OK, so now I finally get the front fenders back on the 52 F-1 with the new 235-75R15 tires and wheels, and I got an "oh ****" moment.

My tires are TOO BIG!

I have M-II IFS with stock A arms and springs, nothing trick like dropped spindles. Using Fatman's cross member.

What is a good fitting and good looking front tire size?

 

Did you install the MII? What ride height do you want? and explain too big.

 

Those should be just shy of 29" tall and I don't think they are more than 8" wide if that

If your going to have to go smaller than that it is really gonna look strange

 

We installed the M-II per Fatman's instructions. By too big, I mean the tires will hit the fenders when I turn.

 

Sounds like you need a rim with more backspace. Here is a good link, take a look at it and do some measurements on your truck...it should make more sense after you learn how to set the backspace. https://www.rsracing.com/tech-wheel.html

 

Try a 225-75 or even a 225-70 on the front before you go looking for new wheels...

 

Here's a link on how to build an easy device for measuring the vehicle
WHEEL SPACING MYSTERY SOLVED

 

Agreed. It sounds a lot more like a wheel problem than a tire problem. You didn't give us any clue as to what wheels you're using. ie; size/width/offest.

 

Hey Jon,
I'd like to think that you are the only guy who has run into this problem with the "tires too big". Well - I did the same thing.


We have a 1950 F1 with a No Limit Mustang II Coilover IFS - we are running 255-45-18's for all 4 tires on our truck. They are 27 inches in diameter with a 10 inch width... I'm trying to avoid buying both new smaller front wheels & tires as that's $800. The write up & advice we received here on FTE is on the thread below - I hope it might help you.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1185579-1950-f1-wheel-tire-advice-2.html#post12224599


I may follow the FTE advice & go with smaller tires & try to leave the 18 inch wheels as is for now. The recommended tires are 215-45-18's which
are 25.6 inches in diameter & 8.5 inch's in width. Personally I think the width is my biggest issue - this should give us an extra 3/4 of an inch on each side....


o Two other short term bandaids we did so we could drive the truck as is for the time being. We put in a Spring Spacer on the left side to keep the spring from compressing so far - this all but eliminated the rubbing when going through dips, etc.


o We also ratcheted our coils up as far as they would go - approx. 5 inches to move the fenders as far above the tires as possible.


o Our alignment is still way off as the places say they can't do the right camber, caster, etc. with the tires so close to the fender.


Good luck over there. I'll report back after getting the new tires.


Ben in Austin

 

I had the same problem....the Fatman crossmember and stock springs. I ended up putting 3/4 inch spring spacer on top of the springs to get my lower control arms level. I then had a choice to get fender clearance...I did some trading with the local tire shop and swaped out the 235-75R15's for 215-75R15's....they are narrower and shorter. The 235's are 235mm wide so 9.25 wide. The 215's are 8.46 wide. Also, since the 75 is the ratio of width to height, the height went from 28.9 high down to 27.7, so a little over an inch shorter.

It looked like this with the new tires. Since then, I have put on around 50 miles and the springs settled in about an inch.




It's hard to see from the angle of the second pic, but it has less clearance than it did right after assembly,

 

I think you just wanted an excuse to post more pics of your truck.

I'm glad you did!!!

 

I also had the same problem, now I have different size tires on the front than the back.
My front tires are 205/65R16 on 7" wide rims. They fit perfect now. I will still carry one spare, the size of the fronts. I will just have to get the flat fixed quickly.

 

Don't want to disagree, but here is more info on the wheels
15"
6" wide
3.75" backspace
offset unknown....

I'm not sure I know what offset means. If we know the rim width is 6" and backspace is 3.75" do we still need to know offset?

Now that you got a clue, what would you recommend?

 

Not to hijack, but along the same issue, where do you find rims with defined backspacing and offset? Some time ago (way before I was ready to worry about wheels and tires) I had found a source for various backspacing etc.
Now I can't find any sources... :0

 

ssj7kids, From what I understand Offset is how far from the center of the rim that the wheel bolts to the rotor/drum. Negative and positive depending on which side of center it is on. Don't even ask me which way is negative and which way is positive. I agree, the only measurement that matters is the backspacing. You can actually order wheels from some manufactures with the backspace that you want - US Wheels will do it for you, but they told me that they would only do it and ship them with no finish on the wheels.
With my TCI MII front end I needed more backspace, the most I could find on a 7" wide rim was 3 1/2" so I went with a smaller tire on the front then the back - all four rims are the same, just different size tires. Because of the large backspace I ended up putting 1 1/2 spacers on the back wheels to fit right. So, as I posted earlier, my fronts are 205/65R16 and the backs are 235/75R16. The fronts are 25" diameter and the backs are 29.5" diameter.