Tire Woes Help!!!

[Rjaaaaaa]

Picked up some new shoes for my girl today. Centerline wheels, 15 x8.5 w/ M/T ET Street 26 x 11.5 / 15 on rear, 4 x 15 front
They really look good on the back but a little too big they clear the wheel well but the slightest bump and they rub the outer fender . I took it for a short ride just to feel them out and the only thing I can say is WOW!
These tires really hook up and I didn't really push them hard but as soon as the car squatted the wheels were rubbing, second gear was all go.
I have to get the proper lugs so I'm going to look at the situation again tomorrow.
This car has been lowered about 2.5" by PO and it's causing me problems now. I'm thinking maybe air shocks, maybe spacers on rear springs, not sure open to ideas or suggestions

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Have you rolled the fenders?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Honestly, you'll really need to do two things to get the back tires not to rub. Even after doing these two things, it'll be tight and you may need different springs in the rear to raise it up about an inch.

If you want to keep these tires (they're ~290's), you'll need to roll the outer and probably need to take a bfh and beat the inner wheel well in a bit.

Or you could go completely crazy and mini-tub and shove some 315's under the rear, huh @RaggedGT ?

I do like the centerlines though, that is the style of my first new wheels I bought for a car a long time ago. Plus I like the look of them with the MT's on your mustang.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

What ever you do, do NOT put air shocks, or spacers of any kind on the rear of the car. Tires that don't fit, simply don't fit. Jacking the car up in the air to keep them from hitting died in 1976.

You can accommodate a set to a certain degree.....

You could do as some suggested and roll the inner fender lip (Most of us have done that, including your's truly). This allows the necessary room on the outside if that is where the tire is making contact. There are numerous methods out there online that will allow you to do that safely w/ hurting your paint and bodywork. Using everything from a jigsaw, a small sandbag/BFH, a baseball bat, and even a tool/machine/contraption purposely designed to do the job.

You could also "massage" the inner tub if the tire is hitting there w/ a BFH as Dave has also mentioned. If there is clearance between the inner tub and tire, then you have room for the third solution....

Sell those wheels, and get a pair with the correct back spacing that will tuck them under the quarter where they belong.

Finally,...the most radical solution is to get out your cutoff wheels, your Sawzall, your flap wheels, your welder, and your wallet and mini-tub the car to accommodate any size tire up to a 335......depending on how liberal you were w/ the previously listed tools.

 

[General karthief]

It was 1977, and who cares if it rubs as long as it has a loaby idle.

 

[Rjaaaaaa]

Hey, thanks guys for your input. I knew when I bought these tires that they were probably going to be too big but after seeing them on the car, they looked so good and were sooooo close to fitting I just thought I'd like to keep them.
I know what your saying about raising the rear to fit but remember I'm 67 years old that made sense to me.
And I'm still considering it since the car has been lowered already, I'm going to try the rolling the fenders first and see how it does.
I had 245 45 17's on the car and they did ok in the rear but the front scraped the lower control arms on tight turns. Definitely won't have that problem with these 4" centerlines.
So the real problem with these tires is the diameter, I can go to a wider tire but it will have to be a low profile tire.
These centerline have a good backspacing in the rear, I did remove the quad shocks but a 1/2" spacer would solve that problem.
I'm not going to get to involved in mods since I know I can fit a narrower tire under it with no problem , it's just that these look sooooo good
Might just wind up selling the M/T's and buying something else. I only paid $275 for the whole package so I'm ok with the deal.
I'm also going to sell the OE cobra style 17" wheels and tires so I'll be in good shape, but they look sooooooo good.

 

[RaggedGT]

I completely agree with Dave..


315's and Wheel Tubs FTW.......



@Davedacarpainter

 

[General karthief]

I agree, definitely high cool factor. Looks like they will still scub a little even if you rolled the lip.
Never get tired of that wheel on a stang, at one point it was over done but I still liked it.

 

[elarm1]

Eastwood sells a fender roller. This is what I used and it was worked out well so far as well as bfhing the inner fenders slightly.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

It was 1977, and who cares if it rubs as long as it has a loaby idle.

Keep this up and I might have to find you a position on staff.

 

[General karthief]

Cool, just pay me in liquor.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Pay!???

 

[mikestang63]

my last two checks bounced btw

 

[Rjaaaaaa]

Well I gave this thing some thought and did some research only to find that this is a very common issue.
So some say use a BFH , I don't think so, some used a baseball bat that didn't look to safe for the paint and I don't think either of these would fix my problem so you guessed it I went old school.
Here is my fix, after studying the situation.
I jacked the car up and pulled the rear coil spring out

where the perch was for the bottom, I fabbed another perch that would be a 1.5" taller

the sleeve on the bottom will fit over the original flange, then I bolted the two pieces together

put the spring back in and it was good to go.

I don't have any clearance problems now and I think it LOOKS GREAT
OLD SCHOOL CAN STILL BE KOOL

 

[mikestang63]

Well I gave this thing some thought and did some research only to find that this is a very common issue.
So some say use a BFH , I don't think so, some used a baseball bat that didn't look to safe for the paint and I don't think either of these would fix my problem so you guessed it I went old school.
Here is my fix, after studying the situation.
I jacked the car up and pulled the rear coil spring out

where the perch was for the bottom, I fabbed another perch that would be a 1.5" taller

the sleeve on the bottom will fit over the original flange, then I bolted the two pieces together

put the spring back in and it was good to go.

I don't have any clearance problems now and I think it LOOKS GREAT
OLD SCHOOL CAN STILL BE KOOL

Bro, you going to clear some cattle off the tracks later? lol

 

[General karthief]

Necessity is the mother of invention, nice job,

 

[billison]

You could just run the proper spring...

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

OLD SCHOOL CAN STILL BE KOOL

No,.....no it cant.

There is nothing that came out of jacking a car up in the rear that could be considered "cool". It was done because it was the 70's. Stupid sht was acceptable back then....I did plenty of stupid sht back then to prove it.

But the 70's were 50 years ago. Disco died in the 70's.....So did Tie dyed T shirts,8 track tapes, Bell bottoms, leisure suits, platform shoes for men, Afro perms,....and........jacked up cars.

A car with too much of a gap between the bottom of the fender and the top of the tire just looks bad,, and handles even worse.
Couple that with a skinny front tire with less that 4" of tread biting the road............."Hold on Kids!! I don't think we're gonna make this turn!!"

This: This is a car in this century.

 

[General karthief]

Disco is dead? Ok, that's it, I quit!

 

[Gearbanger 101]

This: This is a car in this century.

Really.....because I swore the '87-'93 Fox body was built last century?