Pre-war (up to 1942) 1940 Lasalle Side Mount Spare Tires

[Ben Medlock]

Needing some help figuring out what I'm missing and or doing wrong. Here's a list of questions on this subject:
1- The fender wells have 2 holes where I believe something should be installed. My guess is some kind of bumper or rest for the tire to sit on. See attached pic of the fender well. I understand the bottom hole is for drainage but its the 2 holes up front I don't know about. Any idea what goes there?

2- I have 2 pads that I thought mounted in those holes but the bolt pattern does not match up to the fender holes. But, the bolt spacing on the pad looks to match the 2 flat head bolts on the bottom of the well. Was that pad somehow attached to those flat heat bolts?

3- When the spare tire is in the well there is very little room for the cover to squeeze in there. Is the tire too big or what am I missing?

Thanks is advance for any help

[Ben Medlock]

Not getting any replies on this post so let me narrow it down to 1 question: It seems like I recall reading in some post that someone had the same problem with the tire being too big for the fender well so they dropped back from the stock 7x16 to a 6.5x16 to allow more room for the cover to fit. Cant seem to find that post again. Can anyone confirm or deny this would be the thing to do?

Thanks

[harry s]

     I had the same problem with my '37. I tried Dennmans or Lesters, can't remember which but they were too wide to fit into the wheel wells. The tires were 7.50x16 and the tread was wider than Firestone tires of the same size.
     I think those two small holes in your wheel well are for the small rubber pads that support the tire. There might be pads for sides also.   Harry

[Ben Medlock]

Thanks Harry. I do believe I'm going to drop down .5 in the width size to a 6.5 to allow more room for the covers. I can always add some filler if need be. Sure would be nice to know for sure what kind of pads go where. My OCD just cant stand not knowing for sure but if if learned one thing on this rebuild, there's a lot of unknowns on these cars.