[Glenn_MII]

HaveII, I'd really like to see those pics. I was actually looking for a wheel and tire combo today and decided to check this thread.

I am going with:
15x8's rear with 265/50's
15x7's front with 225/50's
Dunlop GT Qualifier tires, and the wheels will be whatever I can get cheapest because I've got so many other things to do to the car.

Have you driven the car much since the install?
The 4.5" backspacing sounds perfect for the back.
What's the best backspacing for the front?

Please e-mail me those pics if you can, those yahoo photo albums suck.

[HaveII]

Originally Posted by Glenn_MII

HaveII, I'd really like to see those pics. I was actually looking for a wheel and tire combo today and decided to check this thread.

I am going with:
15x8's rear with 265/50's
15x7's front with 225/50's
Dunlop GT Qualifier tires, and the wheels will be whatever I can get cheapest because I've got so many other things to do to the car.

Have you driven the car much since the install?
The 4.5" backspacing sounds perfect for the back.
What's the best backspacing for the front?

Please e-mail me those pics if you can, those yahoo photo albums suck.

Sorry, I am at work and can't get to my pictures either! And I am logged in. I will have to e-mail them to you when I get home this evening.

Anybody know how to get a direct URL for a picture in a *&%^&& Yahoo briefcase?

I have only driven it about 15 miles since the install, but I don't see anything at this point coming up. I have not purchased the front ones yet so I could not say what would be best.

[Blue Thunder]

I'm finishing up fitting the 17" Cobra R wheels on my II. I've removed the 3/4" outer lip from the upper control arms to make room for steering travel, and boxed the arms to add strength. I've installed moroso/arp 3" wheel studs front and rear, and am in the process of modifying 7/16" wheel spacers for proper fit.

From my initial tests on the front setup, I will definitely be able to run 275/40zr17s on the FRONT as well as on the rear, without hitting anything, and still have sufficient steering travel. Those huge tires looked insane on the front of the II. Heh.
It looks like I've reached the limit on tire size, without serious body flare modification.

I have pics of the fitting process in the digital camera and will post them as soon as I can.
As soon as this damn rain stops, I can go out and take some shots of the installed upper arms/wheel and tire relationship.

[joeythesaint]

Is anybody running a 255 or bigger 70-series 14" rear tire? Particularly, anyone out west? I'm having a biznatch of a time finding big back shoes. I'd like to go 255 or even 275/70's on my 14's. Right now I'm running 225/40R14's all around. And strangely, I'm running out of tread in the back. . . .

EDIT: Just found Parthos and 1WildII's posts at the beginning of this thread. I PM'd them. Anyone else? Thanks.

[Gael]

Well, one that is proven is 245/60/14.. they aren't too bad. Other than that I haven't found a better 14" tire that's actually retrievable. I get traction from 2nd on with it, so I'm pretty happy.

I am using the BFG Radial TAs.

[joeythesaint]

Where did you get them? I checked Big O, Les Schwab, and Sears. No one carries anything that big for a 14. At least, they don't stock it.

[Gael]

I bought mine from summitracing.com, wasn't too expensive.

245/60/14: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...042+4294904540

265/50/14: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...042+4294904309

[jeffnoel]

Wow, 275/70-14 is over 29" tall, why so tall??? 245/50-14s are about the same height as the stock 13s your 40 series are about 2" shorter than factory. BFG makes the TAs in 245/50-14 $102 at tirerack. Tirerack also has the 245/60-14s TAs for $73 apiece.

[Blue Thunder]

I had a pair of "Centennial Interceptor" 245/60R14s on the back of my II at one point, and the traction was better than any other tire I'd run previously, including in the rain. I only bought them because they were dirt cheap, but I was impressed with the way they hooked.

[joeythesaint]

Sweet. Looking at these:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....um=46ST4VSTOWL

At this price, I can burn through a couple pairs a year. . ..

I wanted as much meat as I could fit; I'm too cheap to throw down for bigger wheels so I figured I'd just get the tires as big as possible.

EDIT: That'll also bring my freeway RPM's down to 2350 or so with my street rear-end; right now I'm rolling at 2800+. (3300 with my 3.5!) I thought my rpm's were a bit high; I had no idea how small these rubber-bands actually are. 21" diameter! Yow. There's a very cool calculator at http://www.idavette.net/tech/ratioc.htm , BTW.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by joeythesaint

Sweet. Looking at these:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....um=46ST4VSTOWL

At this price, I can burn through a couple pairs a year. . ..

KUMHO!! (Am I just strange to laugh everytime I see this name?)

Don't use that 'Vette calculator, argh! Here's a proper one: http://www.corral.net/tech/gearcalc.html

[barrylee66]

I have weld draglites 3 '' on front and 8'' with 4.5 inset with 265-50-15 radials
these fit perfect rolled lip because I do it on all my cars with fat tires it only took one time to learn. I tried 275-50-15 on 5.5 inset off my fox body stang they wont work without spacers 1'' by the way you can not run spacers at any nhra track as they are not allowed.

