Magnum 500 fitment question

[FASN8N]

I really like how the Magnums fill out the rear of this Mach 1, but I can't find a decent proven setup offered by any vendors.

I thought about 15x10's but it seems like I would run into tire scrubbing issues and that would be a headache. The rear fender lips have not been rolled and I don't know that I want to chance cracking the new paint. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have rolled the rear lips prior to paint.

The 15x7 wheel and 235/60/15 tires currently on the car just don't give the car enough attitude in my opinion.

Short of having the wheels sent off to be widened any suggestions?!

Thanks in advance for any tips you can provide!

 

[Austin Vert]

Hi Fasn8n,

From my own personal proven experience on my '73 Vert, you can go 8x15 rims with 4 1/2 inch offset up front married with 245/60 x15 rubber, and not get any rub or fit issues.That's what i did with my car. I have'nt tried 255/60 x15 rubber as yet, so i don't know about rub or fit issues with that tire.

For the rear, you can go 8x15 rims married with 255/60 x15 rubber and get no rub or fit issues. If you put a 275/60 x15 tire or a 295/50 x15 tire on, you will get fender lip rubbing issues.In my case i did get rub issues with both those tire sizes.

In my case, i ended up putting a 10x15 rim with a five inch offset, on the back with a 295/50 x15 tire. The way i stopped any rub issues happening was to move up to a five leaf spring with standard eye schackles. That stops excessive body roll behaviour with the lips coming into contact with the tires.I didn't modify my fenders at all. Now, i don't get any rub issues at all.

Hope that helps,

Greg.

 

[FASN8N]

Thanks Austin Vert, this should help as I weigh my options in the future. Good looking vert too!

 

[luxstang]

My car has 255/60/15 on the original 15x7 Magnums for the yearly inspection with no issues. The rest of the time I run 285/40/18 on an 18x10 rim with no issues. That is on a lowered car with no fender lip rolling.

15x10 should not give you any grief.

 

[FASN8N]

My car has 255/60/15 on the original 15x7 Magnums for the yearly inspection with no issues. The rest of the time I run 285/40/18 on an 18x10 rim with no issues. That is on a lowered car with no fender lip rolling.

15x10 should not give you any grief.

Wow, great looking vert! Thanks for the tips.

I just watched your video and love the stance on your car. Can you tell me more about the suspension/wheel/tire/brake setup?

Looks like it corners nice and flat which is not easy for these big cars.

 

[luxstang]

Brakes are stock with front discs.

The suspension up front is basically stock with just the one inch shorter 620lbs coils from Mustangs Unlimited. With that setup I ran 255/60/15 on 15x7 Magnums and 255/45/18 on 18x9 rims with no issues.

I then decided to lower it even further because the car sat too high with the low sidewalls. I did that by cutting one complete turn off the aforementioned coils which made a considerable difference. With that setup, the 255/60/15 will still work with no issues but the 255/45/18 will rub the fenders, even though the width and diameter of the two tires are the same. That is why I had to step down to 245/45/18 in the front.

Links:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-what-did-you-do-to-your-car-today?pid=29815#pid29815

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-what-did-you-do-to-your-car-today?pid=29937#pid29937

I would also not recommend going wider than a 8 inch rim up front because the smaller tire now looks a little skinny on the rim and the rim protrudes a little too much from the tire. It´s only an aesthetic matter but I don´t like it.

Under the rear axle are one inch lowering blocks. I think that my leaf springs might be lower than stock to start with. I don´t know if the car had the original ones when I got it but the new ones I installed (11 years ago) were about one inch lower than the old ones, although I ordered the stock ones. So I can´t really say, what is actually going on back there.

As for the complete write up on the rims and offsets and whatnot, here´s the link to what I did to it.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-my-experiences-with-bigger-wheels?pid=7816#pid7816

 

[FASN8N]

Brakes are stock with front discs.

The suspension up front is basically stock with just the one inch shorter 620lbs coils from Mustangs Unlimited. With that setup I ran 255/60/15 on 15x7 Magnums and 255/45/18 on 18x9 rims with no issues.

I then decided to lower it even further because the car sat too high with the low sidewalls. I did that by cutting one complete turn off the aforementioned coils which made a considerable difference. With that setup, the 255/60/15 will still work with no issues but the 255/45/18 will rub the fenders, even though the width and diameter of the two tires are the same. That is why I had to step down to 245/45/18 in the front.

Links:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-what-did-you-do-to-your-car-today?pid=29815#pid29815

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-what-did-you-do-to-your-car-today?pid=29937#pid29937

I would also not recommend going wider than a 8 inch rim up front because the smaller tire now looks a little skinny on the rim and the rim protrudes a little too much from the tire. It´s only an aesthetic matter but I don´t like it.

Under the rear axle are one inch lowering blocks. I think that my leaf springs might be lower than stock to start with. I don´t know if the car had the original ones when I got it but the new ones I installed (11 years ago) were about one inch lower than the old ones, although I ordered the stock ones. So I can´t really say, what is actually going on back there.

As for the complete write up on the rims and offsets and whatnot, here´s the link to what I did to it.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-my-experiences-with-bigger-wheels?pid=7816#pid7816

Thanks for the thorough response, I look forward to reading your posts

 

[luxstang]

Anytime