[DanEC]

I think Mickey Thompson rated them up to a 9 inch wide wheel. The research I did seemed to indicate another 1/2 inch was not a deal breaker. BF Goodrich rated their TA radial in this size for up to a 10 inch wide wheel.. Also, Chev equipped the C3 Corvette with 225/70-15 tires on 8 inch wide rims for years and years - but that size tire is only rated up to a 7.5 inch rim. I had to pull my old notes out of my files to recall all of this.

My sidewalls are about 7/16 inch past the edge of the rim on my back tires. My front tires are rated for a max wheel width of 7 inches but I have them on 7-1/2 inch rims so they look pretty consistent with the rear.

When going with undercar exhaust and running them inside the wheel wells, you get into a lot of issues with tires and wheels - and the fact ERA has only allowed enough room for a 27 inch tall tire doesn't help. True to the manual, my 27 inch tires will lightly rub on the forward part of the wheel well housing on a good dip. I can lengthen the trailing arms a little to eliminate it but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I could have gone with 7-1/2 inch rims on the back and ERA even had an option to build a wider track rear assembly to move the wheels out to the fenders. I thought it would look a bit squirrely with a wider track and a narrower tire. The other option was to just mount a standard 7-1/2 inch wide rim on the rear with a 70 series tire and end up with the wide hip, street roadster look where the rear tires and wheels appear lost inside huge wheel wells.

In the end I went for the "Day 2" look of a wide hip street roadster that someone mounted SC wheels and 60 era tires on.

Compromises, compromises.