Largest tires possible for my 66?

[dodgestang]

hell lets see a pic of your car and lets make a few opinions about it. i'm just saying that a lot of guys around here act like morons when they see somthing they don't like.. as for it not hooking, how the hell do u know what his setup is?

Make fun all you want...I am a firm beleiver in doing want you want with your car. I run 255s in the rear and 235s in the front. I would love to get 275s in there but it aint going to happen in my application with the car lowered and a 5 leaf, KYB shock rear with under riders.

However.....looking at JUST the picture posted 2 facts are evident....the tires are past the sheet metal and the rear shackels are high lift shackels. The standard use of jack shackles is to prop up sagging rear springs. They do not help much in compression though so any car with jacker shackels gets a lot of bounce...so MANY times this situation is resolved through the addition of air or coil over shocks which takes some or all of the work off the springs depending on how much air is in them. When it comes to hooking to apply maximum forward HP to the wheels it is commonly accepted that there needs to be some amount of wieght transfer as the car goes from its stopped to moving condition. This type of suspension that is designed primiarly to keep the rear of the car in the air and off the tires does not allow for good transfer during the launching process resulting in loss of traction. Evident in the video linked in the sig you can see the car gets a LOT of tire spin. In the video did not appear to have the 275 it has now which would contribute to poor traction if there is a high HP application, however as you watch the car accelerate you will notice there is virtually no lift on the front end or similar 'squating' of the rear giving more evidence that a high shackle air shock suspension is in use.

I will bet Dinner that the car would hook better and handle all around better with new 5 leafs, 245s, and under rider bars.

 

[fastcoupe68]

Dodgestang nice looking car and I am glad to see I am not the only one out here that knows something about something.

 

[66 Racer]

295/50/15 with the american racing 15x8 black rims, dont know the offset but its a standard offset, no other options were available, the car has a new set of 5 leaf standard eye springs and it all fits, if i hit a hard dip it will lightly scap with one person in the car, i dont plan on trying any passengers, its sure to hit.

Also, it runs flush with the stock fenders, well, just SLIGHTLY sticks out but its not ghetto. Unfortunatly i dont have pics yet, maybee later this week.

 

[Jonstantine]

Dodgestang nice looking car and I am glad to see I am not the only one out here that knows something about something.

at least i know how to post without double posting

i have 4 pics in this thread
the first 2 are the current pics (235's)
i put the 275's on there for fun, just for a different look - it served its purpose excellently
they were free, i borrowed them, had them on for maybe 5 months and my other rims ive used for 5 years and currently have on the car
and the 275's gave me better highway gas mileage

secondly, my mustang is my only car, i drive it all the time including frequent 300 mile roundtrips to my parents house
i have the things i have because its what i can afford; ive had to major problems come up with the drivetrain since january and my paint is peeling
i will get to the still working leaf springs when i can; to tell the truth ive been wanting to get new ones for a while - so if i have the same leaf springs, wouldnt my traction be better from bigger, taller tires?
as for handling, your right, jacking my car up was not good for it, not that 40 year old springs handle well anyway

somebody mentioned 275's being under a 66 stang and i already had the pictures hosted, so i thought id post them and show how well the fit or lack there of

i appreciate your opinion, but id like to inform you that it doesnt matter because the wide tires havent been on my car since november
eveybody's car now days has fat road race tires on it, i apologize for being a little different and a little "drag racer" with my car
it was neat for a while

p.s. id love to have dodgestangs car but, if youve looked at his site youve seen how much $$$ hes dropped into it
and in the video; the front end does raise when i punch it

 

[Jonstantine]

it's not enough info just look at it if you would like I could go into great detail why that suspension wont work and I dont need to climb under it to see that! I'm not here to get into a bitchfest with you. But I have a pretty good rep on what suspensions hook and ones that do not. It is kind of a proffessional specialty, but I'm not going to go into details. but you probably have much more experience than I do so I'll call you the winner and congradulate you. Maybe one day I'll see you at the track and we can discuss my setup and I'll be glad to go into detail on the dynamics of leaf sprung cars and how to make them work and how not to. see yah

why dont you share this information; i would really like to know

 

[1320stang]

