Tire Fitment
- Thread starter 65inworks
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BobV
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
They won't fit with stock sheetmetal. 8" wide is all your going to get on a 65/66 without resorting to fender flares. 17x8 4.75BS is a "popular" size with 225 or 235/45-17's.
Wheel Chart
Wheel Chart
dodgestang
Active Member
65inworks said:
It wouldn't matter. Its the width of the rim that is giving you trouble. a 9 inch rim is generaly considered too wide the stock sized wheel wells on a 65-6 mustang. The most popular larger size I have seen on the front of mustangs is 17x8 with 4.75 bs and a 225 45 17 tire....this tire is exacly 9 inches wide, and generally goes in without rubbing. Some people have then stepped up to the next size (myself included) and put on a 235 45 17...which is about 9.5 wide. Some people have had to roll to fenders and some people have no and that is due to 1. flactuations in actual tire width from manu to manu and fluctuations in sheet metal and suspension setups from car to car. While the 235 can be forced onto a 9 inch rim, even then, the wider rim, will square out the sidewalls making it more prone to hit the fender and or rub the inners. On a 9 inch rim, you generally talk about mounting a 255 or wider tire which is downright impossible to mount in the front without fender flares.
On the rear, again the most popular size I have seen is 235-245 45 17 on the 17x8 rim. Now since I run a 255 40 17 on the rear of my mustang and only had to roll the fenders, I have no doubts that you 'could' use a 9 inch rim in the rear with the proper spacers but it becomes a hassle trying to match the front and rear rims. Furthermore, adding a large bolt on spacer holds the wheel further away from the drums and/or disc leaving the spacer eacily seen and producing a less than attractive look in my opinion.
What price are you looking at for these wheels? I bought my 17 rims at a car show/swap meet for $800 total and that was with valve stems, lugs, and locking lugs. I often see late model wheels for very similar pricing so I saw little need to even consider them.
dodgestang
Active Member
GaPonyFarm said:
Who keeps propagating this false statement? It is absolutely untrue that you need to install a negative wedge to run 17 inch rims. I run 17 inch rims without a problem and 90% of the entries on my wheel chart run 17 inch rims without a negative wedge without a problem.
I beleive this 'urban myth' started when people began report that to run their 16 inch rims they sometimes hit the upper ball joint unless they installed a neg wedge kit when they were running a wheel with too much back spacing. Then someone somewhere sometime somehow made a jump to...well if it happens with 16s.......
There is no ball joint issues with 17 inch rims on classic mustangs. Alot of people perform the shelby drop at the same time, mostly because anyone that would upgrade to 17s (it used to be) was trying to get maximum corner performance out of the car and the shelby drop helped with this respect, but to put 17 inch rims on a classic mustang you don't need to do the shelby drop, just like you dont need a negative wedge.
BobV
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Vintage Wheel Works has made that statement regarding 16" rims.dodgestang said:
As you & I both know, 17's are different/ better ballgame.
With a 16" rim, you are absolutely limited to 4.5" backspace. With an 8" wide wheel, you are dangerously close to the fender lip. The negative-wedge-type mods (Shelby drop, neg wedge kit, tubular arms) all help the fender lip clearance by generating negative camber on suspension compression, as opposed to the stock design which can actaully generate positive camber at the beginning of travel, which results in fender lip interference.
With the 17's, the rim lip is above the balljoint, permitting you to run an extra 1/4" of backspace (4.75"). That 1/4" makes ALL the difference in the world as far as fender lip clearance. The negative-wedge-type mods are still a VERY good idea for both handling and EXTRA clearance, but not 100% necessary.
Yes there are a (VERY) few people running 16x8's without a neg-mod, but there is so much variation from car-to-car that I wouldn't recommend it.
17'" rims are a much easier fit than 16's on a vintage car.
