Fox Tire Size for 16" Pony Wheels on 1984 LX Convertible

[gw7]

Hey guys,

My dad just picked up some Pony wheels (OEM) on marketplace for his 1984 LX 5.0 convertible.

Next up, we need to get tires. I've searched but I'm finding some conflicting information in different threads.

A lot of those threads were talking about rubbing on the ground effects, but in 84 these cars didn't really have side skirts/bumper lips/etc.

225/55R16 is the stock tire size, but according to LMR, that size would require an 8mm spacer up front and may require flipping rear shocks.

Some folks in older threads also mentioned 245/50R16 without issues. But those are only 0.1" shorter sidewall, not sure if that would be enough to alleviate any rubbing issues.

All that said I'm wondering if anyone can give insight on the older models specifically from the square headlight era which I now believe has smaller fenders.

225/55 vs 245/50:

I've also seen a few threads where guys are running 225/50 (instead of 55) up front and stated that it doesn't rub, but that was on an 89 which I believe has wider fronts.

Here's the car!

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I ran 245/50/16 on my pony wheels on my '88 LX. I had some very slight rub at full lock on the inner fenders. It's the extra width of the tire which rubs the sidewall on the inner plastic fender. Adding some rack limiters helped. It was certainly liveable and only an issue when i turned full lock, like in a parking lot or making a U-turn.

I didn't run any spacers

 

[Qtrhrse23]

I always ran Nitto DRs 245/50-16 and BFG 255/50-16. No rub. Only tire Ive had rub was a set of 28x10.5-15 Mccreary dirt track tires. Red neck I know. But a friend let me run them years ago. I had to remove quad shocks.