Well, it's old school look, that's for sure. Back in the late 70's that was cool. How cool are 17 and 18 rims going to look in 20-30 years, they may look ghey by then (and there may be another term than "ghey", LOL). As far as hooking, it can be made to hook, they were doing it back then, its just there are better technologies today and better materials. I know of BBF's turning low 12's and high 11's on street tires back then, N/A on 50/50 shock in the rear and 90/10s in the front on 6 cyl coils, homemade slapper bars that went up to the torque boxes and extra truck leaf added to each side with spring clamps. It CAN be made to work, and on the cheap, but it's so outdated and there are better solutions today. I know of a 402/Turbo 400 1st Gen. Camaro that runs 10.70s N/A at 3200# on 255/70/15 Dunlop GT Qualifiers and CalTracs. We've ran 11.80s N/A at 3200# on the same tire, homemade slapper bars with a race 291 and a home built C4. We're giving up a little over 100 cubes and about 200 HP (the Chevy is about 600 HP, our bored 289 is about 400). With a tunnel ram and dual 660's in a ladder bar car with a Jerico, the 289 ran 11.08 @ 119. All I'm saying is, you might not know as much about something as you think you may. BTW, these cars are run in a N/A class allowing only bolt-on traction devices and real radial tires only.

 

[geegee]

What are the largest tires possible for my 66 coupe without any cutting or modifying. I"m lookin at the Radial T/A's and am mainly looking for width. So whats the largest size i could get?

Depends on what your styling goals are. Most recommendations are for a racy looking car with biggies on back. Here's a more balanced look with touring radials. P205R65-15's on 15"x7" wheels.

http://forums.stangnet.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=17220

 

[kirbyalaska]

Here are probably the biggest I've seen. It is a little modded though... Why, is all I ask? Sorry, don't ahve a better pic.

 

[RaSMG]

Not to mention that it wouldn't hook for *****, the car looked hideous. If that's what yo're going for, then you hit the nail on the head. Wide tires doesnt mean it will hook, and if youre going to have tires that stick that far out the fender, why not put some good tires on it? Tire compound makes the biggest difference, compare a sticky tire like a drag slick or soft compound DOT 'street' slick to any 'radial' tire out there, even a skinnier drag tire will hook harder than a super wide radial. You can fit 9" of tread width or 10.5" of section width on a 15x8 rim with 4.5" backspacing on a stock chassis'd 65/66 .. 9" of tread is more than enough for 9 second outlaw cars plus it fits under the fender .. you couldn't pay me to drive aroudn in that hoopty with the tires sticking out 4 inches. Im not even going to get into the air shocks and lift shackles, if you're trying to make your car hook you are doing it ass-backwards.

 

[zookeeper]

Personally, I'd be ashamed of myself if I couldn't at least say something constructive about a fellow Mustanger's car. Jonstantine did not post pictures of his car for you self appointed suspension guru's (none of which even possesses even an eighth grade level of grammer, evidently) to bad mouth. Instead he was offering help, which as all free advice, is worth what you pay for it. He did not say that this is the only way for a vintage Mustang to look, nor does his car sit around waiting for nice enough weather before it's driven. This tells me that the car must be stone reliable, can any of us say the same? A few years ago, I got the chance to meet someone that was apparently cut from the same cloth as some of the people that post here. My wife and I were at a local car show, when a young girl brought here boyfreind by to check out my wife's car. My wife owns one of the nicest '69 Corvettes I've ever seen. It has a 427, 4 speed and is all original. She's owned it since she was 19, and we restored the car as our budget would allow, a bit at a time. The car has won several awards, including a third place trophy at a Super Chevy show as well as several Best in Class awards at large shows and such. Anyway, the girl really likes the car and tells her boyfriend how much she likes the car, and he respomds by telling her how f'n ugly it is. My wife's feeling's were hurt to say the least, and she told him that she was the owner, thanks for the comments. He said (not apologized for his rudeness) that he just didn't like Corvettes, he was a Mustang guy. I told him that was too bad, since I liked Mustangs, and would hate to think I shared a hobby with someone that insensitive. I feel the same about some of you...

 

[Jonstantine]

Not to mention that it wouldn't hook for *****, the car looked hideous. If that's what yo're going for, then you hit the nail on the head. Wide tires doesnt mean it will hook, and if youre going to have tires that stick that far out the fender, why not put some good tires on it? Tire compound makes the biggest difference, compare a sticky tire like a drag slick or soft compound DOT 'street' slick to any 'radial' tire out there, even a skinnier drag tire will hook harder than a super wide radial. You can fit 9" of tread width or 10.5" of section width on a 15x8 rim with 4.5" backspacing on a stock chassis'd 65/66 .. 9" of tread is more than enough for 9 second outlaw cars plus it fits under the fender .. you couldn't pay me to drive aroudn in that hoopty with the tires sticking out 4 inches. Im not even going to get into the air shocks and lift shackles, if you're trying to make your car hook you are doing it ass-backwards.

