Upgrading to 15" wheels/tires

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65Vart

65Vart

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I'm currently running 245/60/14s. Need to put some 15" tires under my 71 dart. Would like to leave the rear end (springs) in stock location and use 255/60/15 tires on a 7" wheel. Any pics , back space advice would be a great help, thanks.
 
If you have a BBP disk brake set-up from a 73 & > A-body, the 15x7 wheel with a 255/60-15 tire won't work. The front fender will rub on the tread of the tire. Using wheels with a 4¼" offset, IMO, the tire was too close to the springs in the back (~¼" clearance). The axle was a stock 7¼. A 235/60-15 works, but there is not a lot of clearance in the front. Sometimes the tire bottoms out in the wheel well.
 
member Cal_gecko dart with stock police wheels (15x7) and 225/60-15 tires..


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i'm going 15x7 with 4.5 bs on our dart. going to use a 225/60-15 tire...

test fit of the wheels..

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2 Darts said:
If you have a BBP disk brake set-up from a 73 & > A-body, the 15x7 wheel with a 255/60-15 tire won't work. The front fender will rub on the tread of the tire. Using wheels with a 4¼" offset, IMO, the tire was too close to the springs in the back (~¼" clearance). The axle was a stock 7¼. A 235/60-15 works, but there is not a lot of clearance in the front. Sometimes the tire bottoms out in the wheel well.
Click to expand...
question is for the rear only, rearend is 8 3/4 stock spring location, Im leaving the fronts alone for now.
 
I have 255/60/15 on my dart. I did use the offset shackel kit and it is still a tight fit on the fender side
 
15x7 with 3.75" BS. 4" BS would be perfect. I don't touch but I can only fit my forefinger between the tire and fender on the drivers side. Passenger side is great. I'm thinking about switching to Cragers over the winter so my rallies will be up for sale .
 
yea thats not a lot of backspace.. i believe the police wheels on Cal_gecko's dart i posted a pic of are 4.25 i believe.. the rims i ordered i got custom done to a 4.5 backspace.... looks like they should work ok..
 
Just as a point of reference, my '69 Dart is all stock except for the S/S springs. So it sits just a hair higher than stock. I had 235/60-15 tires on 15x7 4.25 BS Cragars and the tires would rub on the inner fenders, inboard and/or outboard, if you hit a bump and were turning at the same time. Switched to 225/60-15 tires on same wheels and the problem went away. I could never imagine running a 255 tire on my car, unless I wanted to start bending/cutting sheet metal.
 
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