I am looking to mount a set of 275/60R15s on 15x8 wheels, on the back of my '67 GS400. How much backspacing do I need? Thanks.
Thanks, Phillip. I was hoping to hear from someone with a 67. I heard from another source that I would need 5.25in backspacing on an eight inch wheel to stuff a 275/60R-15 under the rear of my car. I don't know if that is correct or not. I was looking to order a set of Buick Rally wheels from Wheel Vintiques. They tell me that they found a set of Buick wheel hat sections, that they were going to make a run of Buick wheels shortly. I was told I could have a set in approx three weeks. We shall see. I am aware of the threads that have been up on the board as of late, about Buick Rally wheel availability. Talking with WV, I am told that their source for the Buick hat sections went out of business and they are in the process of finding a new vendor. From time to time they find a lot of Buick center sections, and they are able make a run of Buick Rally wheels. Which apparently, they just did.
I know a guy with a 67 SS396, and he has 275/60R-15s on it, but he had to use air shocks on the back to get them to fit (hey, it was his dad's car and that was the thing to do 15-20 years ago!). It looks like they would fit with the proper backspacing, and rather than guess what the backspacing should be, I posted the question. Thanks.
i just bought a 65 skylark conv. wanted to put the 15x 8 weld wheels from my 79 camaro with 275/60/15 on it. they have 4.5" of back spacing and the tires hit the outter part of the wheel well. possibly with a 5 or 5.5 b.s. they would work. tight fit though. i eventually want to put 17" on it and i have to research that. someone on e-bay was selling a set of 18" budniks with a 5 or 5.5 that he had on his 67 skylark. dont know the tire size he had on them. good luck and let us know what fits.
Thanks, Paul. Sorry about the slow response, I've been under the weather the last few days. I ordered a set of Buick Rally wheels from Wheel Vintiques with 5.25in backspacing. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the help.
I don't know if its too late, but I had a set of 15x8" Centerline Telstars on my '66 with 5" backspacing (275/50's... 26" tall tire). The car sat on Hotchkis lowering springs. I just made a post about some backspacing questions, but I managed to wedge mine in with a heavy fender roll. The tires DID rub, and almost all the time it seemed. I had about an extra inch of clearance to the frame from the inside of the tire/rim. Hope that helps. I, again, am lost on the backspace issue... but hopefully what I've already done helps someone else--it just gave me a headache. :3gears:
I received my wheels from Wheel Vintiques. When they said three weeks, they meant three weeks. It was three weeks, almost to the day. The wheels look pretty good. Based on prior posts though it appears I got pretty lucky, as far as my order to delivery time. I think I'll be ordering a set of 265/50 R15s to mount on my new rims. I will go with the 50s rather than the 60 series tires. I plan on keeping 14 inch tires in the front for now (225/70 R14). I will be using one of my old 14 inch rims for a spare (with a new 225/70 R14), when I bought my car it didn't have a spare. The circumference of the 225/70 R14 is pretty close to that of the 265/50 R15, so for limited use I shouldn't have to worry about burning up my posi, should I need to put the 14 inch spare on the rear with the 15. Check out this handy site: www.eunos.com/tirecalc/tirecalcold.html My body is shifted on the frame a bit to the right, and I think the 275s may be a bit too much. The 225/70 R14 comes pretty close on the left side, and I am afraid the 275 would be hard into the quarter. Had I ordered the wheels with about a half inch more backspacing, I may have been able to fit the larger wheels. Now if I could only sell my old house, I might be able to afford those new tires. uzzled: Two house payments are killing me.
thats a great calculator. my friend has 265 50 15 on his 71 skylark. we had put my 275 60 15 on it and besides looking better it rode better and didn't handle much different. the 265's were very wide and low. his car will bottom out a lot more with those on it. let me know how you make out. thanks, paul c. p.s. i ordered some new springs for my 65 from detriot spring, it sits up too high but i was able to put my 275's on it for a test (the 14's that my car came with are bent and it had a shimmy) and it handled a lot better in turns than with 235 60 14 on it, and the shimmy at 75 mph went away.
67 Rear Rims I run Mickey Thompson ET Streets (28x11.5X15) on Weld Pro Star 15 X 8 X 5.5 R. Spacing rims. I also have a set of Hoosier (28 X 9 X 15 Drag Slicks) on another set of the same size Weld Pro Star rims for greasy places like Dragway 42. I haven't tried radials yet, but thought the info might help you cross reference sizes. Michael Dyer
I landed up ordering my wheels with 5.25in backspacing. I haven't mounted tires on them yet, I want to wait until I sell my old house. But comparing them to my stock rims, it looks like I should have ordered them with 5.5in backspacing. It appears that the rim relative to the center section sits about 1/8in further outboard on my new wheels compared to the stock ones. The extra .25in backspacing might have given me the necessary clearance to allow me put the next size larger tires on.
I'm tucking 19 x 8 with 5" of bs, and 255/45/19's low profile's on the back of my 67. Works for me, still a few inches away from the frame, and clears the fender lip. With more backspacing on a 15, a 275 shouldnt be a problem at all.
I got 17x10 with a 6.5" backspace and 275 40 17 tire on my 67 GS Convertible,if i had gone a 1/4 more backspacing it would be 100% perfect. Thanks
i just ordered centerline 17x8 with 5" back spacing for my 65 convertible and am going to run either a 255 45 17 or 245 45 17 on it. i tried a 15x8, 4.5 b.s. with a 275 60 15 which has a section width of 11" and it cleared the frame by an inch but would contact the outer fender well and lip if i hit a bump. the 17's are 10.0 and 9.6 wide so i should be ok.
