It's not nice, to mess with Mother Nature OR Mother MoPar!
When I retrofitted 11x3" Bendix brakes onto my car, the new/larger brake
drums (IIRC), when fully turned
now-contacted the front-strut arm's extension, which protruded about 2"
beyond the side of the lower control arm, where that 'extension- length'
served as being a "steering-stop", for the OEM 2" or 2 1/2" brake drums.
That contact, on the 11x3" Bendix's prevented a very-tight turning diameter.
I had my shop cut off the steering-stop extensions, so now the 11x3"
brakes and tires have a very-nice
(amazing, even) turning diameter. The radial tires can contact the
inner fenders, now, but any such
drastic turning-effort only occurs at "parking-lot" speeds, and the
inner fender contact is SO slight
that the only way to confirm the contact is to observe that the
UNDERCOATING has been removed
in one small area, and that the inner fender's appearance is SHINY!
Putting on wide-body radials, on the rear end can be problematic, due to
the wheel openings being
restricted. You gotta jack up the rear end fairly-far, to horse-out the
tire between the (my, anyway:
11x3" ) brake drums and the quarter panel wheel opening.
I would be curious to confirm the overall-tire-height difference,
between the 1956 15"wheels/tires
and the 1957+ 14" wheels tires, as the advertising (again: IIRC) said
that the 1957 tires were
LARGER, and could hold more-air, thus giving a softer ride, than the
1956 wheels/tires.
Neil Vedder
Wayne Graefen wrote:
James, you have a lot going on here.
I think 99% of everyone would agree that the ONLY reason the '57-60
Chrysler products and most others had 14" wheels was to enhance the
look of the car. They are SO MUCH more attractive on 15" wheels -
they look RIGHT on the cars. And so many high dollar auction cars
have the reproduction Chrysler style (not others) wire wheels because
they look FANTASTIC on the cars. Many Chrysler dealers still had them
in their parts rooms because of their option status from '52-56 so
they were put on then and are still being installed now!
The original wheels on your car were 6" wide for those 8.50 tires.
The Letter Car 300C had 6.5" wide wheels for 9.00 tires. Those 9.00s
had 2.5" wide whitewalls. The turning radius of a car is not at all
relevant to the width of the wheels or tires. That radius is
determined entirely by the travel of the suspension components from
side to side.
You can certainly get 7" wide wheels in your wheel wells - the rear
being the start of the concern. You don't want to have to drop the
springs to change tires on the rear axle. 8" wheels with wide tires
would be about the start of that problem. 7s are not any problem.
Remember as you add wheel and add tire you are adding weight and this
is "unsprung weight" which you will feel inside the car and in the
steering wheel on any rough road. Wheels must be measured inside the
bead of the wheel, not the measurement of the overall width of the
entire wheel.
The relevance of the width of the wheel to the width of the tire is
all about safety. If the tire is too small relevant to the width of
the wheel, under hard cornering it could be pulled off the stressing
side and blow out its air. Conversely, if the tire is too wide, it
will not seat perfectly to the rim and may lose air simply because of
that. Whether too wide or too narrow for the wheel, you can also
expect wear problems due to the altered profile and possible balancing
problems.
The desk people at Diamondback can advise you on correct wheel width
for any tire you choose. Each tire manufacturer provides engineering
specifications of a maximum and minimum wheel width suitable to each
size tire.
Since you have mentioned wanting to go with wire wheels, may I offer a
suggestion? Buy a set of the Chrysler style reproduction wire wheels
and center hub caps. Get the standard 15 x 6 size. Talk to
Diamondback about what brands of tires they have that would come close
to a 8.50 x 15 OEM tire which is what Chrysler had on those wheels.
Buy a brand you like or take their professional recommendations but
mention you don't want some tread design that looks too modern.
Specify whether you want a 2.25 or 2.5" whitewall.
Doing the above, you should get a highly favorable look for your car
that will add value by enhanced appearance, enhanced handling and
enhanced ride.
And let us know how it all comes out.
Wayne
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