Do I have enough clearance for tires?

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scott2683

scott2683

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I'm planning on taking my slots off and putting on a set of steelies with poverty caps. The wheels are from a fury that I sold a while back. They are 15x8 with 4.25" backspacing. It looks like it's going to be a tight fit but I wondered if anyone else has made it work, and if so what tire size are you running. It looks like the fenders have already been cut, they come just to the outside of the chrome trim. Maybe 1 1/2" of clearance.

The car is a 74 scamp with an 8 3/4 rear end.

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Oof! That's tight but I think you can work with it. You need a 1/2" to the quarter, minimum. And I don't think you have 1.5" right now. The quarters are definitely trimmed back too, you can see the wheel tub above the lip and you'll have to clear that too.

What size tires did you want to run?
 
Thanks for the insight, you're probably right, it may be less that 1.5". I was hoping to run a 235/60. Ideally I would like the tire to be around 9-9.5" wide and 26.5-27" tall.
 
Kinda the same car, the previous owner of mine put a extra leaf in the back and I put on some 255/60-15'S on 7"wide, 4 1/4" backspace wheels. No rub and no trimming but tight. As 72blu mentioned, you will have to trim the fender lip.
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That's a nice looking car! Definitely the stance I'm looking for. The fender lips have been trimmed up, I hope it's enough. I was going to take these wheels to be powder coated tomorrow. I just don't want to waste my money if they won't fit. Thanks for the advice!
 
A 235 should work. The 15x8 is 9" wide outside to outside, so, a 9.5" section width would be fine. I mean, by the math a 245/60/15 has a section of 10", so it should only hang over a half inch from what you've got there. So by the math that should work. But the amount of clearance in that picture makes me a little apprehensive about a 245. You'd be way better off with a 15x8 and 4.5" of backspace.

Is the other side the same? Or worse? They aren't always the same side to side. Heck they probably aren't even usually the same.
 
72bluNblu said:
A 235 would should work. The 15x8 is 9" wide outside to outside, so, a 9.5" section width would be fine. I mean, by the math a 245/60/15 has a section of 10", so it should only hang over half inch from what you've got there. So by the math that would work. But the amount of clearance in that picture makes me a little apprehensive about a 245. You'd be way better off with a 15x8 and 4.5" of backspace.

Is the other side the same? Or worse? They aren't always the same side to side. Heck they probably aren't even usually the same.
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Good point. I have one side tighter than the other. (Like usual)
 
That's a good idea! I will check the other side tomorrow. You're absolutely right though, I've never owned an old car that has been the same on both sides.

I agree a 4.5" backspacing would be better, but I already had these wheels and I'd like to save a little money if I could and not buy new wheels. If I ended up getting new wheels, I would probably just run a 15x7 on all 4 corners, and just put a little wider tire in the back. New wheels are about $110 a piece.
 
Good thinking. Check the other side for clearance!
 
It looks like you may have a B body axle under your car by how much extra back spacing you have left. I have 15x7's under my Valiant with 255/60/15's with a 4" back space and don't have nearly that much room on the back of my wheel.

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scott2683 said:
I was wondering that myself. I bet it is a B body rear end
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It's worth measuring for sure. I don't know about a 68-70 B rear, but it might be a 65-67. Hard to tell just from the pictures, BBP A is wider anyway.
 
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Thanks for all of the help guys, I got the wheels back from powder coating, ending up going with 235/60's on the rear, they fit perfect, I probably could have squeezed a 245/60 back there, but it would have been tight.
 
I got 245x15s on my 72 with a 4 1/2 backspace wheel (15x8). I had to take the channel locks to the fenderwell for peace of mind. An easy inch to the springs, 1/2-3/4 to the fenderwell. It didn't have enough rake to it, so I cheated and added Hi-Jackers with about 40 lbs. That really opened things up.
 
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