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Have a 1972 that I want to put wider wheels on. The backspace on the new rims is at 5. What kind of work would I need to do, will a simple spacer do the job?
Any help is better than none,
Thanks
Last edited by Drainage; Nov 13, 2018 at 03:05 PM.
You might want to mention the width and diameter of the wheels you will be using to get a more meaningful answer.
i.e., If you are using a 8" wide wheel (with 5" of back spacing), a 1" spacer with locate the wheel in the stock position... but that probably doesn't answer your question either...
With that wheel and 5" of backspacing you are not going to want to use a spacer. (At the very least it would require longer studs in the hubs.) You will want to use a Wheel spacer/adapter like this.
A 1" adapter will clear the control arm and spring and but also move it 1/2" further out board with your 8.5" wide wheels, which should clear your inner fender edge. https://wheeladaptersusa.com/collect...rvette-s10-cts
You might want to post a picture of the wheel center/lug nut interface so we can see if the wheel is hub-centric or lug-centric. This would help to determine what type of adapter you should use. Corvette rally wheels were both hub and lug centric. The Corvette alloy wheels were hub centric.
So here's the old ones, backspacing for these are 3.5. The new ones are nearly identical in design minus backspacing, they dont make them like they used to. I wish I would have read this earlier I just had the wheel off.
HUGE difference between a spacer which I have witnessed cast aluminum thin spacers that totally fell apart while on the car in use....then again I have been running VBP wheel adapters....taking '89 vette wheels to my '72 vette that has slight flares to the body, far as I can tell.....
I feel it is essential to keep the same wheel center line to keep the loading on the suspension to stock specs....bushings/bearings struts, etc......I measured from wheel flange where weights would be clipped on to the mounting flange....7" offset for the '89 wheels......2.5" adapter which of course uses 10 bolts per wheel to get to the rotor surface, like shown above.....so net offset at 4.5 inches.....
stock rim measured same way....3.5" offset......don't forget the rim/wheel is 9.5" w vs 8" wide and to boot the aluminum is thicker than the steel where the tire mounts/flange....
so my wheel centerline is the same......NOW I had to move the ebrake cable, I went behind the rotor, others go on top.....at any rate, it's outta the way, the tires just clear the stock thinner sway bar, and the chassis.....in front I had to limit the steering radius to keep tires off the sway bar/frame....not by much, never notice it in driving....still tighter radius than a C4.....
72 vette, wider wheels
