Replacing 1972 16.5 Inch Rims Advice

[SweetLou]

I have a 1972 Ford F250 which now is a grocery getter. It is in great shape and I really don't tow anything with it. I am finally getting rid of the original rims that were 16.5 inch and going to 16 inch. My question to anyone that wants to advise is what tire size you would put on this truck? I want common and cheap as in not very expensive tires. It only travels a few miles a week. The heat will get the tires before mileage.

[Grit_dog]

Wheel vintiques makes some nice 16" 8 lug steelies.
And Detroit Steel Wheel makes larger diameter steelies that are positively sick looking on vintage rides.

Maintain OE "look" while riding on dubz!

[CapriRacer]

Here's a link that might help:

Barry's Tire Tech: 16.5" Tires

[SweetLou]

I didn't ditch the thread, just been busy. Touchy people. All good information here to consider. I might just save my old rims so someday go back to original look. Possibly go to 17 inch and 265. Yes, will fill the wheel well but might be a nice look

[SweetLou]

Grit dog wrote:

SweetLou wrote:
Thank you all for the help. Another thing to consider is the offset so they don't hit the calipers.

Your questions are confusing.
You need to provide more info and state your intentions or none of us can be of any real help, but rather just grasp at straws as to what you're asking.
Offset and backspacing? Just measure what your current wheels are and find something close with similar size tire, or also measure your clearance at steering full lock front and back of the wheel and then you can decide what backspacing and offset will work with the rim width and tire size you want.

Thanks for clearing it up but what you said is what I was trying to say.

[BenK]

Ditto bigtoe’s comments and add...

Commercial tires come in 0.5” diameter sizes and do NOT have a safety bead and they carry weight a bit different than our tirres in whole inch diameters.

The safety bead is mostly for run flat and low pressure so that the bead won’t come off the rim.

The pop you hear when the tire mechanic mounts the tire on wheel and 1st air to ‘set the bead’. That is the tire bead running up and over the safety bead (the bump mentioned above) and hits the wheel rim. Also why they soap the tire bead before mounting on the wheel

Very dangerous to mount a whole inch dia tire on a half inch dia wheel.

It will seem to mount and inflate...but it will come off the bead area easily during a hard turn or bump.

To the OP, you can make the switch to 16” dia wheels and tires. It will weigh significantly less than the half inch commercial setup, but will not have the ratings of a half inch dia commercial tire...but...you won’t need that with today’s tire’s.

[BigToe]

Grit dog wrote:
Even though you’ve ditched this thread, I’ll add, offset or backspacing likely has nothing to do with it clearing the calipers. I can’t recall any truck up until the early 2000s that had big enough brakes to not clear 16” rims.

Can't say I blame Sweet Lou, if he in fact did ditch this thread, after you got done with him! So let me get my licks in too...

The 16" rim is actually wider in diameter than a 16.5" rim.

The difference is in the bead taper, which is steeper and more abrupt in a 16" (and all "even" sized truck rims) at 5 degrees, whereas the 16.5" rim has a shallower more gradual bead taper, at 15 degrees.

The steeper bead taper of the 16" rim, combined with the taller bead lip, makes for more secure tire retention, and also makes the outermost diameter (lip edge to lip edge) greater than that of a 16.5" rim.

The drop center contour is also different, and I don't anticipate any issues accommodating what I assume to be drum brakes on the 1972.

That being said, if it were my 1972, and it had original equipment rims, I'd be hard pressed to make the swap, even though I did exactly that in my 1979 E-350 van.

In fact, 3/4 and one ton van wheels from the 80's and up offer another source of 16" rims with the 8x6.5" bolt pattern.

The bump side bodies stick out a bit from the axle track width on that vintage of Ford truck, so as far as visual appearance, a 265 tire will appear to fill the wheel wells... in width, not just height... better than the most fuel efficient 215 tires.

[Grit_dog]

Even though you’ve ditched this thread, I’ll add, offset or backspacing likely has nothing to do with it clearing the calipers. I can’t recall any truck up until the early 2000s that had big enough brakes to not clear 16” rims.

[Grit_dog]

SweetLou wrote:
Thank you all for the help. Another thing to consider is the offset so they don't hit the calipers.

Your questions are confusing.
You need to provide more info and state your intentions or none of us can be of any real help, but rather just grasp at straws as to what you're asking.
Offset and backspacing? Just measure what your current wheels are and find something close with similar size tire, or also measure your clearance at steering full lock front and back of the wheel and then you can decide what backspacing and offset will work with the rim width and tire size you want.

[Grit_dog]

Lwiddis wrote:
My advice is stay wth what you have. It’s a grocery getter.

With 16.5s? Maybe makes sense if the rims are really nice. There are plenty to choose from in the $100-less than $200 range, but nowhere near the selection as 16s.

Besides, the OP didn't ask for opinions whether or not to keep them, he said " I am finally getting rid of the original rims that were 16.5 inch and going to 16 inch."

His question was regarding the type of 16" tires, which is confusing in and of itself, as they're just normal tires. Buy some in whatever size and flavor you want and put them on.

[SweetLou]

Thank you all for the help. Another thing to consider is the offset so they don't hit the calipers.

[Krusty]

I swapped the 235/85R16 tires on my F250 with 265/75R16 and they look much better

[Darryl_Rita]

Late model Ford's went to a metric bolt pattern with the Super Duty, in 1999. GM switched in 2011. Ram still uses the old 8x6.5 pattern. When we swapped to newer rims on our old F 350 SRW, I used a set of wrecking yard rims from an OBS F 350 PowerStroke. I think they were 6.5 wide.

[rjstractor]

FishOnOne wrote:

Hank85713 wrote:
check a tire/wheel store and see if late model 17's would fit. Really becoming common and cqan be had in all the same sizes pretty much. Also can find them readily on craigs list etc as factory takeoffs.

Be careful if selecting a late model Ford rim as they are a hub centric design and not a lug centric.

x2, late model rims don't even fit on my 2000 F250, so they are very unlikely to fit a '72!

[FishOnOne]

Hank85713 wrote:
check a tire/wheel store and see if late model 17's would fit. Really becoming common and cqan be had in all the same sizes pretty much. Also can find them readily on craigs list etc as factory takeoffs.

Be careful if selecting a late model Ford rim as they are a hub centric design and not a lug centric.