I am very curious, mainly about the 17x8 mustang bullitt rims. I'm highly considering doing a bullitt themed restomod for my 57' fairlane 500. The build would basically be stock with a dark highland green metallic and white paint job (with gold and stainless trim), with discs and the 17" bullitt rims. I know that people have said that 17x8's of other rims would be pushing it bc there's not enough room in the front, but being it's a higher offset, i dind't know if there'd be more room, being there's more room on the inside then the outside???



All help is greatly appreciated :-D

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

I put the 2005 Mustang rims (7 x 16) on my Thunderbird (couldn't pass up the $180 price tag) and I liked the retro-Halibrand styling. The mounting face of this wheel is 38mm (÷25.4) = 1.50 inches offset outboard to the centerline of the rim and tire. Ford marked it with the 38 mm dimension inside on the casting. If you can - have someone look at the ones you are considering, they may be marked as well.

I don't have specific measurement information - but ... for Ford to put those 8 x 17 inch rims on the same car (the Mustang) and try to maintain equalized clearances....I think they would have to have utilized the same amount of offset. Make sense? The "backspace" to the edge of the inside rim would be greater by 1/2 inch to maintain that position.

In order to mount the 7 x 16 rims with the tire centerline directly on the hub mounting face would require a 1-1/2 inch thick wheel adapter. That thickness corrects for the offset

Other considerations would be -

How close does the inside sidewall of the front tire come to the steering knuckle? I have used 1-3/4 inch adapters with my set-up to get the inside tire sidewall away from the upper ball joint. 

Are the bolt patterns the same? The Mustang part is 5 on 4-1/2 - what is yours?

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

it's the same. they're 30mm, 5.72" of backspacing if i can remember.

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

So the centerline offset of the Bullit wheel is 30 mm ÷ 25.4 = 1.2 inches (rather than the 1.5 on mine). Makes the wheel set to outboard by .3 inches more than mine.

Which tire are you going to use? Mine has a 225/50/16 on there so the section width (fat part of the sidewall) = 225 ÷ 25.4 = 8.86 inches. If you take the tire size (section width) you intend to run and divide by two - then add the clearance you want from the upper steering knuckle (this is for the fronts now) and compare that with what you've got on there now - you'll be getting somewhere. The position of the steering knuckle - depending on the spindle height (the Granada disc brake versions are different than my 56 by an inch for instance) may be lower than the maximum sidewall width location - in which you can ..... by careful measurement tuck the wheel in a bit closer.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

i mean, i could do a 215 or a 225 55/17 is what i was thinkin'. That would equate to roughly the same size as the recommended 215/75/14 on the stock wheel... i'm mostly worried about that 8" wide thing... I even found a company that makes the 17x8 with a 0mm offset.. would that be better?

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

gotta remember that you have a T-Bird, i have a fairlane

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

I mean, correct me if my theory is wrong... but a 215 tire is 8.5" wide.. tons of guys run those on the front of there vehicles.. you're running a 225, which is roughly 8 3/4". it would make sense that you could run an 8" rim.... but it would be mainly dependent upon the offset of the rim, correct?

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

finally refound the link i was looking for http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

Yes, it does make a difference with the Thunderbirds. My OEM 'bird wheels had their mounting face 1/2 inch outward from centerline (inside edge pulled toward the knuckle). The tires were 205/75/15's. I checked the clearance at the upper ball joint - and then chose a spacer to maintain that clearance with the new wheel and tire combo. So it turned out to be a 1-3/4 thick spacer/adapter would work. The wheel centerline went from being 1/2 inch inboard of the mounting surface - to 1/4 inch outboard. The 225 tire had plenty of room in the wheel house on the outside.

The real fun on the Birds  - dunno about the sedans - is at the rear. The closest clearance inside turned out to be from the leaf spring to the sidewall - behind the axle (the springs are not mounted parallel - wider to rear). At the outside fender lip it was at the centerline of the axle (when I sat on the fender to collapse the spring a bit). So at the rear I used a 1-1/4 thick adapter - and could have used a 1 inch to pull it in a little more - but the 1 inch thick adapter looked spooky to me (not enough meat for the studs). 

I looked the tire wheel calculator - but it only had clearance specs for T-birds and trucks - no sedans. Guys have told me that if you want to have the same tire front and rear - even on the sedans - you are best to use 225's as the maximum and go from there. If you were to put the 225's on the 8 inch rims the section width would go out about .2 - to about 9 inches - pretty much even with the rims.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

yeah, makes me think that it's gonna work great if i find a set with a 0mm offset...



The stock 14x 5.5/6(?) have a 0mm offset right?

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic