Nice! Can’t wait to see them in action 

44 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Lucy's new shoes are in the house!!!! I plan to get them on her this weekend unless the monsoon starts again....

Now that’s a bed of rubber!

26 minutes ago, Last Indian said:

Now that’s a bed of rubber!

Yup. Sure is Last Indian. 255R60x15 fronts and 275R60x15 rears.

These are the biggest tires I've had on a passenger car since I had my L60x15s on my '73 Lemans Sport Coupe back in 1978!

Exactly what I ran on the Z, except I ran Kelley’s back than! With a double wishbone and a straight axle they give a great ride & handle great as well!

Okay Sunday was the big day. Lucy gets her new shoes.

Here is the before picture with the dirty stock 14x6 rims - minus the trim rings and center caps. The center caps went on the new rims.

Here she is with the new shoes. The new wheels definitely fill out wheel wells.

My wife, son, and I jumped in the car for a little test cruise once the wheels were on and we didn't make down the end of the driveway and we hear a horrible scraping noise !!!  I am thinking I have some sort of tire rub against something or the rear tires are too close the the fender lips. I get out, nothing obvious. So I back the car up and it's still scrapping! Uggh!

My son said the noise is definitely in the back. So we jacked up the rear end of the car. I took the passenger tire off first, I didn't see anything obvious. I notice that that rear diff didn't spin. Hmmm. I got the tire off and the star adjuster fell onto the ground, it was bent, and partially destroyed!

Then I found a spring embedded next to the brake shoes.

So two trips to two different Autozones later to get a new star wheel adjuster.

I was able to re-use the old spring and the new star wheel and put the driver's side drum back together.

Once the drum was back together, the kid and I tested the drums (we put some lug nuts on the drums) and put the car in gear while on the jack stands. No problems. We put the new tires back on and put the car in gear with it still on the jack stands. No problems. Finally we let the car down, double checked the lug nuts one more time, and went for a quick slow trip around the sub-division. No problems. 

Finally, we got the wife and kid back in the car and drove it through town and the put the car way. 

Whew!

A one hour changing of tires turned into four hours of fright, worry, relief, and finally triumph. I told Jacob that working on cars always takes twice as long as you planned.

For the record, there is a slight scratch on the inside of the brake drum. Not sure if I am going to do anything about it right away. I do plan to take the car to Tuffy after the Widetracker's Dustoff and have the front end alignment double checked, and I may have the brakes inspected while I am there.

What a day!

Oh my, what a frightening sound that must have been! Least it was only in your driveway and not out on the public roads.

New wheels definitely look great though! Worth the heartattack of the drum issue  

Them sure are purdy....... Better brake issue than tire rub!

31 minutes ago, Ringo64 said:

Oh my, what a frightening sound that must have been! Least it was only in your driveway and not out on the public roads.

New wheels definitely look great though! Worth the heartattack of the drum issue  

I am not so sure about the heart attack thing Ringo. I had flashbacks to 1978 when I had the rear tires rubbing on fender lips of my '73 Lemans.

31 minutes ago, JUSTA6 said:

Them sure are purdy....... Better brake issue than tire rub!

True that -  but I could've done without the drama.

So 15x7 fronts, 15x8's rear sir? That looks awesome!

Thanks bud. Indyman Joe set me in that direction. That's what he runs on his '72 Luxury Lemans. It definitely fills up the wheel wells.

Edited June 4, 20197 yr by Frosty

Have a question, where is the send off burn out video of the old tires?

I don't dare. Those bad boys are close to 10 years old. Lots of tread left on them but I don't need them to come apart and rip open a fender while doing it. That was the whole reason for the new shoes in the first place. The tires were getting long in the tooth and I was not comfortable driving them much longer even though they look fine.

You want burn out videos? Talk to my main burn out man Indyman Joe!!! He's all too happy to oblige - one DTP charge at a time!

Damn what is with us and Brake issues? Love the rims! Really looks good. Pontiac true as well! Really fills the wheel wells up Lucy is a Happy Cruiser for sure. So glad the brakes didnt come apart on one of your long hauls.

On 6/3/2019 at 8:41 AM, Frosty said:

Okay Sunday was the big day. Lucy gets her new shoes.

Here is the before picture with the dirty stock 14x6 rims - minus the trim rings and center caps. The center caps went on the new rims.

