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I have P215/60/R15’s (or maybe they’re 50’s, can’t remember right now) on my car on factory rally wheels. Are the factory rally wheels 15” x 7” or 15” x 8” (I have a 1972 small block)? I’m looking at some 15” x 8” cragar ss rims but I’m not sure if my tires will fit them. I think I read that even if the tires fit I will need small spacers to make them work. Thanks
Most Cragar 15" wheels require a 1/4" spacer to allow the wheel to clear the brake caliper.
As long as the wheels are 4" backspace, the width of the tires on the back are not a problem till you get up around 275s, then its hit or miss. On the front it starts around 255s, depending on the year of the car and who you talk too.
If you lay a 12" straight edge accross the flat surface of the hub and rotate the hub till it gets to the caliper, you will see the interferance and can measure what you will need for a spacer. Do the same to the inside of the wheel and you will see most of the older Cragars are flat from the hub out to the rim.
I have seen that on the newer larger, Cragars, 17s for sure, the spokes are NOT in line with the hub and will bolt onto our cars without spacers.
Most Cragar 15" wheels require a 1/4" spacer to allow the wheel to clear the brake caliper. As long as the wheels are 4" backspace, the width of the tires on the back are not a problem till you get up around 275s, then its hit or miss. On the front it starts around 255s, depending on the year of the car and who you talk too.
The 4" backspace is the key. A 1/4" spacer would not be the end of the world if you have to use one. Put the wheel (before you mount the tire) on the car and turn the wheel by hand paying carefull attention to the spoke of the wheel passing over the caliper. If the caliper hits the spoke you will need a spacer just thick enough to clear the caliper.
Just a note about word usage that an old mechanic told me years ago when I told him that I needed a tire mounted on my car:
A wheel is a tire /rim assembly.
A tire is by itself/not mounted on a rim
A rim is separate--it has no tire mounted on it.
A "loose wheel" is a tire/rim assembly that is not mounted on a vehicle....(we usually refer to it as a "spare tire" when it is actually a spare wheel.[/I]
Example: "4 Cragar wheels for sale $400". (When you arrive to buy them, they are rims only---You ask "do you have the tires also"....He replies "Yes, their an additional $400"......(Surprize~)
Last edited by doorgunner; Jan 4, 2014 at 10:54 AM.