That "rolling" takes care of the outer contact area, but how much clearance between the tire sidewall and the leaf springs (the OTHER place they get close to)?
You're worried about simple angularity of the rear axle in slow speed situations, but don't forget that the leaf spring bushings can give some too, in higher-speed cornering situations. As the body causes the bushings to deflect laterally. NOT to forget the clearance between the quarter panel/wheel house to use a plastic scrub brush to wash the sidewalls! Removing the skirts only help so much of the way. PLUS, on my '66 and '67, the clearances in that area vary from side to side.
"THE Look" might be what you're after, which is fine, as is having a wider tire under there, BUT if it can cause concerns about the sidewalls rubbing during ANY type of driving situation, downsize the tire's width a little so you don't have to worry about such things. Considering the price of tires in that size, no need to scuff of damage the sidewalls during an evasive maneuver on the freeway.
The widest tire used on drum brake station wagons was 9.00x14. The H78x14s or P245/70R-14s on my cars had just enough wheel well clearance for me to get a plastic scrub brush between the tire and the body, to scrub the sidewalls and whitewalls when washing the car. Both cars have fender skirts.
FWIW, there CAN be issues with tire hydroplaning in wet weather, with that wide of a tread on the ground. Which makes the tread design much more important to minimize that. The other thing is that many tires in the wider sizes have less tread depth (when new) than other tires have when 1/3 worn out. Check the specs on the tirerack.com website. And that doesn't usually decrease the price any, either.
Perhaps I'm being a little generational here, but where I'm at in TX, this time of the year, deer are known to be on the highway after dark, either standing looking around or running in front of vehicles. It's better to have to worry about getting a new tire because of tire/body contact as you yank the steering wheel sideways, brake, and try to miss the animal, than get the related body damage fixed, but then I'd rather not have to worry about a tire issue either way.
Your car, your money, your desires, which I respect.
Thanks for posting those "max specs".
CBODY67
