I would like to put 15" American Racing Salt Flat Special Wheels on my 1955 TBird. Does anyone know what wheel width and back spacing I need?  Here's a pic of what I want my car to look like.

I’ve got those same wheels. 15x7, 3 1/2” backspace 225-60 15’s and 15x7 4” backspace 235-6015’s rear. They’re really tight, and I had to center the body on the frame to clear the rear. The front sidewall bulge just clears the upper ball joint. IIRC, the 4” in the rear was the most they could make.

A buddy has standard 6x15 3 1/2” backspace all around on a 57, and they just bolted on with 215 or so tires. I’m not sure I’d push it so far again. If you do, measure your car carefully.

He went with the polished wheel on a gunmetal grey metallic, I used the painted center. I wanted to tone it down a little from the chrome wires they replaced on the Thunderbird blue. Ignore the missing knockoff in the picture.



miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

I saw a set I really liked where guy dulled down the outer rim or painted them to look like weather magnesium which is what I think they were made to imitate. 
I found on a full size car a 6" fits with no mods and a 215 tire; the car came with 5". Good Luck, I'm sure it will look great.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Thanks for the help.  I will probably go with the 15" x6" and 215 tires.  I think those are the perfect custom wheels for a classic Thunderbird Hot Rod.  Torque Thrust IIs are nice, but they overpower the styling of the car in my opinion.

The 7s would be better, just in case you do decide to go larger in the future.  Both 215s and 235s have 7" in the wheel width range but a 6" rim would be too narrow for a 235.

Offset is the key dimension as once you figure out the ideal offset, it is always the same no matter the width of the wheel.  From Miker's experience, that would be +13mm front and 0mm rear but that also assumes that there are no changes with the suspension, frame, or wheel wells between the years that would change the requirements.


Lawrenceville, GA