1968 Cougar question??

[minis4me]

I have a 1968 cougar with 14 inch rims and i want to put 17inch rims on it. Do you think they would fit and not rub on the wheel wells?

 

[Gunther]

It depends on the width and backspace of the rims. With 17 inch rims you would use lower profile tires than the 14's so they would end up being pretty much the same height.

 

[minis4me]

There New Goodyear p255/50/r17, on American Racing Rims 5 lug, theres a picture of them.

 

[mardyn]

Similar to a Mustang, I think you'll need about 4.5" backspacing to be safe, maybe a little more on the rear. I have 17s on my '69 and they work fine.

mardyn

 

[Gunther]

They would probably be ok as far as height and width go (I'm assuming they're 8" wide rims?). You would need to find out the backspacing and compare it to what you have on the car now.
Pull a wheel off of the car and put a straightedge or hold a piece of string tight across the lip of the rim and measure from that to the flat part of the rim that would go up against the drum/rotor. That is your backspacing.
Once you know the backspace and width of the old and new rims, you can pretty determine where the new wheels would sit on the car by measuring where the ones you have now are positioned (ie. distance from wheelwell to rim, rim to leaf springs....).
Hope that helps.

 

[Jay Wrix]

Pictures please!

I love those cars, I almost bought one for 1500.... And passed:doah:

 

[65ShelbyClone]

Yeah 17s will fit, but it depends on the backspacing and tire size. I have seen 18s on '65-66 Mustangs with short sidewall tires and they fit too....barely. I don't know the BS on '05+ wheels, but they fit the 65-66s with a 1" spacer. Generally speaking, if it fits on a '65-66, it will fit on a '67-70 Mustang/Cougar.

I found this compatibility chart over on stangnet.com:

http://www.dodgestang.com/mustang.htm