66 Mustang Question

[ScottMH]

I have a customer that wants to get wheels for her 66 Mustang. She says that it is all stock suspension and ride height. she wants a 15" wheel and i am compiling a selection of wheels for her to pick from. I have done some research but i want the people that know to double check me. she wants to go with the widest tire possible in the rear and a skinnier tire in the front. this is what i have narrowed it down to

Front: 15x7 wheel 4.25 backspacing and 215/65R15
Rear 15x8 wheel 4.5 backspacing and 235/60R15

there is only and inch difference between the widths on the two tires. should i go with a skinnier tire up front to give it that old school dragster look or am i asking for trouble with wet road conditions.

here is some additional info on the car
1966 Mustang Coupe 289 V8 automatic
she says it has disc brakes in the front but wasnt 100% sure.

thanks for the help!

 

[2+2GT]

Bear in mind if you have wider tires in the rear, the handling will change, it'll understeer. In the rain, it'll get really odd, the rear will hydroplane well before the front, since it's lighter in the rear it'll fishtail very readily.

That said, it'll look very nice at cruise night, check your sizes with this:

View attachment 259952

 

[ScottMH]

are these cars hard to find wheels for? the backspacing i have to use is nearly impossible to find. they eaither make the wheel with 4.25 or 4.5 i cant find any made with both...

 

[ScottMH]

ok maybe i am starting to figure this out. i would have to buy a set of wheels at 4.5" backspacing and use 1/4" spacers in the front in order to get my 4.25" backspacing correct? or am i totally off the mark here...its a shame that i can build engines, transmissions, rewire cars, rebuild and restore suspensions....but i cant fit some darn wheels haha

 

[2+2GT]

IIRC, you could order Cragar S/S with whatever backspace you want. They have a lot of OTC spacings, too. Not that I'm a big fan of th S/S, I prefer the Magnum 500.

 

[D.Hearne]

Don't worry about the 1/4" diffference in back space. That's there due to the one inch difference in wheel width. 245/60's are about the widest you'll fit in the rear. 215/60's are about the normal width for the front. I ran 235/60's on the front of my 67 on Mopar cop car wheels (15x8 with a 4" b/s). You might consider 205/70's up front also.