Wheels/tires for my Bel Air

[hevychevy]

My 57 Bel Air is nearing completion and we are down to wheel and tire choices. I want to run the old school Torque Thrust, gray spoke type mags. The guy who owns the shop is suggesting 17"x8" with 50 series tires. I think there will be a clearance problem and do not want to deal with spacers, etc.
My choice is 15x7 with 70 or 75 series tires and I know they will clear. He has also suggested going up as far as 20 inch wheels with 30 or 40 series tires. Go ahead and throw your opinions out on this one please. Of course my choice is bolt on and go with no modifications.

[chevynut]

Why do you think there's a clearance problem? You can put just about any diameter wheel on the car with no clearance problems, if the tire OD is the same. In fact, larger wheels make it easier to take them off the car in the rear. I don't understand why you think you'd need to make modifications.

Your choice depends on whether you want an "old school" look or a more modern look. I think 17s look great and 15s look like "fat" tires but that's my personal opinion. My Nomad will probably end up with 18s all around because I think they provide a nice balance and a more modern match to the theme of my car.

[55 Rescue Dog]

One problem with 15 inch tires is there are no good ones out there anymore. You could always just step it up a little bit to like a 16 x 7 wheel, with a popular sized 215/65-16 tire, which is the stock diameter at 27 inches.

[Rick_L]

The selection of 16" tires is worse than 15" IMO.

The tire diameter, width, and wheel offset determines the clearance - along with the front suspension/brake package, and the rear axle width. You can get a tire/wheel setup anywhere from 14" to 20" that will clear, as well as some in the same diameters that won't.

I have my preferences. Why would you let your builder determine the wheels? Decide what you want, then figure out what exact tire size and wheel width/offset clears. You can get assistance with that part here and from your builder.

[chevynut]

For reference this is 17s (245/45-17 tires) on the front and 18s (295/35-18 tires) on the rear of my Nomad. The front has a 3" suspension drop and the rear about 2". I personally think that the bigger the wheel is, the lower the car should sit. A stock height car looks stupid with 20" wheels imo.

20120325_0004.JPG

[55 Rescue Dog]

The selection of 16" tires is worse than 15" IMO.

The tire diameter, width, and wheel offset determines the clearance - along with the front suspension/brake package, and the rear axle width. You can get a tire/wheel setup anywhere from 14" to 20" that will clear, as well as some in the same diameters that won't.

I have my preferences. Why would you let your builder determine the wheels? Decide what you want, then figure out what exact tire size and wheel width/offset clears. You can get assistance with that part here and from your builder.

Going off the tirerack choices for example, a 215/70-15 has 36 choices, and the 215/65-16 has 64 different tires.

[Rick_L]

What if I don't want a 215? You want selection of width vs. diameter (aspect ratio) and it's just not there for the 16" in the bigger widths.

[55 Rescue Dog]

What if I don't want a 215? You want selection of width vs. diameter (aspect ratio) and it's just not there for the 16" in the bigger widths.

Yeah I know. Try and find a 255/60-15, or 275/60-15 which used be a popular size, and now there are only like 3 choices, which are not that exciting. I would love to find some sticky performance tires in those sizes.

[55 Rescue Dog]

For reference this is 17s (245/45-17 tires) on the front and 18s (295/35-18 tires) on the rear of my Nomad. The front has a 3" suspension drop and the rear about 2". I personally think that the bigger the wheel is, the lower the car should sit. A stock height car looks stupid with 20" wheels imo.

[ATTACH]10095[/ATTACH]

No offence, but to me those tires look too short for the wheel opening size, no matter how wide they might be.

[markm]

Cooper and BFG still have all the 15 inch sizes mentioned so far, in my 15 or so cars and tucks I use them all,

[BamaNomad]

My 57 Bel Air is nearing completion and we are down to wheel and tire choices. I want to run the old school Torque Thrust, gray spoke type mags. The guy who owns the shop is suggesting 17"x8" with 50 series tires. I think there will be a clearance problem and do not want to deal with spacers, etc.
My choice is 15x7 with 70 or 75 series tires and I know they will clear. He has also suggested going up as far as 20 inch wheels with 30 or 40 series tires. Go ahead and throw your opinions out on this one please. Of course my choice is bolt on and go with no modifications.

I don't think you will have a problem wtih 17x8's if you get the offset right for your car. that's what I have on my '57 Nomad (2.45-45 series tires) and they seem to sit OK and clear both inside and out, but I haven't driven it yet, so turning is the only thing I haven't had opportunity to verify.

[chevynut]

No offence, but to me those tires look too short for the wheel opening size, no matter how wide they might be.

No offense, but I don't care what you think.

[chevynut]

Here's another Nomad with 245/45-17 in front and 275/45-17 in the rear.

IMG_0693-1_crop.jpg

[Custer55]

My 57 Bel Air is nearing completion and we are down to wheel and tire choices. I want to run the old school Torque Thrust, gray spoke type mags. The guy who owns the shop is suggesting 17"x8" with 50 series tires. I think there will be a clearance problem and do not want to deal with spacers, etc.
My choice is 15x7 with 70 or 75 series tires and I know they will clear. He has also suggested going up as far as 20 inch wheels with 30 or 40 series tires. Go ahead and throw your opinions out on this one please. Of course my choice is bolt on and go with no modifications.

Go with the style and size wheel that you like best. It's a personal decision. Getting wheels and tires to fit regardless of the size you choose is a matter of getting the backspace / offset correct to fit your car. Larger and wider wheels will not need any other modifications with the correct backspace. You can have clearance problems with a narrow wheel also if the backspace is not right. My son recently put custom wheels and tires on his 59 Mercury and they look great with no modifications to the car everything clears good and he has had no rubbing issues. We did a lot of measuring before he ordered them. In the rear the wheels are 18 x 10 with 285/40/18 tires and the front is 18 x 8 with 245/45/18 tires.
Brian

For some reason I am not able to add the photos.
I will try in another post

[Custer55]

Still not able to upload any photos. Will try again later.