Regarding the '55 Ford shocks, I bought a set and installed them. They fit as advertised and the axle drops lower as noted above. BUT, CAUTION WILL ROBINSON!!! The flex hose for the brakes needs to be longer also or have an extension bracket made to drop the connection to the body hard line down lower. I had both sides jacked up and sitting on stands to work on the axle and noticed the line was tight as a rubber band!
LGCustom,
Thanks for bringing that up. I didn't notice if mine did that or not. I apparently haven't broken anything yet, brakes still work. I will look at that very carefully next time I have it in the air. Jim
A friend of mine sent this to me last week.It was taken in 1990.Couldn't help think of Jim's Fairlane.
F57ord,
There's a bigggggg diference in the two cars. It has everything to do with the numbers on the windows. Super cool car, nice paint and wheels. I bet it's a fun ride. Thanks for sharing. Jim
LGcustom,
I changed tires and rims on the back of my 57 yesterday, the 55 Ford Shocks I have allows the rear to drop another 3 1/2". The flexable line on my car going to the rear brakes would probably allow it to drop another foot before it got tight. The flexable line I have is from Dennis Carpenter to the best of my recollection. All my brake lines on that car are fastened at the original points and not altered from original. Jim
Thanks Jim. This is good info. I'm glad your brakes are not going to be a problem. As I recall, I have a Mustang hose on mine since we were in a hurry to get it together at the time. I will change mine to get more slack.
By the way, how is the tire clearance with the new wheels?
Larry Gray
Larry,
On my car I've got @ 1 3/4" clearance on the spring side and @ 3/4"-1" clearance on the fender side using a 8" wheel with 4.75" Backspacing. Now that's not counting a tire being on the wheel. The section width of a tire must be considered when buying tires to fit inside the fender well. The Hoosier tire I use has a 9 3/4" section width and I have just enough clearnce on the fender side for me not to worry about it. The reason I used a 4.75" backspace rim was because I couldn't find a 5.25" backspaced 8" rim that matched the wheels I already had on the front.
The optimum wheel for my stock fenderwell and axle housing would be an 8" wheel with 5.25" back space. That would give me 1.25" clearance on on both sides of the rim in my fender well and I could use a tire with up to 10 1/2" section width and not worry about it. Jim
PS I would suggest to everyone not to take mine or anyone's advice on wheel measurement. Jack you car up. Tape a homemade plumb bob to the inside of the fender and one hanging over the outside of the brake drum and take out your handy tape measure and SEE what kind of wheel and tire you can put on it. You can measure from the spring to the fender well and see how wide a tire you can get in the fender well. Then you can measure from the spring to the outside of the brake drum to see how much backspace you can have. Tape a couple pieces of typing paper together and draw it out full scale. Once you know where the brake drum sits in relationship to your wheel well you can see exactly what fit's YOUR car. Just remember an 8" wheel is actually 9" wide and a 10" wheel would be 11" wide. On my car a 10" wheel would allow me 1/4" on each side of the wheel for tire section width. Ain't going to happen.
Could you share with us the tire brand and size you have? I'm thinking of following your lead.
Larry
Larry,
Anyone that would follow my lead on anything automatically scares me. LOL. The tires are Hoosier Pro Street tires. Part no. 19100. They are listed as 28 X 9.5 X 15 tires. They have a Dia. of 27", a section width of 9.75", a tread width of 8" and fit a 7.5"-9" rim. Let me warn you up front they look like a tractor tire. If it didn't have the word Hoosier on it you'd swear it came off a semi. They knocked a second off my ET. They won't "hook-up" as they say like a Drag Radial Tire will. But, you can't drive a Drag Radial in the rain. They had the best review of any of the tires in that class. They claim 15,000 miles is as much as you can get out of them. I plan only to use the tire when when I go drag racing. That being said, my advice is that if you don't drive your car to the drag strip and race it, pass on these tires. It's a waste of money. They cost $215.00 a piece and you can buy 4 outstanding tires with that much money. I wouldn't do it again. If you want a wide tire I'd suggest staying under a 10" section width and 27.5" height with a 8" rim and 5.25" Backspace. That's only if you've got drum brakes with 55 Ford Shocks and a stock axle length and wheel well. Jim
PS I just got through getting 5 Wheel Vintiques Series 62 15" X 6" wheels with 3.75" backspace for my 63 Galaxie. I'm putting Firestone Indy 500 or BF Goodrich Radial T/A 215/70R15 tires and poverty caps on it and being able to use them on the 57 or the 63 for show purposes and taking trips. Pretty soon I'll be able to start my own tire store.
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