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Hello forum............I am currently running a 17/18 F/R combo and have decided that I am going to go with a 17" x 9.5" in the rear to mount a Drag radial. What backspace are you guys using for this wheel?
I could be coaxed into a 16" as well to fatten the sidewall some. The idea is to leave these tires on permanently.
Here is where I am at:
This is where I want to be:
If you own the above Purple car (Which is a beauty.....)...chime in and tell me what you are running. (The photo was from Google images).
I'm still struggling with what to do with my own wheel fitment, kind of thinking one day to go over to the dark side and try maybe 17s, but for now I'm hanging on to my 15s.
I'm running some pretty big tires, and just went through a while I'm at it exercise. The project was to swap in 4.11 gears, but ended up upgrading half shafts, shorten rear spring, relocating spring bolts reducing wheel adaptor thickness,...oh...drop the trans to swap in a custom converter.....Any way in all that I found the backspacing I need to fit my tires. The tires are MT 295 55 15, and measure 28x11.6 on my 9 inch wheels. With a effective backset of 4.8 inches I have just under 1/4 inch tire to frame clearance, and the tire sidewall sticks out 1/2 inch. A 275 60 would easily fit under the fender but what's the fun with that?
So if I were to go with 17x9.5 wheels, I think 5 to 4.75 inches backset will get you where you want to be. If you like big tires......use the 4.75 to give a little more room to the frame.
Here's a link to a tire I have my eye on if I go to a 17 inch wheel. M&H Tire
Last edited by The Money Pit; 02-07-2019 at 01:05 PM.
I'm still struggling with what to do with my own wheel fitment, kind of thinking one day to go over to the dark side and try maybe 17s, but for now I'm hanging on to my 15s.
I'm running some pretty big tires, and just went through a while I'm at it exercise. The project was to swap in 4.11 gears, but ended up upgrading half shafts, shorten rear spring, relocating spring bolts reducing wheel adaptor thickness,...oh...drop the trans to swap in a custom converter.....Any way in all that I found the backspacing I need to fit my tires. The tires are MT 295 55 15, and measure 28x11.6 on my 9 inch wheels. With a effective backset of 4.8 inches I have just under 1/4 inch tire to frame clearance, and the tire sidewall sticks out 1/2 inch. A 275 60 would easily fit under the fender but what's the fun with that?
So if I were to go with 17x9.5 wheels, I think 4.75 to 5 inches backset will get you where you want to be. If you like big tires......use the 4.75 to give a little more room to the frame.
They make a 5.06" B/S.....I think you are on track.
BTW...read your blog some number of years ago......pretty cool ride......it must be a hoot all out......what is your best ET?
I have 17x9's and a 5" backspace.. 295/40x17 tires. I have a 3/8 spacer behind the wheel, just because it's closer than I was comfortable with to the parking cable bracket. It didn't rub, just close.
You don't mention whether you have any clearance modifications already done on the rear? To fit my 17x9.5 with 5.05" backspace, I had to relocate the handbrake cable to the top of the trailing arm, shorten the rear spring, and re-bend my swaybar slightly. BUT, none of those things were much in the way, and a small spacer (or a little less backspace) would have fit fine. I believe there are others using somewhere around 4.75" backspace with no modifications.
With 285/40R17:
With 255/50R17, narrower but taller. I did prefer the appearance with the extra sidewall height.:
Last edited by Metalhead140; 02-07-2019 at 02:54 PM.
Hello forum............I am currently running a 17/18 F/R combo and have decided that I am going to go with a 17" x 9.5" in the rear to mount a Drag radial. What backspace are you guys using for this wheel?
I could be coaxed into a 16" as well to fatten the sidewall some. The idea is to leave these tires on permanently.
Here is where I am at:
This is where I want to be:
If you own the above Purple car (Which is a beauty.....)...chime in and tell me what you are running. (The photo was from Google images).
Thanks!!!!
Jebby
I like the setup you are running now. To me, that just looks really, really right.
