Old style crager wheels and tires fir my duster. Opinion needed

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Thanks. About an hour with some steel wool really cleaned them up. Here's what I started with.

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That 57Chevy should have had 5on 4.75 bolt circle. To mount them on a 4.5 bc, means they are Unilugs. As for me, notta chance would I run Unilugs on the front of my car.
Also; nottachance would I run 195s. Even 235s have marginal braking; and steering can be tricky when pushing thru corners on city streets. 235s should be mounted on a minimum 7.5" rim.
A lotta guys run 205s on 7s

Take a front wheel off and lay a straight edge across the wheel-mounting hub; then rotate the straight-edge over the calipers. Measure the interference. You need a minimum caliper to wheel clearance of about .25 inch, to allow for wheel-bearing play in the turns.
Rallys fit every time.
Ansen-sprints/ET-IIs/etcetera, and other similar kidney-bean slots, seem to always fit.
A wheel with a flat spider never fits.

If/when you run a tire on a too narrow wheel, the tire will take on a rounded profile at normal pressures, which will pull the outer tread band on each side, up and off the road, and wear out the center band prematurely. To combat this you have to reduce the pressure.
For front wheels;
and then, if you do that, when you turn into a corner, weight will transfer over from the other side, causing the tire to roll over onto the outside sidewall, and lift the inner side off the road. Effectively then, the road sees less rubber from that tire then one would expect. Consequently it may slip, and plow you right into a curb.

I have for decades, used the 85% rule.
Convert the metric branded profile size to inches, then multiply that by 85% to get the minimum width.
Thus a 235 is;
235/25.4 x 85% equals a rim of 7.86, rounds up to 8 inches or down 7.5.
On a 7.5, a 235/60-14 will run flat to the road at ~28psi, but will roll over quite a bit in the turns.
On an 8.0, that 235/60-14 will tolerate 30psi

As the profile increases, it becomes less fussy. But you cannot run a 235/70-14 on the front, due to the 27" height factor. Well, I mean you could, in a more or less straightline............ with the right backspace ......... but, 4 to 4.25 is the max bs before the wheel gets into the UBJ. Furthermore, the taller the tire gets, the sooner you have problems with scrub-radius, which manifests as "wander" on uneven surfaces.
In my experience;
For reasonable handling and long tire life with borderline adequate braking, I us the 235/60-14s on a 7.5 to 7.75 rim with a zero offset at 28 psi, for normal driving, and pumped to 30/32 on the weekends.
Zero offset means the center of the rim/wheel is where it mounts on the hub. Ie; A 7.5 wheel; measures ~8.5, outside to outside, so the center would be at 4.25, thus for zero-offset would require a 4.25 backspace.
An 8" wheel would measure 9" from outside to outside, so zero offset would be 4.5. Yur not gonna fit a 14 x8/zero-offset wheel, on the front of your Duster on account of the wheel will hit the Upper BJ; if not in a straight line, then for sure in the turns. If you space it out to clear, well then yur into scrub-radius problems. Even a 15x8" wheel will get into the UBJ, at 15x8x 4.5bs.

On the back, using the 85% rule, a 4.5 bs is about the limit before the tire sidewalls hit the springs, in the turns, at pressures lower than ~28psi. On my car, I moved the springs inboard, and narrowed the rear end, to fit 295/50-15s, on 10" wheels with a 4.5bs. but I gotta run 24psi, so yeah it rolls over onto the sidewalls in the turns; I got used to it, and now, I like it.
 
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Thanks for all the input.I think I am going to go with the 15x8 Rallies for the back.
I'll figure out a tire later I guess For now, I will probably use the 14 x 7 that are on the front and find an appropriate tire.Hopefully for the front. Any recommendations
 
The picture of my car in post #24 show how 15's on back and 14's on front look. I'm happy with it. Good luck!
 
33IMP said:
If they hit the leaf springs, that's an easy fix: spacers.
If they hit the fenders, no fix for that.
(Theoretically, if they hit his springs, he had too much backspace. Four inches? Too much? That's hard to believe.)
And at this point in time, I wouldn't spend ten cents for 14" tires or wheels.
Click to expand...
I found out that they were fifteen by ten with a four inch backspace with an l sixty tire
 
33IMP said:
I seriously doubt a 15x10 with 4" backspace will fit anything but a pickup truck, without lifting the *** end of the car to the moon.
Click to expand...
At some point somebody put longer shackles on my duster.The back end sets pretty high. He said his fit his stock duster 8 1/4 rear but rubbed the spring about 1"
 
Those McCrearys on the rallyes..... if they rubbed his springs, that easily fixed on your car....spacers!
I have spacers on three of my racecars. They dont scare me, at all! I made most of mine from steel or billet, with the center hole bored to fit the axle flange. If you want or need spacers, get the billet ones, not the cast garbage.
Just know you might need longer studs. I have 3"studs front and rear with open end lugs on all of my cars that use spacers. (An 11 sec ride, a 9 sec ride, and a used-to-be 8 sec ride).
 
33IMP said:
Those McCrearys on the rallyes..... if they rubbed his springs, that easily fixed on your car....spacers!
I have spacers on three of my racecars. They dont scare me, at all! I made most of mine from steel or billet, with the center hole bored to fit the axle flange. If you want or need spacers, get the billet ones, not the cast garbage.
Just know you might need longer studs. I have 3"studs front and rear with open end lugs on all of my cars that use spacers. (An 11 sec ride, a 9 sec ride, and a used-to-be 8 sec ride).
Click to expand...
He said About an 1" he thought...I can get them for 250 iam thinking
 
33IMP said:
Those McCrearys on the rallyes..... if they rubbed his springs, that easily fixed on your car....spacers!
I have spacers on three of my racecars. They dont scare me, at all! I made most of mine from steel or billet, with the center hole bored to fit the axle flange. If you want or need spacers, get the billet ones, not the cast garbage.
Just know you might need longer studs. I have 3"studs front and rear with open end lugs on all of my cars that use spacers. (An 11 sec ride, a 9 sec ride, and a used-to-be 8 sec ride).
Click to expand...
Do you think two fifty is a good price on those
 
If the McCreary's aren't too old to be used, (BIG if!) $250 is a reasonable price for the tires, so the wheels are free.
Have you priced tires lately? A nice wide pair of T/A radials is $500.
I'm looking at about $2500 for a new set of six on my avatar car.
 
33IMP said:
If the McCreary's aren't too old to be used, (BIG if!) $250 is a reasonable price for the tires, so the wheels are free.
Have you priced tires lately? A nice wide pair of T/A radials is $500.
I'm looking at about $2500 for a new set of six on my avatar car.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how old the tires are.They have still on that really doesn't mean anything.
I suppose.... How big a spacer can I safely run
 
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