65 tire / wheel help

Hi everyone.

New to this site.

Have a question on tire fitment.

Seen the dodgestang, Halibrand and VMF charts, as well as the info on running 275/40/17's. Still can't find what I am looking for.

Currently I am running 16X8 Vintage Wheel Works V45's with 4.5"bs all around.
225/50/16's up front and 235/55/16's rear.

I originally had 225/50/16's on the rear and found them to be too short.

Thinking of stepping up to 17's or staggered 17's and 18's. Likely Torq Thrust II's (I know everyone has 'em) 7" fronts with 4" or 4.25" bs and 8" rears with 4.75" bs.

Pretty firm on running a 205/50/17 up front. Have a negative wedge kit and 620lb coils + hooker super comps. Don't want to go with a lower profile than my current setup. Bad roads around here.

Want the widest and tallest tires I can fit on the rear without looking goofy. Seems the safe bet is a 245/45/17. I see lots of guys are running 255/40/17's. Think they will be short like the 225/50/16's I originally had.

For that reason I would love to run a 255/45/17. They would be the exact same height as what is currently on the car, just wider, hoping the backspacing can solve that.

So............................ Is anyone running a 255/45/17 on a 65/66?

As for the staggered 17's &18's, it seems like tire selection is very limited when going that route. Have only seen the quicksilver stang and boyds fastback running staggered setups. Both are running taller rears than what I currently have.

Anyone else have pics of 65/66's with staggered setups?


Here are pics of my car in its current state.

Sorry guys.

I plan on keeping the tires and wheels that are currently on the car. I may want to go back to the "period" look in the future. Even though there 16's they still have the 60's look.

I finished building my car around '99. Had those wheels since the mid nineties. When I bought them the 16's were considered large for a 65.

If I were building my car today there are allot of things I would do differently.

Only things I have changed from the time I first built the car is changed the rear tires, painted the wheel centers and added a spoilered decklid.



Figured I would do a few changes to the car to freshen it up a bit.

Looks like no one is running a 255/45/17.

If doing 17's and 18's it looks like the only combo that will look right with a stock wheel opening is a 215/45/17 front and 245/40/18 rear. They would have the exact same size sidewall. Any other combo you end up with less sidewall in the rear than the front even though the total height is taller.


My tire guy owes me a favor. Talked to him today, said he would get in some, 255/45's and 265/40/17's for me to mock up. Probably go with a 215/45/17 front if the 265's work out.

If all else fails I'll stick with the old standby 245/45/17 rears.

I massaged the inner wheelhouses a bit, replaced the outer wheel houses and rear quarters when I built the car. Trimmed a fair amount off the quarter flange but didn't roll the rears. Car has a Currie 9" w/ explorer brakes so it measures like a stock setup. Guess I'll just have to see what happens.


Question for all the guys running 17 x 7 front wheels.

You guys using 4" bs or 4.25" bs ?

What wheels are you running?


I will most likely be changing to the ever so popular TT II's. 17x7 w/ 4" bs is a stock size, 4.25' bs would be special order. Trying to suck my front tires a little further in than they currently are. Kinda tired of the 8" wheels all around. Want to get back a little more to the big and little HotRod look.


Have considered the Coys C5 but they only offer 4.5" max bs in a 17-18 x8 rear.


Anybody running Coys C5's?

Well I got everything sorted out.

Before:


After: Center caps not installed yet.


Random pics
View attachment 411025

Well......................... I borrowed a 17 X 8 w 4.75" bs to check wheel clearance.

Rear was no problem.

Front was pretty tight at the upper control arm due to the negative wedge spacer.

After mock up I decided a 205/50/17 was a little narrow for a 17" wheel and a 215/45 was a little too short on the front for my taste. Ended up going with a 225/45/17 up front. Since I went with a wider tire than I orginally planned I decided use a 17 X 8 w/4.75" bs up front. Wheels looked like the would work during mockup, however after everything was mounted up I had to trim the upper control arms to give the wheel weights (mounted on the inside lip) some clearance.

