Revfan

I had asked this question in another thread, but since it got buried, I'll let it stand on its own.

There are lots of threads here about tire/wheel size, and I have read a good number of them, but a question remains.

I have a '67 with un-modded body.. so no flares. I understand that the ralleys from the factory are 15x6 with a 3.6" back spacing.

Some say 15x7s won't work... others post pictures of their cars with 15x7s on em. As far as I know, they didn't make a AR S200 in 15x6 3.6BS, yet I see em on 65-67s... so I am assuming they are using 15x7s.

If you have a 65-67, and you fenders are stock, and you running 15x7s...

What back spacing will work? Any trick to getting them to fit or bolt on and drive on?

I'd love something like this...


But it only comes in a 15x7 with 4" back spacing

DucatiDon

I have 15x7 Rally Wheels on my 63. They fit fine with 3.75" BS.
However, on a 65+ the wheels are 3/4" further out and Im pretty sure they will not fit.
15x7 with 4" or 4.25" BS should be good to go for your car.

vettebuyer6369

Just for reference, when I bought my '63 it came with steel wheels and hubcaps. When we replaced the completely worn rear spring, it changed the angle of the spring and it butted up against the rear wheels. Turned out I had a generic pair of 15 X 7 GM wheels with the Corvette bolt pattern back there. They fit on the car fine with the worn spring, but had to be removed with a new spring. I replaced them at the time with another set of generic GM 15 x 6 wheels that fit fine, until I completely lost my mind and bought a set of '63 dated wheels.

bcwaller

I believe that should work. I have 16x8 wheels with 4 1/2" backspace which means zero offset. The wheels are centered. A 15x7 with 4" backspace also has a zero offset. The outside of your wheels will them be 1/2" inside where mine are, and the inside of your wheels will be 1/2" further away from the inner fender than mine.

You still can't go wild with tires, but I would think you should be OK.

LB66383

I have 16x7 AR TTIIs with 4" backspacing, stock body and no interference problems on my '66. I believe a 3.75" backspacing would cause the tires to hit the fender lip in the rear.

TCracingCA

The first thing I would recommend if you are wanting to fit tires and rims is to go on a website like Tire Rack and go to the tire spec page and get the dimensions of new tires. Then measure the existing tire and rim combo that you have. Then draw a template on a large piece of paper and put the two tire curves on top of each other and then make the real world measurements to the fender lips.

But also Disc Brake car need about a 1/2" more clearance than drum brakes. Revfan I don't remember if you are a lowering the car guy, less side wall guy? But a 7x15 rim would depend on fitting dependent on what profile you choose to run. A 45-60 would allow the car to be dropped, a 70 or higher probably better not expect to drop it. Then a 225-235 could be pushing things as far as the clearance on that amount of backspace and especially on a disk brake car! Therefore a 205-215 would be a safer range to initially check, but the spec dimensions would give you the definitive answer "real world" and not just a bunch of opinions or claims. Your body might not be centered perfectly side to side on that frame, then some cars had accident damage.

Usually every tire has a recommended rims width range. If you are a racer type, then you take the widest of the recommended tire rim width for a particular tire brand and some even try to stretch more tire on a wider rim still! If you want the best compromise between performance and wear, etc., then you put the ideal recommended rim width onto the rubber tire that calls for a rim of that recommended size. If you want a comfort ride, then go the other way, choose the lower or narrower recommended rim width on the selected tire. I hope I didn't lose anyone with this reply!!! If I did, go have a few drinks and it will clear things up!

I would bet that on the 15x7's on a disk brake car and a normal 7 in rim recommended tire, you will have clearance problems unless you try to stretch a smaller tire onto this wider rim. I see the Japanese car clowns-- I mean crowd out here in California doing a lot of that! Example stretching on a 195 onto a 7 inch rims is about the practicality limit. You probably couldn't get a 185 or lesser onto a 7 inch rims without a safety problem. A 195 will clear a whole lot better than a 225, but it will look funky! You are better with normal 70 series or series staying in the 6 inch rims sizes because of the disk brakes. I did some calculations on 60 series tires on a drum brake car for a guy with great success and we cut one coil off the front F-41 shocks, and dropped the backend with longer spring bolts and married a 7x15 AR 3-7/8 bs with 215-60-15 all around and it had a dead perfect look with no mods anywhere, to fit those! I wish I had a picture!

