1961 Lincoln maximum wheel width

[Chris Australia]

My first post on this forum so please be kind!
I’ve just purchased a 1961 Lincoln sedan in Melbourne, Australia and am looking to update the wheels to the Isotope Alexa 18 inch. I’m also looking at adding a Wilwood big brake kit front and rear, 14 inch, which apparently is suitable for this wheel.
Can anyone please tell me the maximum width of wheel that would fit a 61 Lincoln?

Regards
Chris

[Lee]

Is your mind made up? Is it too late for an intervention?

[1Bad55Chevy]

https://isotopewheels.com/

That Alexa wheel is NICE! That's a really classy looking wheel looks like something that would have been stock! I would just call them and ask because obviously they deal a lot with these cars!

Be ready for some lecture about load ratings. People here tend to hate anything besides original!

I think you should mount RC component wheels on the back 15x15 beadlocks with 33x10.5W tires!

[frasern]

The original tires barely fit, and they were tall and skinny. I have 235 75 15s on my '67 and they rub when cornering, others have reported the same. The suspension has no provision for limiting turn, so you would need to fabricate some kind of bump stop, or learn to swing wide on corners. The offset of the rims is more important than width, for this reason.

[1Bad55Chevy]

The original tires barely fit, and they were tall and skinny. I have 235 75 15s on my '67 and they rub when cornering, others have reported the same. The suspension has no provision for limiting turn, so you would need to fabricate some kind of bump stop, or learn to swing wide on corners. The offset of the rims is more important than width, for this reason.

So it's the height that's an issue? If so couldn't he just run a 235/45/R18? That would be almost an inch smaller in diameter then the tire you are running.

I have no actual advice on this, I am just here to read and learn things about a car I will probably never own..

[frasern]

My tires are shorter than 915 15s (OE tires), the contact is from the sidewall rubbing the A frame, or from the tread width, which was much narrower than the casing in those years, whereas todays treads are as wide or wider than it. As stated, a rims offset can alter that.
9.15 is almost exactly 235 mm, but radial tires have more bulge in their casings, the shorter sidewalls of a 45 will have reduced bulge, so maybe a moot point, but worth considering before purchase.

[Suicidekid63]

I'm running 1976 Mark deep dish wheels on my 1963. They are 15x6, 5x5 w/ 4" backspace. My tires are Diaomdback 235/75R15
Zero issue with rubbing, but this backspace is max, I think you could go without clearance issues.

[Chris Australia]

Is your mind made up? Is it too late for an intervention?

Hi Lee,
It’s never too late. I’m here to learn. What do you recommend?

Regards
Chris

[Chris Australia]

I thank everyone for their comments. Much appreciated.

Regards
Chris

[Lee]

Is your mind made up? Is it too late for an intervention?

Hi Lee,
It’s never too late. I’m here to learn. What do you recommend?

Regards
Chris

Chris, I’m an old guy, and I look back at some of things I did to cars when I was young with regret. I was just so certain that I could “improve” a cars appearance, that I wasn’t about to listen to some old fogeys tell me differently. I suppose it was the same for my generation’s grandfathers hot rodding a ‘32 Ford coupe, or our fathers turning another ‘49 Mercury into a lead sled. So I understand the inclination.

In the case of your ‘61, these cars are just about as close to “works of art” from a mainstream car company as you will find. Tony is the real expert here on this, but suffice it to say that they were immediately recognized as a groundbreaking design, it won awards for its beauty and aesthetics, and was roundly applauded, even today. 35 years later, I can still stand back and look at mine and think “You are a gorgeous car”. Hubcaps and all. I could never be so vain as to think I could improve upon that.

Now, if you’d like to play around with say, a ‘61 Imperial, go right ahead. In fact, I’d encourage it. These were most definitely NOT works of art.

[Chris Australia]

Is your mind made up? Is it too late for an intervention?

Hi Lee,
It’s never too late. I’m here to learn. What do you recommend?