On the rear I tried
255/40/17 seemed to fit (same height as the fronts tires, I didn't like 'em)
265/40/17 seemed to fit (liked the width, evidently its an oddball tire size as I could only find a few brands that offered them, ended up not liking the tire brands / style available in that size,)
245/50/17 seemed to fit but measured a hair taller than the 235/55/16's I had. Made me a little nervous and gave almost too much of a raked appearance in relation to the fronts.

Ended up using the tried and true 245/45/17 for the rear because they seemed like the best compromise. No scrubbing to worry about, a height I could live with. Not quite wide enough but Oh well......................... I figured it makes sense to cruise them for awhile and see how they work out. If all goes well I may swap up to a 265/40/17 in the future.

Didn't bother trying a 275/40/17. Seemed like almost too much tire for an 8" wheel to me.


Ordered a set a trans-am racing billet COBRA center caps to finish off the wheels.

Decided that the 17 front, 18 rear setup was just too limited as far as tire sizing options go to get the stance correct and front/rear sidewall heights to look right on a fairly stock suspended non tubbed car.

Would like to caution people with negative wedge kits on the front on running a 17 x 8 w/4.75" (wheel weights mounted to inside lip). Ended up trimming a pretty fair amount off the upper control arms to get clearance throughout the entire range of suspension and steering travel. Essentially the entire flange on the ball joint end of the upper arm had to come off.

I've put about 60 miles on the new setup so far and all seems well.

I'm with dodgestang. The 235 will work better with 4.5"bs.

With the 16's I got a 245/50/16 to fit. I ended up going with 235/55/16 to get the extra height. The 235/55/16's I had actually look wider to me than the 245/45/17's I just installed. More sidewall bulge.

When I replaced my outer wheelhouses and quarters I gave myself a little more room than the stock setup so a 245 worked for me.

The 4.5" backspacing is what killed the Coys for me. Seems to me the coys look better in the larger rim sizes than 17's. Something about the spoke design looks funny to me. Kinda fat at the tips compared to the ttII's. Only Coys offered in 4.75" bs are the eleanor knockoffs. Think the coys are decent for the money spent.

Allot of wheel/tire stuff is just a matter of personal taste. Go with what you like.

The results of the fitment trial on my car probably aren't representative of what fits every 65/66 mustang out there due to a lot of panel replacement and non stock parts. I suspect thats why so few people replied to my original post, too specific of a question being asked, maybe? Could also be I just come off as a Prick.

Yep. I prefer a taller rear tire.

I like something that doesn't have allot of gap between the fender and tire.

Everytime I have lowered the car any from its current ride height my long tube super comps take a beating on country roads. Makes me not like driving the car.

A taller tire lets me use a 2" lowering block in the rear, this fills the wheel well and still keeps the "hot rod" rake I like. A shorter tire seems to throw everything out of wack for my taste.

Opinion plays a big role in all of that kind of stuff.

If I ever build another mustang I will definetly mini tub it and tuck the rear tires.

eleanor_350 said:

Based on your's and Dodgestang's comments, I might be safest to go with the 17x7 with 4.25 backspace at all four corners with a 215 front tire and 235 rear. It kind of my makes me nervous to think that the 17x8 with 4.5 backspace is so close that difference between the 235 and 245 tire would make or break the fitment. My car still has the original wheel houses and quarter panels so there's definitely not any extra room under there. Sorry Bloverby for hijacking the thread with my problems. Just tell me to start my own next time. Thanks guys for the input.

Click to expand...

Without a doubt that is a safer route. My clearance issues on the front had little to do with tire width. It was all a rim backspacing issue. With my negative wedge spacer on the upper control arm I am extremely tight. Had to grind a signigicant amount of material off to gain clearance.

A 17 x7 w/4.25" bs. would've bolted right up with no mods. As would a 17x7 w/4" bs.

The 7" wheel w/4" backspacing and the 225 tire would have placed the tire tread in the exact same spot as my old 8" wheels w/4.5" bs.

The new 8" w/4.75" bs that I used moved the center point of the tire itself in 1/4" from where it used to be.

A 7" wheel w/4.25" bs will put the tire in the same spot as an 8" w/4.75" bs but give you more 'rim' (not tire) clearance to the upper control arm.

Look at the graph dodgestang posted. Thats what I am describing.