I'd like to hear your recommendations for wheels and tires for my 1967 Dodge Dart 270. I am mostly interested in sizes, but would also welcome recommended manufacturers.

Thank you, ahead of time, for your patience. I apologize if my question has been asked before. I didn't find an answer with the search function. If I don't provide the proper info to get an accurate answer, please ask questions!

Rebuilding a 1967 Dodge Dart 270 for street / highway driving. The vehicle came with 9" drum brakes all around with 13" tires with the small-bolt pattern. The rear end is stock at 7 1/4". I am upgrading the front brakes using the 10.95" "Stage 1" disc brake kit from Doctor Diff. This will also upgrade me to the large-bolt pattern at 5x4.5 up front while retaining the 5x4 small-bolt pattern in the rear. I have a couple of questions.

1. Looking forward, I will one day upgrade to the 8 3/4" rear end. What is the largest street tire I could get such that I could buy four of them and, after upgrading the rear end, be able to rotate tires without moving the leaf springs? (Does that even make sense?)

2. Will upgrading to larger tires have an effect on my speedo reading? If yes, can I adjust something mechanically so as to compensate?

3. How do I determine proper backspacing?

4. Even though I see that the Wheel Vintiques outlet sells 15" wheels for a 5x4 small-bolt pattern MOPAR, I assume that this would be unsafe for highway speeds. Is this accurate?

Safety is my priority here. Thanks, again!

you can use up to about 245 -45-17 with proper selection of wheels , adapters backspacing etc.

on stock wheels, either 5 on 4 or 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern you can go 225-70-14 without clearnace and rubbing problems.

of course you can do a +1 or +2 from that size as well which will put you into a 15" or 16" wheel -

All would be safe at any speed in my opinion if executed correctly


Info on +1 and +2 Sizes etc:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech ... ?techid=25



Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

What? 15" is the smallest diameter wheel I would consider as almost everything 14" is low performance.

I don't know of any wheels which fit both bolt patterns so that means carrying 2 spares. I swapped an 8.25" rear end into my '67 Valiant as it was much less expensive than buying an 8.75" and changing it to large bolt pattern as I had done with my '66 Dart.

I ran 235/45R17 and 255/40R17 on my '67 Valiant. If you went with 17x8" +30mm offset with 1" spacers in the rear you could run the 235/45R17 on all 4 corners. You will need to change rear ends to get the 4.5" bolt pattern to find affordable 17" wheels. There may be 4" to 4.5" adapters. If you get those get the billet aluminum ones as the cast ones are unsafe junk.

For 15x7" wheels with 4.25" backspacing (+6mm offset) I'd use 215/60R15.
For 15x6" wheels I'd use 205/65R15.

_________________
Joshua

Thanks! I apologize for not being clear. I am aware that no wheels will fit both bolt patterns, so I will have to run smaller wheels in the back for the time being. I'm trying to find out the size of the largest "street" wheel I can buy which would fit all four corners (after the rear end upgrade) without having to run offset leaf springs. I can buy two now and slap them on the car; after the rear end upgrade, I can buy two more and not worry about clearance issues.

I still don't know if I am being clear, so please let me know if you need more info. Thanks again!

8" wide rims are about as big as you can go without flaring/cutting the fenders or wheelwells or minitubbing. Personally, I don't mess with wheels smaller than 15" any more, and mostly 16" and 17". I do not go smaller than 7" wide either, except for drag skinnies occasionally. For ease of use and low cost, you can get Ford Ranger or Mustang wheels from about 2000 that are 16X7.5" and fit a 225/50-16 quite nicely. 245 width tires will work, as Greg said, but take more finesse with adapters/spacing.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

If you want a BBP 7-1/4 I have one at my shop I will give you. I also have a 10" brake setup I would sell cheap.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.