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Author Topic: Tire and wheels for my 77 cruising wagon  (Read 1053 times)

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Offline TheBloodyHammer

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Tire and wheels for my 77 cruising wagon
« on: February 05, 2018, 09:05:48 PM »
Hello all I am new to this forum. I just picked up a 77 cruising wagon and I’m trying to go for a shag wagon/raised rear end look. The question I have is that my car is a 4 lug with 4.25 spacing. The rims I want come with a 4.25 spacing but only in a 15 and not a 14. I'm considering going to a 15 since I get more tire options especially since I want bf Goodrich radial t/a's and I want to keep the front tires regular size and a bit taller and wider in the back and was planning on getting air shocks in the back. Only thing with 15s is I'm hoping they look cool and it don't look like a 4wd Subaru Outback. My buddy said I can go with 185/75r15 for the front 215/60r15 for the rear. Those tires are close to the same diameter...abo ut a  2" difference front to rear in width both should fit on that 15x6 wheels. Does this sound about right? Would I need spacer and if so what size? Should I stick with 14s? If I do I’d have to get a spacer that converts the 4.25 to a 4.5 since they don’t have the 4.25 in the 14s? Sorry for being so long haha I have included pic ideas of what I’m going for. Thank you!


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Offline Mattb

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Re: Tire and wheels for my 77 cruising wagon
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2018, 09:03:50 PM »
Have a 77 sedan that came with the original 13 in. wheels. Went with 15x6 wheels. Check out the Scott Drake Magnum 400s if you haven’t already. You can get them in the correct lug pattern and 3.75 back spacing. I wish they made a pinto center cap. I went with one for a mustang.Put on 185 60 15 tires since they were very close to the original diameter with no need to change speedometer gear. They are a bit wider than original.  Radial TAs dont appear to come in the size you mentioned for the front but looks like they do make them in 195 60 15 which is very close to the 185s I have on mine. Dont know how wide you can go on the back without having clearance issues but there are lots of sizes to choose from in the 60 series. If you go wider than 195 in the rear you will probably need to change the driven speedometer gear to get the speedometer to read correctly- assuming it was set up correctly for the current tires. Bottom line is I would go with the 15 inch wheels.

Offline TheBloodyHammer

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Re: Tire and wheels for my 77 cruising wagon
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2018, 10:32:39 PM »
Have a 77 sedan that came with the original 13 in. wheels. Went with 15x6 wheels. Check out the Scott Drake Magnum 400s if you haven’t already. You can get them in the correct lug pattern and 3.75 back spacing. I wish they made a pinto center cap. I went with one for a mustang.Put on 185 60 15 tires since they were very close to the original diameter with no need to change speedometer gear. They are a bit wider than original.  Radial TAs dont appear to come in the size you mentioned for the front but looks like they do make them in 195 60 15 which is very close to the 185s I have on mine. Dont know how wide you can go on the back without having clearance issues but there are lots of sizes to choose from in the 60 series. If you go wider than 195 in the rear you will probably need to change the driven speedometer gear to get the speedometer to read correctly- assuming it was set up correctly for the current tires. Bottom line is I would go with the 15 inch wheels.
Thank you for the reply! Those are the rims I was actually going to go with so this helps a lot. If I go with the 195 60 15 in the front do I run risk of having to get a spacer or am I good? Do you have any pics of your sedan, I’d love to see it to get a good idea of how it’ll look! Thank you once again


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Offline Mattb

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Re: Tire and wheels for my 77 cruising wagon
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2018, 10:28:00 AM »
Dont have any good pictures and the car is in storage for the winter. But if you like the “magnum 500” look I think you would like these. I have no regrets. The 185s I have on mine did not need a spacer and I would think the slightly larger width and diameter of the 195s would not require one. In fact the only thing I might have done differently would have been to use 195s all around on mine.   I cant really tell you much about going wider for the rear tires since I decided to stay close to stock. You may try contacting the wheel maker and or the vendors that sell them to see if they can help you out with that.