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Wheels Ordered - Now tires... UGH.


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I bit the bullet and ordered up a set of wheels. I went with Wheel Vintiques Rally wheels w/ shorty disc brake center caps and trim rings all around.

 

Front = 15x7 w/ 4.25 Backspace

Rear = 15x8 w/ 5" Backspace

 

The plan now is to order some BFG Radial T/As. Now, I plan on running a 245/60/15 on the front, but I'm going back and fourth on the rears. My initial plan was to run a 255/60/15 (which I may still go with) which would give me a 27" tall tire height (fronts would be 26.6"). I looked into a 275/6015 but I don't want a 28" tall tire in the rear.

 

Then I got to playing with the calculators. Apparently I can 295/50/15 is exactly the 26.6", the same as the front. However I'm not sure that even with a 15x8 wheel with 5" backspacing it will fit. The fender lips are not rolled and I'm not going to roll them.

 

So, with that being said, will a 295/50/15 fit on an 15x8 wheel without having a ridiculous looking bulge and more importantly, will it fit under the car with a 5" BS and not rub anywhere.

 

OR

 

Should I go with my original plan and put a 255/60/15 on the rear which will still give me a staggered look and be safe.

 

This car is going to be driven A LOT so I don't want to have any issues with rubbing as I may actually lower the car an 1" or 2" in the future.

 

Any guidance would be appreciated!

 

Thanks - Mike

 

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I had 255/60/15 on my 15X8 chrome rallys and I thought they were just right.  Meaty but not over the top.  - Dave

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I ran the TA radials 255/60/15 on my 72 all around but only had 7" wide wheels. In fact I think I am going to list them in the for sale section. 5 15X7 rally's with the 255/60 TA Radials.

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Wow - a 26x10 fits under there - did you roll the lips?

 

So I found a pic of a 70 Chevelle with a 295/50 on a 15x8 wheel. I'm thinking there's too much of a bulge, no? Not sure if I'm diggin' it, especially for a daily driver.

 

Looks like a 255/60 may be the way to go unless I can find a 275/55 - not sure who makes one though.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

post-4328-0-54670300-1463436324_thumb.jpg

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On a 15x8 you will have a bulge as a 8" rim is min a 15x10 is ideal with a 295/50. On my the wheel well lip was trimmed due to have long 296/50 on 15x10 wheels. The car on top in my signature has the 26x10 Mickey Thompson sportsman radials on it. The one on the bottom has a set of 33x22x15 sportsman on a 15x15 wheel.

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Same here. I have 255/60R15s all the way around on my 8" rallys. I'm looking to put my Cragar SS's on Using two of the 255/60's for the rear and I have 2 BFG's in 245/60r15s for the front.

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I had 295-50-15's on the back of my 72 a few years back and the would rub if I had people in the back with a 4.5 inch backspace and 5 might be still not far enough over for you seeing how they bulge as you can see on my 15x8's. %.25 offset would have no rubbing for sure but you will still have the Buldge..

my 2 cents worth...

Darren.

 

313.jpg

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  • 4 years later...
On 5/16/2016 at 10:12 PM, LS5 said:

I had 295-50-15's on the back of my 72 a few years back and the would rub if I had people in the back with a 4.5 inch backspace and 5 might be still not far enough over for you seeing how they bulge as you can see on my 15x8's. %.25 offset would have no rubbing for sure but you will still have the Buldge..

my 2 cents worth...

Darren.

 

http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/ae318/Darrens_LS-5/313.jpg

LS5 was the rub your tires had on the outside at the seam for the quarter panel and trim? Ive got a 70 im doing a gear change, as well as 15x8s (4.75 or 5 inch backspacing) and i cant decide on 295/60/15s or 275/60/15s. It has 255/70/15s on now and i have what seems like an inch to the quarter panel seem and 2 inches to the frame rail with 15x7s 3.75 backspacing. 

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I can't speak for the 295s but here is a pic of my 70 with 15x8, 4.5b.s. with 275/60r15's-28" and 15x6 with 215/70r15's- 26.8" hope this helps a little. 

I would also recommend a 5" b.s. especially if you go with the 295. 

IMG_20190928_174521.jpg

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I'm just throwing this out there since I had a small issue with drag radials 275 60 R15's 15X8 with 4.5 BS on my 70. Issue was making a 90 degree turn at about 30mph rear tires rubbed. No rub on a u-turn from a dead stop or a burnout though. I had to trim between  1/16 and 1/8 on the quarters to stop the rubbing. Note my Monte sits lower in the rear than both Darren and Tom's pictures. 

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Richard,

I agree with your conclusion - you will need at least a 5" backspace on your 15x8 Wheel Vintiques Rally wheels if you want to run either 275/60s or 295/50s on the rear.

I have been running that exact wheel with 275/60 Goodrich TAs for several years.  I just measured the minimum clearance between the sidewall and the unaltered wheel well lip on my '70 and it is exactly 3/4" (.75") on each side.

I am a great believer in using online tire size comparators and wheel offset calculators to compare a known setup with any other potential wheel/tire combo.  I prefer the tiresize.com site.

When I use the clearance and wheel/tire data for my 275/60s as the "original setup" and the 295/50 as the "new setup" using the same wheel (15x8 with 5" bs), it calculates the following:

The 295/50 tire will extend .4" further out (toward the wheel well lip) and .4" further in (toward the inner wheel well and frame).  That means I would only have .35" (.75" -.40") of clearance on my car if I replaced my 275/60s with 295/50s on the same 15x8 rallys with 5" backspace. (BTW 5" of backspace = +12mm of offset on any 8" wide wheel - see the back space to offset table at the bottom of the page on https://tiresize.com/wheel-offset-calculator/)

That little clearance (.35") with a 295/50 would make me nervous and push me toward a 5.25" backspace (+19mm offset) which would result in an outside clearance of .60".  However, since the 295/50 is 11.8" tread width plus a bit of sidewall bulge, you have to watch the inside clearance also. The actual opening for the rear wheel/tire on our first gen Montes is 13" between the unaltered wheel well lip and the inner fender near the frame (another member recently measured that and I confirmed it on my '70 just today}. So, the total of outside and inside clearances plus the tread width plus a bit of sidewall bulge cannot exceed 13" UNLESS you want to trim the wheel well lip. 

Theoretically, a 295/50 on a 15x8 rim with a 5.25" backspace (+19mm offset) should have .60" of clearance both outside and inside.  Since there will also be a small amount of sidewall bulge, a 295/50 is a tight fit however you do it (as others have already confirmed through their experience).  Little wonder that wheel well lips often end up getting trimmed with that setup. 

Good luck with whichever way you decide to go.

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