Quote: Will 15's work ok on my 66? I thought 14's was pushin' it. Any thoughts?
Well, it depends on how you define "work" here. If you mean physically bolting on, this is no problem. You can run considerably larger than 15" wheels on a '66 Dart. Many 17" and probably all 18" wheels even have a very interesting advantage - the top of the ball joint fits neatly inside the wheel. With a setup like that, you could run more backspacing than usual on the front (on 16" or smaller wheels, you're limited to about 4.25" of backspacing) to cram really wide tires in there. My '66 is running 16" wheels with 225/50R16 tires on all four corners. I did have to roll the inner fenders to keep them from rubbing on the fender lip up front, but they fit quite well, and narrower or shorter tires - or a higher ride height - could also prevent rubbing.
Of course, whether this looks right is another issue. You'll need fairly low profile tires to get the same diameter as stock if you go to 15" wheels - the stock 175/80R13 tires are about the same overall height as 225/50R15 tires. The look of tires with these sizes isn't at all like something you would have seen in the '60s, and my wheel and tire package is even more distorted, with lots of aluminum and very little rubber. The look is more contemporary than classic. Whether you want this look is a matter of taste, but I like the handling that goes with low profile tires.
We had quite a debate over whether the taller B-body spindles could be a problem. I was skeptical too, but we eventually had one guy show up who had done a lot of computer modeling of the suspension geometry and field tested B-body spindles on A-bodies built for hardcore handling. The results implied that the B-body spindles not only held up well, but could possibly be a performance advantage. Most of that advantage wouldn't matter on a street car or a drag car, but it could be useful for a few extra tenths of a second if you're campaigning a Street Modified autocross car.
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