U.S. Wheels

[JimNolan]

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

[Lgcustom]

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

[JimNolan]

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.

[Lgcustom]

Could you share with us the tire brand and size you have? I'm thinking of following your lead.

Larry

[JimNolan]

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.
   

[shopratwoody]