[joeythesaint]

What's the 4-lug bolt pattern?

For instance, on the Eagle rims site, they're listed as 4/100, 4/108, etc.

[77sleeper]

we are 108 but that is metric and usually leads to a high offset FWD wheel

[Eos]

How well will the fox body "pony wheels" fit, I might have some lined up to buy.

[78CobraII]

Darryl has some on his '77 Mach 1. I don't know if he has spacers or not.

http://www.a351must2.atfreeweb.com/

[Mustangj]

I have not tried these wheels, but American Racing's aplication guide is 99.9% accurate (I sold their product for many years). Check out the Ansen's re-released in 15x7" to fit the II! The last time I was this happy was when Green Day brought out a new album or when I got divorced.

Forgot the link more coffee needed....

http://www.americanracing.com/appgui...n=app&car=358_

[Blue Thunder]

I like those Outlaw II(how fitting) wheels.

[Cool Wheels]

I have 225-50-15's up front and 225-60-15's in the back, with 3/4 in spacers all round to clear the upper balljoints (wasn't an issue in the back). Couldn't get the 60's to fit up front without rubbing hard so being a tightwad I just went to 50's on the front tires. Don't like the new attitude though cause the rear end was already high enough by my taste, so I guess I'll have to burn up the 60's and replace them (some extra hp would help here).

Not sure what they came off of but I picked up all 4 aluminum rims (4 bolt), with tires (the 60's) and 4 spacers for $110 Can-peso's.

[joeythesaint]

So I just put 15X7 turbines on mine, with 225/60's all around. The front wheels are rubbing on the brake calipers. Anyone else have backspacing issues with the fronts? Why the fronts and not the rears?

#$%%&*!!!!!!!!!!!!

[78CobraII]

Originally Posted by joeythesaint

So I just put 15X7 turbines on mine, with 225/60's all around. The front wheels are rubbing on the brake calipers. Anyone else have backspacing issues with the fronts? Why the fronts and not the rears?

#$%%&*!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you sure the wheels is rubbing on the brake caliper? I always thought that the interference issue with Turbines was with the ball joint.

Do you get rubbing all of the time or just in a tight turn?

Its pretty well known that there is an interference issue with the Fox Mustang wheels...they are designed for a situation with more offset, and even though they have the same lug pattern as the MII, they are not perfect for it.

The rears do rub with certain tire combinations. Especially with the later MII's that have a bump for the rear seatbelt retractors on the inner fender well.

I think that the usual deal is to use a 1/2" spacer on the front (although some folks get by with 3/8"), and to use 3/8" on the rear if there is interference (or remove the interference with a big hammer).

I have heard at least one person that used tubular upper A-arms to remove an interference problem with 16" wheels.

I have a set of the Enkei mesh wheels in 15x7 Fox offset that I'll be trying in a few months, so I'm about to be in the same fix...

[joeythesaint]

Sonofab----. It is the ball joint. Rrrrrrrrr.

[78CobraII]

I may be in the same boat then...my Enkei 92 mesh wheels are going to be pretty close to Fox 15x7 wheel specs. I won't know for sure until I get the tires (going with 225-50-15's) mounted later this year.

I've been looking at spacers and found a few sources that appear to be better than the junk cast spacers at Autozone. I've found a couple:

http://www.wheeladapter.com/

http://www.hrsprings.com/site/products/index.html

You might get a better price going through someone like NTB or Tire Rack, at least you would have someone to yell at if one of the adapters broke...if you were still alive anyway...

Yup, adapters make me nervous. At least the adapters above are carved from billet aluminum, and should be as strong as possible.

One good thing about the early Granada disc swap is that their mounting surface is about 3/8" farther outboard. This might be enough to clear Fox 15" wheels.

Too bad nobody makes them in 4 lug patterns. I will be looking into this eventually as I want 11" discs without the high price of a custom Baer system.

[78CobraII]

How about having some NEW larger wheels made for you that fit the lug stock pattern?

http://www.centerlinewheels.com/customs/customs1.php

There are only a very few new wheels still made in our lug pattern with RWD offset, and the other custom wheels I've looked at are basically $1000 per wheel.

Centerline advertises a flat $139 per wheel in 15x7 with another $20 per wheel shipping.

Not as good as the old Western wheels for $40 each, but not bad consdering inflation since 1980, and not any where near a grand per wheel!

This certainly skips any need for spacers too.

[jeffnoel]

Wow I didn't know about ordering the Centerlines with custom backspacing. Which rim do you think would look best on a II, I'm thinking I like the Sahara. How does this combo sound? Saharas in 16x8 with 4" backspacing and 4x4.25 bolt circle, and 16x7 with 3.5" backspacing and 5x4.5 bolt circle. Since the rims have hats that cover the lugs I could do the Granada 11" fronts and leave the backs stock and you wouldn't see 5 on the front 4 on the rear. Under $800 shipped for a set I'm seriously considering it.