Tire and Rim Dilemma

If the 255s only rub when going around corners then I'd try "rolling" the lip on the rear fenders. If you're not familiar with the term, You take something round like a pipe, dowell, baseball bat, etc. & wedge it between the tire & inner fender lip & roll it along the inside of the lip. It bends the lip up & gives more clearance.

I think you might be able to run the 7" rims on the front if the tire size is right. On my '64 I used a 14" wheel with similar backspacing (it was the Rocket brand version of the SS) but the wheel hit the outer edge of the control arm, so I had to use spacers. Either 5/16" or 7/16", It was a long time ago. Either way, I'm older & wiser & would stay away from the spacers. The 15" wheels should clear the control arms with no problems. Your biggest problem should be figuring out what tire size to use. I ran an E70 14 & had a little contact with the front lower edge of the fender on the left front only when making a sharp right turn uphill into a driveway. Later I switched to an E60 14 & never had a problem again. These were 14" tires but as long as the width & outside diameter of the tire were similar it doesn't matter what the rim size is. Since you shouldn't need the spacers, your tires should clear the outer edges of the fenders better than mine did. I can't really tell you how these tire sizes relate to the P metric tire sizing used these days. This was all on my '64 Cuda, but I'd think yours should be similar. It all comes down to careful measuring, trial & error, & STUFFING THE BIGGEST DAMN TIRE you can get away with into the fenderwells, but you probably already knew that. :blob:


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