Re: 51 Patrician 400 Rear Tire Removal

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2008/5/6 8:31:42

Rear wheel well clearance on Packards, from the bathtub era (or perhaps beginning with the Clipper body shell) thru 1956 is pretty snug and many of us have had the experience of deflating a spare to mount it, and then reinflating on the car. But an L-78 is really pushing the tire size, its the rough equivalent of 9:00x15 according to Coker's conversion chart. 8:00x15 was the standard size for your 56 Patrician, though apparently 8:20x15 was an option. Some folks have experienced front clearance problems on full turns with 8:20x15, and also with 235/75R-15s, though others have not. Tire sizes can vary considerably with different manufacturers and where the wheel well clearance is marginal to begin with, it creates the problem you're experiencing. For the alpha-series tires, my 1948 Custon 8, originally fitted with 8:20x15 as a factory size, just barely accomodated G-78s and even then you needed to jack by the frame and wiggle to get the rears on and off.