Tires for my 62 340

[Chuck D.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

David, I missed seeing your thread yesterday. I ordered as set of 7" wheels yesterday and the back space is only 3 3/4" which was my concern before ordering. I understand the 7" rally wheel has that backspacing and a couple of guys said that is what they are running on their 62s'. It looks like I may need to return what I ordered. I'm not going have the wheels sticking out of the fenders . Dag-gone it!

[David B.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

Chuck, I do suspect the ones you ordered may stick out a bit. Below is a picture of how mine looks. On the inner front, the tie rod ends are about 1/4 in from the edge of the rim. One of the fronts will also just rub the inner fender near full lock, but I never considered that a big issue, as it will only happen at low speed.



Edit: Below is a better shot of the clearance at the rear, which is probably your main interest. There is about 3/8 in between the inner sidewall and the leaf spring.



[I know, I'm prepared to be pelted with empties for the redlines... The tires are also not speed rated--they are BFG Radial T/As--but neither the Vredesteins nor any other speed rated option seemed to be around a few years ago when I was shopping].

[Chuck D.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

Thanks David. Where can I get a set like yours if need be? I like the dog dish. That was my original intent if I could find the right wheels.

[Chuck D.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

Duke, I need to look up offset, I'm not familiar with that figure nor what it represents.

[David B.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

Mine were a local Craigslist find, but it took a couple of months of watching for them to show up. Ebay may be an option, although they are sort of heavy which will affect shipping.

Wheel Vintiques also makes a reproduction in this size--I have never seen these in person, but the picture seems to look right (and these would be ready for paint):

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wvi-62-5734044/overview/

[Duke W.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

Offset is the distance between the wheel mounting plane and circumferential centerline of the wheel measured between the bead mounting surfaces. Take a wheel with a tire mounted or not and lay it on a flat surface inside face up. Lay a straight edge across and measure from the ground to the straight edge and call this distance a.

Now measure between the mounting plane and the top and call this distance b.

Offset = a/2 - b

Note that if b is more than a/2 offset is negative, so the wheel will stick out more than if offset is zero or positive.

Offset is an industry standard measurement. Wheel width is measured from the bead mounting surfaces. If it's 7" the overall width will be wider depending on the design of the bead mounting flanges, which varies based on material and detail design, so backspacing will vary somewhat for the same offset and different flange designs.

For some reason aftermarket wheels usually don't spec offset, just "backspacing".

Duke

[Chuck D.]

Re: Tires for my 62 340

Duke, very helpful. I'll calculate what I have vs. what I'm getting and see where I stand. Something I found during everyone's input and help is the following site www.willtheyfit.com. It allows you to inter your existing tire/wheel specs and then your new ones. It does a comparison and then provides you a diagram overlay of a generic suspension so you can visually and mathematically compare old vs. new. A picture is sometimes worth a thousand words. Everyone, as always, has been extremely helpful.

Thanks Chuck (58064)