Hey,
It's my first time posting on here and had a few questions, I have a 98' F-150 2wd with the 8ft bed, body is in great shape for the most part, but there is some rust on the bottom of the doors, took it to a few body shops and they said they only fix is new doors and it would be about $4000 to do, I'm a college student so that isn't an option for me and was wondering if there was anything I could do to help fix the issue? Also I was wondering what the biggest size tires I could fit without a lift(although I would love to have the cash to put a 6'' lift on it) guy at the tire shop said 295's would be the biggest but i wanted to be sure, also any tire reccomendations would be greatly appreciated, prefferably ones that would fit on a 16'' wheel, as I bought new wheels when I got the truck because I couldn't stand the rusted steel rims it came with.

Thanks for your time, it's greatly appreciated.

In short:
-Rust on bottom of the doors, anything I can do to clean it up/fix it?
-What's the biggest tires I can fit on it stock without a lift, and tire reccomendations would be great, preferably ones that would work with a 16'' wheel?

 

Welcome to the site!

For the tires, a 295 what? I'm assuming he was talking for a 16" rim but your missing the middle number ha. Off the top of my head I'd say a 31x12.50r16 would look nice or a narrower tire like a 32ishx11.50r16 would look good too. Can't think of any metric sizes off the top of my head, but you can check manufactures sites for the true size, or play around with this: http://tire-size-conversion.com/metric-tire-conversion/ to get a general idea of the size.

The only rubbing I could think of you having is on the frame at full lock or possibly on the bottom corner of the valence, but this depends on the manufacturers specs (not what's on the sidewall) and the tread pattern. And it depends on the wheels you bought. Since you said you bought new wheels are they factory replacements or if not, what's the width and backspacing/offset on them?

 

Haha yeah sorry forgot to add that 16'' wheel currently, running 235/70-16 so they don't come close to filling out the truck. Also there was no change in backspacing from factory, and couldn't find an exact number based on the wheels I have they are 16x8 for the wheel.

 

College student with no cash...just buy stock size tires and save your gas money....at least until you can afford the 6inches youll want later

 

Well, if you already bought 16x8 wheels, the stock 235-70's are right at the limits for an 8 inch wide wheel. They are 29 inches tall. You don't want to go too tall because that will effectively change your gear ratio to a point where it will become quite sluggish.

My 03 has 255-70's stock, those are 30 inches tall and are fine on 8 inch wheels.

 

Throw some Rustoleum rust converter on the bad spots to slow the rust's progress.

The only cheap route would be to buy patch panels and weld them on yourself... It also wouldn't hurt to look around your local salvage yards for an entire undamaged door, then you'd only have to pay for paint.

 

I had a dent in my door, searched around c list for a while in my area and nearby areas, found a red door that matched perfect about an hour from my house for like $100 bucks, swapped it myself and said "suck it!" to that $1300 body shop quote.....try that for your rust...maybe youll get lucky on craigslist or junk yards

 

buy some 265/75/16s they're about 31" tall and fill the wheel wells decent and get a set of used doors, your truck will thank you

 

265-75's if you get LT are right at the edge too - 8" rim max. P-metrics are good out to a 9" rim.