wheels and tires for 57 9 passenger wagon

[57barnwagon]

has anyone got opinions and preferrably the specs for the preferred wheels and tires to use on a 57 wagon 4 door; that will be front and rear disc; 2" drop front spindle?

[chevynut]

What are you trying to accomplish? Are you looking to put the largest tires on it that you can? Do you want all 4 wheels and tires to be the same size? I think you'll need a minimum of a 15" wheel with disc brakes.

[57barnwagon]

I want to choose some good looking wheels and to do it once without having to"reinvent the wheel". Hopefully there are some ideas as to the best looking stance and combination of diameters to achieve a great look while knowing the off set the clearance and thus the overall specs. I understand there are a lot of options. But i'm sure that some of the important specs have already been measured.

[chevynut]

What's "good looking" to me may not be "good looking" to you. Are you looking for something classic or more modern? Do you want the same size all the way around or do you want bigger tires in the rear? Do you like a fat sidewall or a better handling shorter sidewall? Are you looking for a custom wheel or something off the shelf?

For me, I prefer a larger wheel, 17" or 18". I like wider rear tires than the front, but also some meat on the front. My Nomad has 245-45-17 tires on 17x8.5 wheels in front and 295/35-18 tires in the rear on 18x10.5 wheels in the rear.

The larger wheels tend to look best with a lowered car...the larger, the lower the car needs to be imo. 20's look good on some cars as long as they're lowered significantly. They look like crap at stock height, imo. The larger the wheel, the less sidewall you get. I'd stick with tires in the 26-28" diameter range.

The widest tire you can get on the rear of a tri5 with stock wheel tubs and stock spring location is a 275. In front the widest practical tire is a 225 or maybe 235.

Wheel offset is determined by your tire and wheel choice and the modifications you've made to the car. I can help you with fitment, but not the wheel style, tire widths, or diameters. Those things are very much a personal choice. Hope that helps some.

[57barnwagon]

thanks that helps me alot.

[WagonCrazy]

On the front, I run later model stock 14 inch steel wheels because the have the backspacing for disk brakes. The wheels have added hubcap nubs welded on so i can run stock hubcaps.

The rears are stock 14 inch steel wheels with drum brakes.

I run bf goodrich wide whitewalls all around. Man those things are expensive. About $275 each.

I could go to nice billet wheels and wide tires for not much more than i have in these stockers with hubcaps/spinners.

Ive lost a hubcap before. Expensive to buy one and a spinner.

[Mike56]

I have Heidts tubular arms, wilwood disc, and dropped spindles on a 55. I wanted to run 15x8 Torque Thrust 2 wheels but the 3.75 backspace did not fit in the front tire calculator in a lowered car with standard with mounting surface width . The torque thrust D has 4.49 back spacing but the calculator shows that the max tire to fit would be 215 on 15x8 but the tire web site shows the 215 only fits a 6-7 inch rim. Looking for that 15 inched spoked look that will fit in a lowered car. Are there some combos that fit?