If the silver car wasn't in storage I'd pull one and measure it. With 285 tires it was pretty easy, parking brake cable and narrow rear spring. IIRC the spring was not absolutely required on this one but since I was changing it I went a bit of extra room there.
I should have noted - I'm seriously considering going to a 275/50r17 shortly when I finish wearing out the 285/40R17s - will give me an inch more sidewall height than current, ~3/8" more than the 255/50R17s. Not as good tyre choice, but now that I'm running a set of 18"s with semi slicks on the track I don't mind as much. For road use the extra ride height and nicer (imo) looking taller sidewall might be worth the trade-off.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 02-07-2019 at 03:53 PM.
Been so long since I put my offset T-arms in I forgot to mention that, so yes....the e brake bracket is out of the way, and I removed my rear sway bar. Not sure if I'll end up getting a shorter one, or if the 440 lb springs will be enough.
The side wall height is very important to me for both the classic looks, and saving my back from the pot hole invested roads here in Pa.
My issue with the spring was that the factory length meant the spring end was touching the rim. By shortening the spring, (I separated the spring, cut one end off the main leaf and made a new hole, then drilled a new centre hole before reassembling) the spring bolts sit on a slight angle and the spring end has lots of clearance between it and the wheel/tyre.
The sidewall height can have less impact on ride comfort than the tyre itself - my 285/40R17 Continental ExtremeContactSports ride much better, grip much better (several seconds on the track, they grip as well or better in the wet than the Invos did in the dry), and have lasted much longer (~18,000 miles and 9 competitive events so far - the Invos were bald after just over 6,000 miles and 5 competitive events) than my 255/50R17 Nitto Invos did. Admittedly the ride comfort of the Nittos was probably worsened a little by the slight stretch to the sidewall on the 9.5" wide wheels. But the difference between them is night and day, which is the only thing holding me back from jumping at a set of 275/50r17s. There are some decent drag radial options in 275/50r17 though, if straight lines are more your thing than corners.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 02-07-2019 at 05:12 PM.
Yeah...this is going to be a weekend drag special for me.....the strip is 12 miles away. IMHO, the sidewall needs to be taller to soften the hit.
The 17"/18" setup is a looker......but if I am going to pop for new drag radials, I am going to get them in a size that works better.....a 17" or even 16" would work for me.
Leaning more toward a 17" but can't really get the height I want unless I jump down to the 16".
Thanks everyone for ideas.........please post here if you have more!
Yeah...this is going to be a weekend drag special for me.....the strip is 12 miles away. IMHO, the sidewall needs to be taller to soften the hit.
The 17"/18" setup is a looker......but if I am going to pop for new drag radials, I am going to get them in a size that works better.....a 17" or even 16" would work for me.
Leaning more toward a 17" but can't really get the height I want unless I jump down to the 16".
Thanks everyone for ideas.........please post here if you have more!
Jebby
Here's an example of a 275/50R17 - good looking old school tyre-to-wheel size imo, with decent sidewall height. 1" taller overall than a stock 255/60/R15. Obviously this isn't a c3, but there's a number of guys in older threads talking about running this size on the rear of a c3.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 02-08-2019 at 07:42 PM.
I think in the above, the front looks great but the rears are a bit too far outside the fender. They don't match and the rears look wrong that far out. Even if you took the rear tires off I bet the rims would be just past the top of the fender where the front sits right.
Last edited by CanadaGrant; 02-08-2019 at 11:33 PM.
I think in the above, the front looks great but the rears are a bit too far outside the fender. They don't match and the rears look wrong that far out. Even if you took the rear tires off I bet the rims would be just past the top of the fender where the front sits right.
Not really trying to show the car, just the look of the wheel/tyre size. On my car that tyre will fit inside the fender.
Not really trying to show the car, just the look of the wheel/tyre size. On my car that tyre will fit inside the fender.
. Ah! Ok. The wheel and tire look great. Those wheels are old road race looking stuff that are pretty nice but the fitment in the pic on that car just looked a little off.
Last edited by CanadaGrant; 02-09-2019 at 01:25 AM.
02-07-2019, 11:52 AM
American Torq Thrust II 17"x 9.5 backspace.....