does the word free mean anything to you?

oh im sure it does cause your DADDY probably paid for 90% of the ****e on your car
and you know what; 275 radials hook better than 235 radials
unless your dad has the money to buy me some nittos and some new leaf springs too

and in person, i had several complements and NO body who said it looked like ****
btw, is your car even running right now?
and everyone and their grandmothers dog has TT2's - if you like your car to look like everyone elses, i wont bitch about it

 

[triostang]

lol (wish my dad paid for 90% of my stuff)

i like TT2's (cant get em though not enough $$$)

 

[fastcoupe68]

suspension Gurus. Sorry I don't wear a funny hat and perform magic tricks but I have been proffesionally building modifying and restoring cars mostly mustangs and musclecars for almost twenty years and specialize in making the cars go much faster handle better look better and the such. I have personally built and worked on many cars that ran in the many different areas of stock classes in bolth the 2 top drag racing arenas, some have done quite well and even won point championships. No I will not name names that would not be fair to my customers without their permission. I personally ran a 1966 fastback in no particular class, just for fun and with the leaf springs and cal tracs a nine inch slick no mods to the wheelhouse the car ran in the high nines very consistantly. The car would 60ft in 1.4 all the time and I drove the car on the street all the time. I am in the process of building a 68 coupe that i am hoping wiil run low nines n/a. which I dont think I will have any Problems getting there. I have built 2 similar cars that are running those times. they are bolth leaf sprung cars the tires dont stick out the ass end is not sky high and everything is in the stock wheelhouse. enough about that getting bac to some of the comments here. I am sorry if it seemed that I was making fun. I was not. Just giving my opinion, didnt mean to hurt anyones feelings. Sensitivity levels very high around here. I never claimed to be an expert, but I am a prof car builder with a lot of success mostly due to hard work and alot of help from many people that I have worked with over the years, Proffesionally and on a friendly bassis. One particular person in general just happens to be one of the best chassis builders on the planet. So from now on I just keep my Opinions to myself and if you read the post correctly someone said that they had 275s on their car and you have to agree they just dont fit. Done gone outa here!

 

[dodgestang]

does the word free mean anything to you?

oh im sure it does cause your DADDY probably paid for 90% of the ****e on your car
and you know what; 275 radials hook better than 235 radials
unless your dad has the money to buy me some nittos and some new leaf springs too

and in person, i had several complements and NO body who said it looked like ****
btw, is your car even running right now?
and everyone and their grandmothers dog has TT2's - if you like your car to look like everyone elses, i wont bitch about it

I don't actually recal insulting you and if I did I am sorry. However, back to the point at hand, the question was asked what is that largest tire that fits on a 66....and we are all in agreement that your pictures show an example of a non-fit...which is what you apparently put it up there to demonstrate. I commented on the suspension merely to demonstrate that with the information provided via pictures and movies a VALID assumption about the setup of the car could be made in simple defense of someone else that had been short changed. Again I meant no ill will and as I said before...its your car, do what you want.

BTW - no one should ever infer age or intelligence from messages typed into an internet forum....real chat or like this. Spell Check and grammer check has spoiled us all, especially those of us that often find their brains 2 words ahead of their fingers.

 

[RaSMG]

I did .. that's me saying his car is ugly, and for good reason I thought. OK so maybe I went a little hard on him but didn't I offer more reliable technical information that anyone else in this thread? I know from experience, and I answered the question of the thread realistically and from successful personal experience. In fact, someone after me chimed in with personal more personal experience backing up my claims that peolpe are running deep 9's on 9" slicks on mildly modified leaf spring cars. I didn't mean to turn this thread into flaming, I think that 'information' like that is what make mustang owners look stupid, especially when they're driving something that looks straight out of deliverance. Oh and I bought 100% of the ***** on my car, in college, and making just over minimum wage working 40+ hrs/wk .. it's called dedication. Maybe if you hadn't spent all that money on that ridiculously out of place looking hood scoop and rear wing you could've afforded some real tires that actually fit instead of those cholo-ass dayton lookin beaner tires stickin 4 inches out of the fenders. The good thing is that you canned on my car too, you don't like my rims good for you I'm glad you said it, free speech. Not that I haven't heard it before, lately complaining about TTII's being popular is more popular than people actually having the wheels, usually by people who couldn't afford them and have some offbrand rims .. odd. 275 radials hook better than 235 radials? all radials arent the same dude i could compare a skinnier soft compound DOT drag radial versus the huge all weather cheapo snow radials on my moms SUV or vice versa, as i said above size isn't the only factor. maybe the extra energy required to spin the rotating weight not to mention it hitting the fender cause it sticks out so much, might actually make it slower. i said tire compound makes the biggest difference, not size. how do i know? because i dropped almost 2 seconds of my quarter mile et's the first time i ran with 'slicks' that were the same size, actually taller(slower)than my street tires(nittos) that were spinning through 3rd gear. sure my car runs, it wont go anywhere cause i busted my transmission and its awaiting a transplant .. that's what happens when you actually use your car. instead of just typing on some computer forum posting pictures of some hoopty car i was out there using it and it hooked too good, busted my drivetrain. if you want more specific advise on how to make your car hook i'll be glad to help you, pm me but don't tell people 275's sticking out and lift shackles will work.

