Hey guys. As my other thread says, I’m new to cougars. The car came with some chromed steel slots on it but are heavily pitted and rusted, so while those go get dipped and rechromed I was wanting to run a set of somethin more custom. Will any mustang or ford 4 1/2 bp wheel fit and what’s the widest I can go with tubs? ( upper wheel wells are rusted out so what the hell go bigger and better right?) Thanks guys.
The gap between the inner lip of the quarter panel and the inside wheel well is 11 1/4 inches if my memory serves me well. However; the wheel well isn’t your clearance issue. The issue is the leaf spring. It only allows for a 9 1/2 inch tire between the quarter panel and spring… Tubbing is pointless, unless you also move the leaf spring toward center line of car. I moved my leafs near 2 inches toward center, and tubed my wells 1 1/2 inches, and have barely 1/4 inch of gap on either side of my 11 1/2 inch (at the side wall) tires?? Going any bigger than around 9 inch side wall tires is a strangely difficult project. Old cars just weren’t designed for larger tires…
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You may also want to look at replacing rather than getting the wheels rechromed. It may prove less expensive and it doesn’t sound like the wheels that came on the car are original. There are quite a few nice wheels out there that aren’t all that expensive and still come in 14" and 15" sizes.
Well Catvert68 the plans of keepin it in its original glory have changed, so bigger the better 
Are there any good cougar mags out there that are worth subbin to? Cats gonna roar instead of purr when we’re done with it lol I’m kinda sad that they don’t accept wide wheels like my c10 does lol 8 up front 10 outback and I don’t have to change a thing. What’s the widest I can have up front? Are there drop kits for em? Sorry I’m rambling lol I’m pretty excited to expand my base of expertise to fords
You can do a 17" wheel as others here have done. I’m not aware of anyone going larger than that. The key considerations are backspacing and width for fender/quarter clearance. There was a thread here or at MC.net that listed all the wheel and tire combos people have used and whether they had clearance issues.
Found it - here’s the link:
http://www.mercurycougar.net/forums/showthread.php?14221-List-of-Wheel-amp-Tire-Size-Combos
Can I run 245/45/17 tires on 17x8 wheels with a 4.5b.s. without having rubbing issues on a stock cougar? 68 obviously. Was generously gifted with a full set of tires, brand new. Also a set of 275/40/17 drag radials on mustang wheels. But I plan on using the 245s for regular use.
Adding to this, has anyone used the 99-04 SVT 17x8’s? They look pretty cool painted black.
Here is a link that might help you. It’s on MC. Net http://www.mercurycougar.net/forums/showthread.php?14221-List-of-Wheel-amp-Tire-Size-Combos&highlight=tire+size It lists a lot of different tire sizes and offsets.
Steven
i feel like an ass…i didn’t see Catvert’s post and link or i wouldn’t have asked…thanks guys, sorry.