need help with wheels/tires - been searchin, still confused....

boingo

New Member
Jan 9, 2004
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Hey all,

I've been trying to figure out, the correct wheel specs and tire sizes my dad would need to get for his 68 mustang fastback....trying to understand offset, and backspacing, but still a bit confused....any help is determining what we should get is appreciated. I know it's a lot of questions, but I feel a lot better asking the people who know and have the experience...

Our 68 fastback is all stock in the rearend, and the only thing NOT stock in the front is the granada disc brake setup.

My dad wants to go with 15x7 wheels all around, and the AR Torq Thrust II. I've been reading about how people have to "roll' the front fender to make things fit...what exactly does this mean? Would a different wheel size be better, and not require us to roll the fender?

I see that standard backspacing on the TTIIs, is 3.75 inches....is that sufficient for our application? should we do something custom?

what exactly is the stock bolt pattern used on these cars?

We plan on putting the BFG Radial T/As on whatever wheel we get, what is the recommended size for a 15x7 rim, on a manual steer car?


*How much do you recommend the 'shelby drop' in order to help us with our new wheels/tires?


Thanks in advance.
 
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your bolt pattern is 5 on 4 1/2, any wheel place knows what this means.

You're not forced to stay with 15" wheels, there are some aftermarket wheels that keep the vintage styling, but in modern diameters , 16" and 17".

Backspace:
Backspace is how much of the wheel goes behind the mounting surface .
If you had a wheel off the car and with no tire on it, place it face down , so you're looking at the back side. Place a straight edge ( yardstick, level, piece of 2x4 wood , whatever) accross the entire diamenter of the wheel. With a tape measure or ruler, measure from the backside of the wheel up to the edge of your straight edge. This is your backspace measurement.

The rear is not a big deal, but the front may have claearence issues, because the fronts are turning and you dont want contact with upper arms and related parts. The bigger you go on diameter the more you can go on backspace.
For instance Im running :
17"x8" with 4.5" backspacing front
17"x9" with 4.75" backspacing rear

but I think you'd have clearence problems if you went with 15"x8" with 4.5" backspace. With 15" you may be limited to 3.75" backspace.

Contact Vintage wheel works, they make a 16" torque thrust wheel. They'll tell you exactally what you can and can not fit. , or visit your local tire/wheel shop, they'd be happy to fit your car with the best sizes.
Just dont go out and buy some 15"X7" with factory backspacing you can do better.
The more rubber you can get to the ground , the better your car will handle, better traction, stability, and it will look a whole lot better too.
'Shelby Drop' highly reccomended.
MAKE SURE you use the template for drilling the new holes. Contact TCP, or Branda, or Global West for template.

Hope this helps, good luck.
 
Thanks for the quick reply, it truely helps....Been looking at www.newstalgiawheel.com, and they have some pretty decent pricing on their wheels/tire packages.....guess we'd be looking at:

- P215/60R15
- P225/60R15
- P215/65R15

any recommendations (would be putting the same all around)?

Thanks for the info, it's greatly appreciated!!
 
Wow! way too skinny for me, is this an ice racer or something? sorry to sound so harsh, but that would look wierd.A big beefy car like that with those skinny tires.Please tell me you're not pimpin' it out with hydraulics too. Im assuming you want the same size all around so you can rotate your tires.


Personally I'd run
235 front on 15x8, 3.75 or 4.00 B.S.
275 rear on 15x9, 4.5 B.S.

Do you like the Magnum 500's?
There's a company making a billet reproduction that looks awesome, I saw some on a recent post on this website last week.

Go to some car shows or open some magazines, see what sizes people are using and how much better it can look.
good luck
 
ha ha, thanks grego, I like to hear that....right now, we have some junker tires on it from a 68 galaxy 500, and they're very skinny looking...like it's up on it's tippy-toes :nonono:

I try to urge my dad into some wider tires, but that's where we get confused on all the backspacing, fender rubbing, etc issues that go with them. he's worried it's gonna be hard to steer/hit the fender, etc with wide meats on it, and I'm worried it's gonna looke like it's on stilts :rlaugh:

Trying to find some common ground that will look good, give a nice stance and play well with the manual steer.....confusing to say the least....

I think I took the 225 & 215 series tire list from a post about 65/66s....with our 68, we should be able to bump that up a bit? but we're just not sure what...

ya'll are the folks in the know, that's why this newbie is here :cheers:
 
Boingo
I just called Todd at Vintage Wheel Works at (562)906-8600. (they have a cool website too)
He reccomended for your app.
16X8 with 4.5" B.S.
with 245/50/16 front
and 255/50/16 rear
then I told him you wanted to keep all tires same size so you can rotate them.
so he reccomended:
16X8 4.5 B.S.
245/50/16 all around.
 
man grego, you're one helpful guy! :cheers:

Now, when they list 16" wheels, they're speaking of they're own wheels correct? and that wouldn't necessarily carry over to say the AR wheels....the reason I ask, is that I know I'm new at figurin' this wheel stuff out, but I always thought the 16" wheels were avoided due to clearance issues, and most folks used 15 or 17s.... :shrug:

If we were to stick with 15s, which my dad will 99.99% most likely do....how would these fit under the fenders?

*P245/60R15
P235/60R15
P235/70R15

I know my dad is going to think that sounds awefully wide, but ya'll will help me convince him. I don't think we'd go with the vintagewheelworks because our car is platinum silver and the slight change in color from body to wheel, may look odd..better to go will all chrome I think. :)
 
fit depends upon which backspacing you end up going with.
If your sticking with 15" wheels, im guessing the backspacing you'll end up with will be around 3.75", if thats the case , you be best off using the 235 but i'd run 235/50/15 not 235/60/15.
Call the place where you plan on ordering these wheels from, Ask how the wheels come(width and backspace), Im sure they know the best combo for you.

You might want to start a new post on this website "67-68 Mustang wheels/Tires, what size are you running"
 
Thanks grego, I think this thread has helped me out enough to figure it out from here....I appreciate your time to keep comin back here and rattlin off some info.

FYI, I did a search on tirerack.com for 235/50/15 and there were no tires at all at that size, so I guess the 60 series will be the way we go.....but like you said, when we do put in the final order, we will double check with the folks we purchase from.

great site, great people, thanks so much....learnin a lot as we move forward on this pony :D
 
With 15 x 7's up front, 235 /60/15's work fine with the Granada discs. In back, 15x8's work well with 245/60's, 255/60's would be stretching it a bit. If you want the same size all around 235/60's on 15x7's are what you want.