My 55 Re-Do

[dcmalone]

I picked up 2 15x6 Wheel Vintiques chrome smoothies from Cokers "other" site for about 36 bucks each shipped. Apparently they were special order reverse with 3" of backspacing. I plan on running these on the front and will either special order a matching pair for the rear or go with a 15x8, 4" backspace. I was looking at wide whites and see that they say a 235/70R15 will fit on a 6" wide rim. Does anyone know if they balloon out alot on a 6". I was planning on running that size on a 8" but think it might look odd if I had a 6" in the front and 8" in the rear with the same size tire. I like the DB wide whites with the 3 - 3 1/2" whitewall. Question for the masses: Do I go wider in the back and get a 225 (or smaller) for the front or should I get a set of 6" for the rear and use the same tire all the way around. And if it's the same what size tire, 235 or 225???? Would love to hear what other are using on a 15x6 if anyone is running that. Wanting to stick with the radials as this will be a daily driver one day. Thanks.

[dcmalone]

Ordered a pair of 15x8 WV chrome smoothies for the back today. Still haven't totally decided on tires. I'm leaning towards 215/70's (15x6) on the front and 235/70's (15x8) on the back. My son wants us (me) to spring for the wide whites from DB. I'm leaning that way too. Got the go ahead from the boss to buy them. She knows that I would be content with the blackwall but really happy with the WWW's. Got to love her!!! My Dad's '53 is coming along nicely. Apparently after you retire you have more time to work on things. Will post more pics soon.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by dcmalone

.... Does anyone know if they balloon out alot on a 6". I was planning on running that size on a 8" but think it might look odd if I had a 6" in the front and 8" in the rear with the same size tire. I like the DB wide whites with the 3 - 3 1/2" whitewall. Question for the masses: Do I go wider in the back and get a 225 (or smaller) for the front or should I get a set of 6" for the rear and use the same tire all the way around. And if it's the same what size tire, 235 or 225???? Would love to hear what other are using on a 15x6 if anyone is running that. Wanting to stick with the radials as this will be a daily driver one day. Thanks.

At the risk of telling you stuff you already know, do you realize that the "225" or "235" is the width of the tread in millileters? An inch is approximately 25.2mm so divide 225 for example by 25.2 and you get 8.9 inches of tread width. On a 6" wide rim thats 2.9" divided by 2, or about 1.5 inches per side of "balloon" as you put it. To me, that's too much "pull in" of the side walls. I'd use a 7" or an 8" rim for that size tire.

[dcmalone]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

At the risk of telling you stuff you already know, do you realize that the "225" or "235" is the width of the tread in millileters? An inch is approximately 25.2mm so divide 225 for example by 25.2 and you get 8.9 inches of tread width. On a 6" wide rim thats 2.9" divided by 2, or about 1.5 inches per side of "balloon" as you put it. To me, that's too much "pull in" of the side walls. I'd use a 7" or an 8" rim for that size tire.

I'm pretty good on how the measurements convert, but I've seen pictures of trucks running 6" wide wheels and 235's. Hard to tell in the pictures just how it looks. I've decided to go with a 215 on the front (6" wide rim) and 235's on the 8" in the rear. Fronts should be about an inch less in diameter if I've done the calculations right. I really want to pull the trigger on the wide whites if I can convince myself it's worth the extra cash.

[dcmalone]

Got some more of the wiring run today. I put in a couple of relays for the headlights so I can run higher wattage lights if I want to and also mounted two fuse blocks. I'm having a little trouble finding a male 3-prong headlight socket for the connections. I may have to enginer something myself. The top left block is an always hot with the other being wired to the accessory termional on the ignition switch. I mounted them to a piece of sheet metal that I covered with rubberized gasket sheeting. Spaced about a 1/2 inch off the firewall on the driver side interior.