You had a few issues going on with those... The stock rims are 6" with 3.5" BS. This means that you added a stout 2.5" ALL towards the fender. When you get a rim that wide on these cars, you need more BS than stock to tuck them under. You left alot of room empty under the car that could have been used to get the tire from your fender. Also, 235s are too narrow for an 8.5" rim. This pushes the sidewalls out farther than intended to get on the bead. Simon: 245s work good on 6-7 wide rims. 6" needs 3.5" BS to keep off the fender. 7" needs 4-4.25 BS 255s look real nice on our cars. They are a little on the tall side for gearing, but fill up the wells perfectly without getting close to anything. Especially on 7" wide rims with 4" BS. You can go with 8"s on these, but you need to start pushing your BS to it's limits to keep the tires tucked. Most folks here post that they use 4.25" to 4.5" max. One post I saw a member saying he has 4.8", but those were 17s and I am sure that was the reason they fit. The sidewalls are shorter, narrower, and stiffer on 17" tires. Then some folks have gone for the gusto with 275 50s and 60s. They can work on 7" rims to make them a little less tight, the 60s anyway. The 50s probably would struggle to fit a 7" rim. Personally I think the 60s look too tall for our little cars, and the 50s look too short for their width, especially since I don't care for 8" rims on our cars, again because of the smaller car size. The best combo I have seen was 15x7s on 4" BS and 255-60s. Up front, if you want to drive on the street without beating your car up and skidding to a stop, then you need to be around 205-215s. Shoot for 25.5-26" tall up front on 4-6" rims. Personally I like 5" up front. The 3.5"s are just to narrow to drive around. I have done it. Dave Edit: Everyone has different taste, but mine is that the front tires could use a little less BS. The stock 6" wide with 3.5" BS look like they could use about 3" BS to fill up the wells better. Just my opinion. However, to widen out 5" wide rims to fill the well, you would need 2.5" BS to equal the position of a 3" BS rim 6" wide. Therefore, if you look at a 3.5 wide, then you can't even put enough BS on it to get it to stock track width. This makes the car less stable and leaves a bunch of wheel well looking naked (IMO)
Are you relocating the springs? 1" narrowed and 3.75 BS will probably put you into your leaf springs if you don't relocate or coil-over. That is net 4.75" BS. With 15" rims, most guys guys get up to 4.5" BS but then it is touchy with the leafs. Why go through the trouble of narrowing the rear (unless you coil-over and mini-tub), when you can just put more BS on the rim and have the same net effect? Do you just want to get that old-school deep dish rim look? 8.5" rims with 4.5" BS should tuck from what I have seen. Depending on tire size though, you will be close to the leafs. Dave
Have you checked around the site? There are several pics here of cars with that combo. It looks pretty good, especially from certain angles.
I agree, that setup was temporary because I had the stuff sitting around. Here's my current combo: 26x10 slicks on a 15x10" rim w/ 4.5 BS...
These wheels are not available in any other back spacing. Narrowing the rear is not a problem anyway. I suppose I can narrow the housing 1/2" on each side. That would be roughly the same as using a stock width housing and a 4.25" back spacing. Don't take this the wrong way Simon but......I can do it. I've run 9.40's on a 27x9 slick with a stick shift car. I don't plan on this Maverick being much more than a mid-11 car. With your equipment you shouldn't need any more tire than the 235's either. We are talking about a M/T Drag Radial you know.
