The idea is that a wheel that actually fits the car and does not cause tires to rub will allow you to drive your car in a more high performance manner without fear of killing yourself when you shred a tire at 80 MPH going down the highway.

Brake caliper clearance is problematic with the wheels you have chose.  You may wind up needing a spacer in the front.  Find out by mounting a wheel on the car BEFORE you put a tire on in case you have to return them.  They won't take them back after you put rubber on them.

i have 17x8 on my car with 4 3/4" back spacing and Yokohama 235/45/17 all around.   It doesn't rub, but I did roll the rear fender lip and massaged the front of the inner wheelhouse (it rubbed in those two spots when I had16x  7" with 4 1/2" backspacing wheels).

The big advantage of 7" wheels is they are easier to fit on the 64-66 cars.  IMO this is why they a popular.  They don't look that different.  For a street car I think they might be the best option (certainly they are the most foolproof).

Last edited by CraigMBA (5/12/2013 11:35 PM)

Torque Thrust M wheels clear cobra brakes just fine.  I have 235x45/17 on the front of my 66 with 17x7 wheels.  You will need to roll your fenders even with the 17x7 wheel, using the M wheels.  Mine have 4.72" backspacing and clear everything just fine.

Tire grip will not be your limiting fator in cornering.

MustangSteve wrote:

Torque Thrust M wheels clear cobra brakes just fine.  I have 235x45/17 on the front of my 66 with 17x7 wheels.  You will need to roll your fenders even with the 17x7 wheel, using the M wheels.  Mine have 4.72" backspacing and clear everything just fine.

Tire grip will not be your limiting fator in cornering.

Thank you for the input, I appreciate it.   Most of my concern comes from wondering if I'll have too much power for the amount of grip that 225 or 235 tires can provide, or if I'll have to feather the throttle around the corner to avoid swinging the back end around.
 

Last edited by 50 Proof (5/14/2013 1:19 PM)

MustangSteve wrote:

IS this a race car or a street car?  It cannot be BOTH and do either one very well.  You have to decide where it will NORMALLY be used and build it to do that the best it can be.  If it is a race car only, then you have lots more mods to do before it begins to drive how you think it should.  Be realistic.  Which is it?

 
I appreciate your honesty and bluntness.  Having thought about your question over night, the reality is I won't have the time capacity to race this car on a track as frequently as I would like to.  It would be more reasonable to target it to be a street car.  I will get more enjoyment by being able to drive it on the street as a street car than to build a race car and get frustrated by my lack of time to be able to race it.  That is what I will need to keep reminding myself of.

Steve, I have the 06 16x7 with 225x55 on the back of my 66. Looks like a lot of room in the wheel wells. Could I safely upgrade to 235. I have the 1.25" spacers. Street car and track days once a year

http://www.rimsntires.com/specs.jsp
This tool works well to compare tire/wheel combos.

MustangSteve wrote:

Sometimes I have to whoop out the TOUGH LOVE questions.

For a car normally driven on the street, it is much more important that the wheels do not scrape the fenders than it is to have the widest possible tire.

For a track car, it's even more important!

This car has either 16x8 or 17" wheels and stock wheel houses (class rules only allow for "stock" style suspension and minimal body mods).  it has 4.5 leaf springs and has to be pretty street able because its an endurance race car that runs on public roads.

That look like enough cornering grip for you?