 

[Jonstantine]

paragraphs mother****er, heard of them?

maybe you should learn to READ; i said the wide tires were FREE... so ya, that kept me from buying rims that were 100 more per rim.. 4 years before i even had the 275's on my car
because slotted mags and ultra 5 holes are off brand rims... give me a break
you dont know **** about my rims
im glad you like your tt2's - its good to be mainstream, right?
and the $100 bucks i spent on a used hood and new mach wing really set me back; let me tell you - im glad the factory stock pieces are rediculous looking to you; sure they didnt have them in 66 but the hood scoop is functional and although i cant say the same about the wing; ford freaking put in on mustangs from the factory; its not like its a park bench - sue me for putting something on my car that ford came out with 3 years after mine was made
out of deliverance? please; as someone already said it was a very popular look in the 70's - i already had the lift shackles on their cause my original leaf springs sag... so i made no changes except for using a different hole, same shocks too; the whole setup didnt cost me a dime more, gave me better gas mileage and let me postpone using my brand new 235's for a while - man, i really screwed the pooch didnt I!

ill believe you bought 100% of the stuff on your car, if you tell me your a crack dealer
or maybe your right, and not smart enough to get a job that pays more than minumum wage
as far as dedication; id probably have time to work 40 hours a week if my major was ceramics at a juco too

you busted your drivetrain, cause you used slicks you dumbass
did you not think that was gonna happen... you race with slicks and use a majority of stocker parts; somethings gonna break-- but of course with your infinite knowledge you knew that and did it anyway - good decision

and 235 street radials probably dont stick as well as 275 street radials..
how bout you stop comparing apples to oranges; ie drag radials to street radials
and i never said anything about putting the tires on the car to help hook up

next time you wanna come up in a thread with your expert advice on my car; please let it be more than "buy some slicks."

i never drive my mustang because its my only car; If you would read i already posted i drive it every God given day
i think you should ask your college for your tuition money back; it obviously hasnt been used wisely

 

[Jonstantine]

I don't actually recal insulting you and if I did I am sorry. However, back to the point at hand, the question was asked what is that largest tire that fits on a 66....and we are all in agreement that your pictures show an example of a non-fit...which is what you apparently put it up there to demonstrate. I commented on the suspension merely to demonstrate that with the information provided via pictures and movies a VALID assumption about the setup of the car could be made in simple defense of someone else that had been short changed. Again I meant no ill will and as I said before...its your car, do what you want.

BTW - no one should ever infer age or intelligence from messages typed into an internet forum....real chat or like this. Spell Check and grammer check has spoiled us all, especially those of us that often find their brains 2 words ahead of their fingers.

none of my posts were aimed at you; sorry for the confusion

 

[MrBobMarley]

Anyone else notice the word "grammer" used twice in this thread? Hahaa, it's grammAr guys lol. Don't mean to nitpick, I was a spelling bee champ when I was a kid.

Anyway, here's my two cents. Jonstantine clearly was just trying to add to the topic with a pic. The fact that some of you jumped all over his car kinda sucks because I would expect a higher level of respect for a fellow stanger. And you know what, opinions are fine, we're all entitled to them, but please use some kind of tact. The gyuy didn't come out preaching about how awesome his setup was, he just posted a pic. Where's the reason to bash his ride? I sure don't see one.

 

[Mosse]

If you launch a joke, there is always possibility to be misunderstood. So maybe Jon should also look into mirror.

And you must admit, those wheels look terrible. Mine looked just the same 1995, when I bought it... 265´s rubbing even with fenderflares

 

[kcp203]

Here are probably the biggest I've seen. It is a little modded though... Why, is all I ask? Sorry, don't ahve a better pic.

These are the biggest I've seen.

http://www.amsoil.com/monstertruck/pony.htm