Hi everyone. I know there is a million threads about wheels and tires and I have looked at quite a few, but I just want a definitive answer to some questions I have. I would like to put 17 inch rims on my 73 Comet (5 lug). I've seen that many people run 7 inch wide wheels up front and 8 inch wide wheels out back, but I'd like to run 7 inch wide all the way around to keep it simple and to allow me to rotate tires. My main question is what the backspacing needs to be, and then if yall have suggestions on tire sizes I would appreciate that as well. By the way, if I go through and put new wheels and tires on my car, the original ones will be available if anyone is interested.
If you want to know what you can run the answer will always be the same...measure YOUR car. I'm not trying to be smart with that, it's just that these cars are old enough, have been modified enough, and varied enough to begin with that what works on one car often doesn't work on another car. That said, it sounds like you've done a lot of homework on the site so you probably have a good idea what works already. Given that the rear already accepts a bigger wheel than the front, if you look at what's working for everyone at the front it is nearly always going to work on the rear.
I’ve never measured for new rims or backspacing so I’m not completely sure how to do that. I do know however that the car is completely stock and is still sitting on the original wheels. From the research I’ve done, people GENERALLY say that 4 inches of backspacing will work for a 17x7 all the way around. Any input on that would be appreciated along with tire size recommendations.
A tire size calculator may help to figure out what size tires to buy. https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc
I run 17s on my Maverick. The ideal back-spacing for a Maverick is 4 inches. You can run 3-3/4" on the rear. You can run 4-1/4" if your tires aren't too wide. But yeah, 4-inch is perfect...
As for tire size with 17x7" wheels, I suggest 225/45-17 (25 inches diameter) or 225/50-17 (26 inches diameter)...
