Tires and Rims for 56 2 door Wagon

[Jwawhite]

Wagon Owners have any experience with rims and tires?


I'd like to change up the wheels a bit from the narrow tires. Currently the car has wire wheels, Thunderbird spinners, with tubes 15". They along with new tires will be for sale in near future.

Keeping the 15" size, how wide of a tire will make it? The rear would be easy to measure but the fronts? Car has 4 wheel brake shoes. Do you show a 5 stud, 4.5 inch circle for mounting?

I like the Torque Thrusters, 5 spoke chrome rims. But $300 a pop?!! I'll keep looking.

[Jwawhite]

For measuring I guess I can figure out the width of the front wheel and do a lock to lock and measure how much room I have left over. The rears would be easy since they are stationary.

Would be nice if a wagon owner who has gone through this already to give me an idea.

[miker98038]

I can't help with a wagon, but one more thing to watch on all models. Depending on the bulge in the tire, 3 1/2" backspace on the front is about the most you can go and clear the upper ball joint. That ones easy to miss if you fit the wheels first, and then the tires.

[dmsfrr]

Yes, make sure the back sides of the front tires clear during all movement of the suspension.
.

[Daves55Sedan]

Okay, now this is on a '55 car, but I think that rear wheel tub is the same width on the car and wagon models '55 and '56. I am using P205/75/R15 tires on the front and P215/75/R15's on the rear. Using the original 15" wheels.
Plenty of clearance between fully inflated P205 tire sidewall and balljoint on front.
I selected the P215 for rear because it is closer to the outside diameter of the OEM tire. I think it would have been too much difference with the P205 on rear.
The P215 is a little bit smaller outside diameter, so I left my 19 tooth speedo gear as it is.
It is necessary to install the rear tires deflated so you can smash the tire sidewall to get it in there, then once you get the wheel on the drum, you can inflate the tire. You just gotta hope you never get a flat on the road, cause you'd never get the spare tire on (unless you have an air compressor and power source out in the middle of nowhere).
I also have a '55 wagon (Courier) but it has the old 710 x 15 tires on it. The only bad thing about those is that if you run a car like I do, that little 4" wide tread doesn't last very long. The newer style tires have nearly twice the tread width. That means they are gonna wear nearly twice as long. And replacements for those old tires cost over $100 now too.

[Jwawhite]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Thank you for responding guys! That tire wall with the control arm rub.....just hate to see a tire hurt that way! Road repairs, once got rock chip caught between rear wheel and driveshaft housing, wore into sidewall
I have some inquiries out to find the proper fit will post if I get an answer.

[dmsfrr]

The 3 & 1/2 inch max backspace answer from miker98038 was my answer too.
IIRC most all the stock wheels for '55 - '57 were 5 inch bead width and going to a 6 inch width is a pretty safe bet unless you have clearance problems with the backside of the fenders. It depends on the particular model of car, I'm not familiar with the wagons.
The cut sidewall I posted above was on a T-Bird with the wrong offset wheels from a later model car.

[Jwawhite]

Yes, that's the answer I have about backspace, 3.5 inches, appears I can install 15 tall and 8 inch wide tires. I like the look of the Torque Thrust 5 spoke rims, they are bright aluminum and will look great with the chrome on the Parklane. Prices are all over the place, may be due to the demand. I imagine mine will cost more , the company won't make as many......The last is item is to verify, is it the diameter around the bolt pattern? 5 or 4.5 inch with 5 studs. I'm still laid up but it's looking good to have clearance to drive and be more active again. Once the new rims and tires are on, will have a nice set of chromed spoked rims tires and tubes, FSale.

[dmsfrr]

I'm not sure if the bolt circle dia is different on a '56 wagon.
The usual pattern is 5 bolts on a 4.5 inch circle
.

[miker98038]

This is off my 55 bird, not a wagon. Measure twice. I've got 7x15 American salt flats front, 3 1/2" backspace, with 215/60 15 BFG T/A's. 7x15 salt flats in back 4" backspace. That was the maximum when I ordered them. 225/60 15 BFG T/A's. this is all really tight, no skirts, and I had to center the body in back. Turning raidius is a bit limited by the R&P steering.

I don't know where you are, but outside Seattle the local Les Schwab store had as good a price on the Americans as anyone. They did the measurements, and guaranteed the wheels would fit. They did a bit of grinding to clear the disc, replaced two bad studs in front, and mounted the Diamond Back tires I provided for their normal rate. They didn't guarantee the tire clearance, just the wheels. But I thought that was pretty good service. I don't know if that's general policy, or just my store-they do a lot of local hot rod work and jacked up trucks.

[Jwawhite]

Thanks again your way!
We live in Ventura County.
I will measure the spare tire eyelits to positively determine the diameter of stud placement. Summit seems to think my car is a 5/5.5. But what I'm hearing is 5/4.5.
There is one listing for rims on Craigslist...ones I want, ones that may fit, odds of that? Being online now?

[miker98038]

Way back when, like 1968, I pulled a Dana 44 rear from a wagon. It was 5 on 4.5, just like my bird and the pass cars. Different rear than the cars, but the same wheel pattern. I think Merc's were different, and maybe the heavier trucks.

[scicala]

Yes, the Ford cars and wagons were 5 x 4.5 in 1956. Mercury's were 5 X 5 or 5 1/2.

Sal

[Grumpy Rick]

try American Racing Wheels website. You can find out what size wheels and backspacing they recommend for any popular car. Many of them you can see what the wheel and tire will look like on the car......down to car color.

Torque Thrusts are going on my Bird eventually, 17" is the max recommended size, with proper back spacing.

[junkyardjeff]

(I have 7 inch wide rims in the rear on my sunliner and the tires rubbed the inner wheel house a little so I had to put on 1/4 spacers and had no problems when I had 6 inch wide rims,I have these wheels that came off my sunliner that I will not be using but I am in Ohio.

[Jwawhite]

Thanks everyone! I've reviewed costs for the Torque Thrust rims and I've been informed American Racing rims are the same! Prices are all over the place for the same? product. The wire rims on the car cost close to $400.00 each, new, but the drawback is the tube issue and the shaking of the front L fender. I thought about it a bit more, the steering wheel does not shake so the front end shaking has to be from something else. NOT the wire rims...just a cursory look, new bolts on the fender to skirt, bumper is tight, a arms, upper, look okay...there are 7 items to look for in regards to shaking in the mechanics manual...Vibration, perhaps, coming from the 5.0 HO motor? Again, I'm unable to really check things out for a few weeks more. Are there real motor Mounts? Is the transmission mount there?
Why are one piece rims expensive? Have you seen shavings underneath a mill machine that produces rims? I'm a bit off subject, the tires on the car now: P205/70R15 all around and they are 4 years old so I guess the wires with spinners are the same age. So the tires look almost new.