Some guys still live in the big/littles. Naturally the back to hook up, could use a little more rubber traditionally on a Corvette, but equal all around has it's merits. Some like the wider width on the front of a match four corner car-- and that is dictated by your driving style or planned usage.

Oh ya the Daisy's (non chrome plated ones) were actually initially designed for up to 200mph speeds, as a one piece wheel is how they came into being! Some of the chrome plated ones had less engineering done to them!

jrm5657

I have 17x7 with 4" backspace and they fit perfect. You have to be as concerned with the tire size as well, and the exact tire. Different brands will have the same size tire, but the shape of the sidewall may be different so make sure the specific tire will work.

TCracingCA

Usually will forget to provide one of the crucial pieces of info about there set ups. Like you forgot to mention your tire size??????????? Then guys mention rims all day long and forget to tell the world their back space or they confuse backspace with offset!!!!!!! Or they talk tire sizes and forget every other key item, like the rim sizes!! Or they forget to tell you they shaved the inner lip, or narrowed the sway bar, or are running not good cambers, or that they have a spacer, or they put overly stiff shocks and springs, so the car can't possibly bottom out or hit fender, etc . etc.

but this is good advice in that the spec dimensions for the differing brands of tires will have variations in width, side wall sizes etc.. and shape of the tires rounds even when comparing the same size!

PS pretty car, and I like seeing garage picture! Distributor wheel machine, I will stop by next week!And you have a heat lamp light, so we can spin the new dizzy parts up after you feed me dinner! I can do some sandblasting, so I will bring some extra parts to clean, and darn I can pull the engine while visiting! I like to see real world garages. Cool! PS it looks like you have a C1 project in the works on the shelves?

bcwaller

TCracingCA has some good points, but I think you have a lot more room than he suspects. I had 235/60-15 tires on repro knock offs, and I have 245/50-16 on there now. I think a 235/60 on a 7 inch rim will look and fit well. You may lose some turn radius as the tire may rub the frame at full lock.

I found that the local Discount (Americas) Tire that I have been using for years would let me test fit. They said as long as I didn't drive off they would mount the tires. We mounted one, used jacks to lift one side of the car and load the other, and tested front and rear placement. When it all looked good (damn close, but good), I had them swap the other 3 tires and got it all done.

And my car does have slightly stiffer suspension and relocated emergency brake cable, but nothing too wild.

jrm5657

TCRacingCA, you are welcome to come over and help get some work done any time! You have some very sharp eyes, and I have read many of your posts around old race cars etc. My next 67 coupe project will be a replica of the #9 Lemans L88 car. What do you know about that car, I am interested in what the original color combo was on the car, it has a red interior, but what color was the body? I am going to do a wrap in the red, white , and blue color combo.

TCracingCA

Your posts are always very well thought out and helpful to members.

No where above though was I saying that 235-245 couldn't be made to fit, with the right backspacing on the rims and as you have two things that help related to clearance (the relocation of the brake cable and stiffer suspension). I think you had some real nice custom rims if I remember, so your backspace being added to the post would be very helpful. Also naturally a 16 inch diameter room is going to give just more inner ID clearance also. A 17 inch even better! With 17's, less has to be done for clearance.

I above was talking dirt stock, no clearancing, and what generally would fit. A good shop would mount and remount differing sizes, if it is a good tire shop. Some still take pride in helping a customer get just the right look.

TCracingCA

Usually the smart ones get my humor--- or tolerate it!

I believe the blue is International Blue, and the Red I could take a good guess at 1967 Rally Red for the actual 1960's version, being also a life long model builder. Even the white, is more of a Grand Prix white than an Ernime White. Even the early Chaparrals had a more dirty white than the later ones. The Porsches and the Fords also. This is a 1967 car, so just picking the factory color is deceptive. I once asked in a thread about the race car colors, because no one gets McLaren Orange correct, no one gets Penske Blue correct to the Vintage 1960 cars. The modern Penske formulas are easy. Then I found out NART (Ferrari) at one of the Daytona or Sebring races went into a Walgreens or similar and picked a red rattle can right off of the shelf, that they thought was close for race accident damage repair. Color is very tricky! Luckily the real one is running around, and is accepted, but actually doesn't look accurate in color to me.

