Side Mounted Spares

[Ed in Maine]

Over the summer I painted two rims and tried to mount spare tires for my Victoria. They won't fit in the front fender wells. So frustrating, obviously I didn't get the memo! The old tires were Universal and the new tires are Firestone. The four tires on the road are Firestone. Why would someone install wheel wells that are too small for the Firestone tires? I guess I have to get new whitewall Universal tires for spares. How dumb! Ed

[gdmn852]

Hello, the Firestone tires are larger than other makes , The wheel wells to convert the standard fender only come in one size and being repro , how accurate are they to original? Think of it this way you will be more authentic with mis match spares , remember Ford only supplied the spare rim but not the tires . I have a Deluxe Roadster with the optional side mounted spares , plan on getting Firestones ,but reuse the best of the tires for spares. I think the Lucas tires are the smallest available checking on Coker website. Some people have gotten creative with side Mount brackets by having the bolts being able to remove from the bracket so they can have more wiggle room to pull out spare , Do a search on site should find so info . Good Luck.

[Oldbluoval]

I can give you the correct dimensions of openings tomorrow if you wish.
852 is right about Firestone. Have you tried deflating them a bit to see if they will slip in?

[rogerkb1936]

firestone tires will not fit in wheel wells, ggodyear will

[Ivan in southeast va.]

I don't have a Victoria but I use Firestone 5.50-18 tires on my pickup with the same in my wheel well. I maintain 20 pounds of air in my spare. I carry a small air compressor under the seat but a simple hand pump could be carried as well.

[Bob from Northport]

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I have Firestone tires in wells of both my A's. Deflate the tire, insert it into the well, then air it up.

[Grumps]

I have Firestone spares and deflate them a little, put them in the well and then air them up again. It makes them fit tight in the well and when needed deflate them a little and use a hand pump that I carry under the seat to reinflate. I was told that that was the way it was supposed to be done.

[Ed in Maine]

Thank you for your excellent suggestions. Ed

[David in San Antonio]

I have Denman tires on my 1930 Deluxe Roadster. Tried to remove the right hand spare to help access to carburetor. Could not remove tire from the fender without letting the air out, and even then the sidewall fouled against the edge of the upright plate. Next step will be to remove the castle nut to remove the plate, then press out the carriage bolt / lug bolts, and slightly enlarge the square holes in the plate so the carriage bolts can be slipped in and out. I love working on my Model A because it’s so satisfying to fix things. Also it provides the perfect excuse to buy new tools.
Wish me luck.

[BillCNC]

Hey All,

Wouldn't deflating the tires and reinflating them in the wheel well's make the tire rub inside the wheel well making noise and taking out the paint in the well? If it wont clear when inflated off the car, it wont somehow fit after it's inflated inside the wheel well.

Regards
Bill

[Oldbluoval]

CNC
You just don’t fully inflate them. I’ve never had, or heard of, squeaking.

[David in San Antonio]

@BillCNC - Just speaking from my experience with the Denman tires and specific wheel wells on my car: The canvas tire covers are discolored in the area of the wheel well but not abraded. The tires fit very tightly and are hard to insert or extract even when fully deflated, as the tires are fairly stiff even with the valve stem removed. So it would seem the only real rubbing is when the tires are going in or out. Between the tight fit and the bracket holding the wheel there appears to be minimal movement once in place.
The greater interference is the way the tire cannot be removed by lifting straight up; the bracket with the protruding carriage bolt / lugs catches on the wheel. Also when I lean the tire outward enough to clear the lugs the tire itself snags on the edge of the bracket. A morphological conundrum one might say. If I didn’t know better it would appear that Henry started with the spare tires and built the car around them.
I’ll report back as I try the removable carriage bolt approach.

[Phil Brown]

The removable bolts on the plate holding the spare do make it a lot easier to get the tire in and out. On my truck we pushed the bolts out and a few minutes with a file to the bolt holes and we were done. I see no down side

[Jeff/Illinois]

We have fender mount spares on our '30 Roadster and in a nutshell.... I hate them.

They came that way from the previous owner.

Complete pain in the rear.

I like the looks and practicality of the stock '31 Dlx. Roadster actually a lot more, with a rear mount spare, than the '30 with those fender mounts. When it comes time for a repaint I am going to ditch those fender mounts and go to a rear mounted spare. Original for a '30 Dlx.?? Of course not but who really cares Nobody outside of the Model A community would ever know

[HDowse]

My 29 standard coupe was gussied up to look almost like a deluxe with a left side mount and cheap side lights. Since it has the stock rear spare I removed the side mount and also the side lights. I’ve looked for a plain left front fender, not very hard I admit, and one of my car buddies suggested putting fake flowers in the spare well. It does hold tools while I ocassionally work on the car. Not mentioned yet is how much the spare restricts opening the door. And if you don't have the short door strap you will eventually dent the door hitting the tire. Nothing like a slight morning rant as I try to figure out what time it actually is this morning with the clocks change.

[katy]

Originally Posted by HDowse

Nothing like a slight morning rant as I try to figure out what time it actually is this morning with the clocks change.

Thanks for the reminder. When is the government going to smarten up and ditch the DST? What a pain, changing the time twice a year.

[duke36]

The Lucas tires fit without mods. Easier to install after some deflation then inflate to 35psi.

[David in San Antonio]

Follow up and Question

As recommended above, I removed the carriage bolt / lug studs from the triangular spare tire bracket. No access to a hydraulic press, tried using a vice to no avail, finally resorted to putting on a castle nut to protect the stud and a friend hammered them out. We then used a file to both enlarge the square holes in the bracket, and filed the square shoulders of the carriage bolts to provide additional clearance for easy removal and reinsertion.
The square holes in the bracket had a softer metal collar into which the bolt was inserted. Does anyone know what the original assembly process was? Press fit? Solder? I will post photos when I’m back at my computer.
How well did it work? I was able to take out and replace the spare by removing the no-longer-captive carriage bolts. It still required deflating the spares, and they’re as heavy and awkward as before.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Ed in Maine

Over the summer I painted two rims and tried to mount spare tires for my Victoria. They won't fit in the front fender wells. So frustrating, obviously I didn't get the memo! The old tires were Universal and the new tires are Firestone. The four tires on the road are Firestone. Why would someone install wheel wells that are too small for the Firestone tires? I guess I have to get new whitewall Universal tires for spares. How dumb! Ed

Ed, I read some of the opinions above about the Firestones being too big, ...however that info isn't really correct since the Firestone tires are made the same size as the Station Wagon tires were. Ironically, the S/W tires fit the wheelwell just fine without deflating.

The root of your problem is someone installed the well into the fender -but did not install them correctly. This likely stems back from the days of Rick Freeman and possibly others who did not give correct info on how to install them! (-imagine that!! )

I have included the first two pics of the factory print that have the incorrect info, ...and I have included two uploads (-one pic and one PDF) that shows the incorrect size and location. Notice the shape of well in the first two pics and how wide it was in the center? Also note the length of the well when properly installed into the fender vs. what most people's botched installation looks like. Therein lies your problem, and deflating a tire is merely 'band-aiding' the real issue IMO, and definitely not the Firestone tire's fault either.









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[hep1966]

I have dual side mounts. Luckily I have not needed a spare but not looking forward to the day I do. Definitely a tight fit.