Regards
Chris

Chris, I’m an old guy, and I look back at some of things I did to cars when I was young with regret. I was just so certain that I could “improve” a cars appearance, that I wasn’t about to listen to some old fogeys tell me differently. I suppose it was the same for my generation’s grandfathers hot rodding a ‘32 Ford coupe, or our fathers turning another ‘49 Mercury into a lead sled. So I understand the inclination.

In the case of your ‘61, these cars are just about as close to “works of art” from a mainstream car company as you will find. Tony is the real expert here on this, but suffice it to say that they were immediately recognized as a groundbreaking design, it won awards for its beauty and aesthetics, and was roundly applauded, even today. 35 years later, I can still stand back and look at mine and think “You are a gorgeous car”. Hubcaps and all. I could never be so vain as to think I could improve upon that.

Now, if you’d like to play around with say, a ‘61 Imperial, go right ahead. In fact, I’d encourage it. These were most definitely NOT works of art.

Hi Lee,
I thank you for your thoughts. I am largely against modifying cars. Specially landmark models like the 60’s Lincolns. My primary concern is that I live in a major Australian city (yes, we do have fairly big cities in Australia! ) and I am concerned with braking performance. I have always driven and enjoyed my cars rather than looking at them in the garage. As such, I thought a large disc brake kit on the Lincoln would be cheap insurance. The larger diameter wheels would of course accomodate said brakes and the Isotope Alexa rims seemed to be in the spirit of the originals. I did have a fine collection of vintage motorcycles but sold them due to very difficult modern traffic conditions unfortunately.
I suppose I’m looking for a balance between keeping true to the original design (which is what I fell in love with) and being able to safely cope with modern traffic.

Regards
Chris

[Lee]

Chris, that is a very good argument in your favor. I can only offer up my own experience, but after 100,000 miles of all sorts of driving conditions in my drum brake ‘62, I don’t consider them unsafe at all. It does require some knowledge of the inherent limitations, namely, maintain safe distances behind the car ahead (which is a good idea for anybody), and shift to low gear descending long downhill grades. And I don’t routinely drive much beyond 70 MPH.

I think the biggest benefits available from discs are something that I personally never really use: resistance to very high heat situations. Like from quickly repeated stops from high speed, where drums will begin to fade, or long downhills without downshifting (as earlier mentioned). I find the stock drums are easy to modulate just at the edge of lock-up (or as easy as any non-ABS equipped vehicle) and in a panic situation, the rears will lock just slightly before the fronts.

The Wilwoods can undoubtedly be an improvement in extreme situations if you get them dialed in well, but there are a lot of inherent chassis limitations (true for all luxury cars of the era) to overcome in order for them to work predictably, e.g. soft shock valving, low rate springs that allow a comparatively huge amount of nosedive and weight shift, long rear leaf springs in large rubber bushings that like to wrap up under hard braking. In other words, there is a whole lot more to performance braking than just the brakes, just as there is a lot more to going fast than just a high horsepower engine.

[frasern]

The '65 and newer Lincolns had disc brakes with 15" rims, that is a common swap in your year. But also, using '63 aluminum drums will help reduce fading. (They are getting hard to find.)
I have found the stock drum brakes to work fine in everything I have driven with them, I would consider an upgrade to dual master cylinder though.

[Suicidekid63]

I also have stock aluminum drum brakes and have no problems with them. A dual master would help, but if you have speed control option, as I do, this is a no go, unless you delete the speedostat. No happening for me. I just keep up on regular maintenance on brakes and am fine with drums.

[Stuart M. Cohen]

Hi Chris, and welcome to the forum!

I have a 100% stock 63 sedan and have driven across the continental US twice, and have been in all 48 US states and have never had any concerns with stopping the car. Now, I don't do over about 110 KMH when I drive, and that may be one reason. However, when these cars were designed, they were the best on the road in terms of technology, and as mentioned before, there is no need to try to improve on that.

It's like when I read on the forum about people who are having problems with their stock carbs, and switch them out. As I mentioned, my car is 100% stock and I've never had any problems on an ongoing basis, providing the carb was in good shape. Parts do need repair.

Now, having said all that, it's your car and like I say, "cars are like spouses, you gotta like 'em". For what it's worth, stick with stock and drive the hell out of it.

You can see the pictures and narratives of my trips on my site.