We have a few actual Dana Chevrolet Cars in my family, so I have snooped around Dana Chevrolet cars for quite some time. I can't remember all of the conversations I have had, even with GOD , but I do remember someone telling me that that racer at LeMans led to the addition of International Blue to the Chevrolet color pallet. I think the modern car has a slightly, but acceptable darker blue and the red is richer in tone than the race car from the 1960's and the white is more of a pure white white, with not really any yellow or muddy tones like with Wimbleton White or Ermine White, so the white isn't bad, but just shouldn't be gloss clear coated.





PS to cut down on costs, I would recommend painting the body the blue and then do the wrap for the white and red only! I think International Blue is a bitchin (the old surfer slang kickin in!) color and would be on a C2. Also I don't remember the original paint job having the red separating lines or on the nose! I think they did an injustice there, but I would have to pull out more vintage shots, because I am going off memory and just grabbed the first old shot that I could find to make a point about the evils sometimes done in these "so called" historic restorations!

jrm5657

Hate to hijack Revfans original post and question about wheels!! But, I am itchin to get started on this L88 replica. I was thinking of painting the car white with red guts and wrapping the blue and red. If I decided to remove the wrap, then I have a white with red car. But the international blue with red guts would be a killer combo and I am partial to blue cars. My 66 425 coupe just got a fresh Nassau blue coat today!

OldKarz

That looks bitchin'! Very ! Nice job!!

Gary's '66

[QUOTE=TCracingCA;1589267958]Usually the smart ones get my humor--- or tolerate it!



It's a bit of both.

TCracingCA

Is we can gab and go slightly off topic while awaiting the answer to important questions lingering unanswered in the thread.

Rule #458 is that side conversations can occur if we are operating outside of the time zone of the OP

Rule #398 is that with every three of my helpful posts, I get off thread time.

So I usually have to spray out a model and take it out in the sun or a part of the car and test hit a color. That international blue looks different in every picture I foun d and can range from darker bluish purple looking to more medium tones.

Back to the rims, if I ever kept a Corvette stock, my minimum tire that won't cause me to not have to get professional mental health would be about a 235, but I prefer usually at least 10 inches of rubber to not get an inferiority complex!

Ps you guys can tell that i can't spell ettiquette!

Double PS I never read entire threads, but i just noticed BC did give the backspacing and offsets on his setup! I know he has a cool car!

63Corvette

Only the 1968 Corvette used 7" wheels. When they came out, I ran them with race tires for autocross. Then, in 1969 the Corvette came with 8" wheels, so I bought them. Well (as I remember) the 6" wheels fit, the 7" wheels also fit without problem, BUT the 8" wheels will allow the tires to hit the fender unless you remove the "lip" under the fender.

V8Heart

What size of tires will fit on a 68 15X7 rally to clear a stock body 67?

TCracingCA

Lets have a new kind of Car meet and greet where all of the guys with unusual tire/rim sizes can show up along with guys with stock configured cars who want custom rims/tire combos and guys also that just want to see what someone else's rims/tires would do for the looks of their car. Entry will require a jack and jack stands, and care in properly torqueing/lug nut installation.

Sounds like a lot of fun, and I will just sit back and watch!

GUSTO14

This car has 15 X 7 Corvette rally wheels on it and they seemed to fit just fine. When we first installed them the car was on a lift with the rear wheels at full droop. As we bolted on the rear wheels, it appeared that the rear spring was contacting the rims. We lowered the car down onto the floor and as the rear control arms moved up into the wheel wells, the rims moved outboard away from the end of the spring providing the necessary clearance.



This car was a fully optioned 300hp, 327 automatic. Originally white, it came to the shop with significant birdcage rust. (The roof skin was actually lifting from the top of the windshield bow.) After about a 3 year complete restoration, including the color change, the customer decided he wanted to get his money out of it after putting less than 500 miles on it. He took it to a Barrett Jackson, Palm Beach auction and sold it.

Good luck... GUSTO