Here she is with the new shoes. The new wheels definitely fill out wheel wells.

My wife, son, and I jumped in the car for a little test cruise once the wheels were on and we didn't make down the end of the driveway and we hear a horrible scraping noise !!!  I am thinking I have some sort of tire rub against something or the rear tires are too close the the fender lips. I get out, nothing obvious. So I back the car up and it's still scrapping! Uggh!

My son said the noise is definitely in the back. So we jacked up the rear end of the car. I took the passenger tire off first, I didn't see anything obvious. I notice that that rear diff didn't spin. Hmmm. I got the tire off and the star adjuster fell onto the ground, it was bent, and partially destroyed!

Then I found a spring embedded next to the brake shoes.

So two trips to two different Autozones later to get a new star wheel adjuster.

I was able to re-use the old spring and the new star wheel and put the driver's side drum back together.

Once the drum was back together, the kid and I tested the drums (we put some lug nuts on the drums) and put the car in gear while on the jack stands. No problems. We put the new tires back on and put the car in gear with it still on the jack stands. No problems. Finally we let the car down, double checked the lug nuts one more time, and went for a quick slow trip around the sub-division. No problems. 

Finally, we got the wife and kid back in the car and drove it through town and the put the car way. 

Whew!

A one hour changing of tires turned into four hours of fright, worry, relief, and finally triumph. I told Jacob that working on cars always takes twice as long as you planned.

For the record, there is a slight scratch on the inside of the brake drum. Not sure if I am going to do anything about it right away. I do plan to take the car to Tuffy after the Widetracker's Dustoff and have the front end alignment double checked, and I may have the brakes inspected while I am there.

What a day!

Well looky looky! Ain’t them niiice! Have a Frosty one on me!! That’s why you should always carry a boat anchor. On the serious side, did the old wheels stick to the drum at all when you removed them.

19 hours ago, indymanjoe said:

Damn what is with us and Brake issues? Love the rims! Really looks good. Pontiac true as well! Really fills the wheel wells up Lucy is a Happy Cruiser for sure. So glad the brakes didnt come apart on one of your long hauls.

That's makes two of us. I just hope our bad karma with brakes is not contagious Joe!!!! 

1 hour ago, Last Indian said:

Well looky looky! Ain’t them niiice! Have a Frosty one on me!! That’s why you should always carry a boat anchor. On the serious side, did the old wheels stick to the drum at all when you removed them.

Now that you mentioned it Last Indian, the driver's side rear tire did stick a little when I took it off, I had to push the drum back on slightly. I wonder if that is when everything went to hell-in-a-hand-cart?

29 minutes ago, Frosty said:

That's makes two of us. I just hope our bad karma with brakes is not contagious Joe!!!! 

Now that you mentioned it Last Indian, the driver's side rear tire did stick a little when I took it off, I had to push the drum back on slightly. I wonder if that is when everything went to hell-in-a-hand-cart?

That would be my guess! I’ve seen it before. That tweek on the drum pulls the shoes or shoe, which pops the spring or adjuster enough to move it out of position. That is why I always use either a gasket between my wheels and the rotor or drum whichever the case may be or anti-seize, painted on the surface of the rotor or drum where the wheel hits, even on the locating hub. It also helps to stop the dielectric action of the dissimilar metals from causing corrosion.

Edited June 5, 20197 yr by Last Indian

She went from 14 to 15 overnight..Lucy hit Puberty LOL

cant stop looking at the before and afters..15's for the win! 

Frosty would you think that a 10" rim would fit without rubbing in your wheel well?

Definitely not 360. The tires with the 8" rims (4" backspace) I have now require that I roll the rear fender lip to avoid rubbing. I have just purchased the tool for it. That said - it's interesting that both Indyman Joe and I have '72 Lemans. His is a hardtop Luxury Lemans and mine is Sport convertible model. I purchased the same exact tires he runs today. He has plenty of room for the 275R60-15 without having to roll his rear fender, where I have a clearance issue if I weigh the backseat or trunk down too much. Regardless, I think a 10" rim is too much for both cars.

The only way I see a 10" rim fitting is at least a 5" backspace and rolling the fender, or notching the frame and mini tubbing.

One other thing - I remember John Sawruk saying that the widest production rim Pontiac made was the 8" for the Firebirds. So I think they did that for clearance reasons.

Edited July 10, 20196 yr by Frosty