tire/wheel advice

[gdj911]

i'm putting 6x16's and 7x16's on my 69E, the car has been lowered w/ susp. upgrades, RS eng. it is a hot rod. i needed to get the 195x65's off because handling problems.
thinking of using 205x50's ....any advise or experience with this?
thank you

[Jim Breazeale]

i'm putting 6x16's and 7x16's on my 69E, the car has been lowered w/ susp. upgrades, RS eng. it is a hot rod. i needed to get the 195x65's off because handling problems.
thinking of using 205x50's ....any advise or experience with this?
thank you

Don't put 16 X 7s on the car. Get another pair of 16 X 6s. 205 X 55s will be fine on all 4 corners, or 205 X 50s if you don't take long trips on freeways. Put 7s on the rear and you will have more problems than you have now!

Regards

Jim

[Harvey Weidman]

+1 on Jim's comments.
H

[sithot]

Not to sound like the Blazing Saddles scene in church but I second Jim's comment and Harvey's as well. (If their last names were Johnson this could have been fun.)

Tom

[gdj911]

thanks guys...

[Mr9146]

I'm going to swim upstream on this one.

Is it flared? If so, the 7s will work.

My father's daily-driven '72 is NOT flared and, well, see for yourself. It's running 205/55/16 on all four corners.

[RSTarga]

I run 225/55 on the rear with 7;s but I have RS flares. Is that the problem everyone above is referring to? Or is there another issue I'm missing, like using 205's on a 7in rim?

[Jim Breazeale]

I run 225/55 on the rear with 7;s but I have RS flares. Is that the problem everyone above is referring to? Or is there another issue I'm missing, like using 205's on a 7in rim?

You got it. 16 X 7 wheels on a narrow body car will rub. When Porsche put 7 inch wide wheel on their cars, they added flares. They did that for a reason! Yes. a few people have been known to get away with 7s on the rear of their cars, but most will have problems. Unfortunately, many that have tried to use 7s have found out the hard way that they won't work, when they discover the paint above their rear wheel wells is bubbled and burnt. I'm sure that there are many on this list that can relate to that.

Regards

Jim

[gdj911]

no, it's not flared...and the 72 looks great. i'm guessing they don't rub in corners?
thanks

[Mr9146]

no, it's not flared...and the 72 looks great. i'm guessing they don't rub in corners?
thanks

Nope. Honestly, we're not sure why. But we had the 7s laying around collecting dust and figured we try them out. When they worked, we left them on. You never know what you're going to get.

I once fit a set of 944 Turbo 8X16s on an early car with a bump flare. It was flared to just barely fit a 7X16, but I had a 951 8X16 so I figured the extra inch on the inside would be the crap shoot. I took a shot and hit pay dirt ... I was actually able to run a 1/4" spacer, too. (picture below)

Bottom line ... if you have the wheel then mount a tire and bolt it on. If it clears, great! If not, beware.