61 tire replacement narrow whites size and mfg ?

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P

Philt

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Bronze Member
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Oct 18, 2017
Thunderbird Year
1956
Recently bought a 61 convertible as a tribute to the last car ride with my father.
Found a solid , older restoration. Drove it home on 4 YO tires and after a road side adventure replaced them all with what ever 14 inch tires can be found in south Missouri at 6:00 pm.
In the process of installing discs front and rear with new leaf springs
Getting conflicting tire size data . Currently has 205/75 14 black walls but references suggest 195/65.
Want to keep the skirts but maybe if possible something a bit wider than OEM just for appearance.
Experience from members that know the marque has kept me from making a lot of mistakes so thanks for any guidance.
Phil In Nashville
 
Philt said:
Recently bought a 61 convertible as a tribute to the last car ride with my father.
Found a solid , older restoration. Drove it home on 4 YO tires and after a road side adventure replaced them all with what ever 14 inch tires can be found in south Missouri at 6:00 pm.
In the process of installing discs front and rear with new leaf springs
Getting conflicting tire size data . Currently has 205/75 14 black walls but references suggest 195/65.
Want to keep the skirts but maybe if possible something a bit wider than OEM just for appearance.
Experience from members that know the marque has kept me from making a lot of mistakes so thanks for any guidance.
Phil In Nashville
Click to expand...
 
Check your rim size. You might have to go to 15" with the new disc brake setup.
 
My 64 has factory 14 inch wheels, it was a special order and listed on the build sheet.

I have 215x75 wide white walls and have had for 10 years without any issues and I have kept my fender skirts. I realize that the bodies are different. I live in Canada, the tires are Michelin and were purchased from a specialty company. I am not sure if they are still in business. I am searching for the invoice, I know it's here somewhere. I will post if I can find it.

Gord
 
Stay Tuned said:
Check your rim size. You might have to go to 15" with the new disc brake setup.
Click to expand...
Roger on the 15 inch wheels. Both front and back disc will require 15s . Good by to my nice 14 inch spokes. Let's start checking the junk yArd for some Ford 15.
 
I have disc front and rear on my 61 convertible with 205 75 14 wide whites
On wire wheels with fender skirts
Tires Bought from Coker, wheels on the car when i bought it.
 
Good info. Thats why Im putting off wire wheels until I can get a better understanding of what my front disc upgrades will involve. Apparently the 14 in. will need to be 15 in. upgrade. This forum is great. Thx.
 
I can tell you this much -- I had Tru-Spoke wires on my 64, and Tru-Spoke makes disk conversion kits for the same car, and they fit with the wires.

That being said, those wheels were terrible from the day I put them on -- never balanced correctly, had to take it to special places where they could balance "by the studs", ended up rebuilding nearly the entire bottom half of the car and still couldn't get them balanced, sent two wheels back to the factory with the tires on them, to be true'd up (at my expense of course), and when a third wheel collapsed on me that was that. Bought Cokers, were are MUCH, MUCH better. So -- if I were ever to convert to disks, believe me I'm going to find out exactly who makes the conversion kits before doing ANYTHING.
 
I have a disc brake conversion kit from ABS of California. It was shipped in 2014. Anyone have any experience with this kit? eyeball suggest a change to 15 inch wheels.
 
I just installed the Scarebird front disc conversion and have 14 inch wheels , no rubs and no problems .
 
I also used the scarebird disc conversion on my 60 bird with 14 in FORD wheels. The wheels need to be from a disc car. Mine are late 60s mustang18416651343_4148f62f68_c.jpgDISC ADAPTER ON BIRD SPINDLES.jpg
 
Looks like they improved them since i did mine 2 yrs ago.GXY components-500x500.JPGGXY G10 on spindle-228x228 NEW DESIGN.jpg2nd pic is new design. i did not try the stock wheels.
 
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