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Trial Fit 18 x 9.5 Wheels...With Pic's!


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I finally decided on a new set of wheels and picked them up this afternoon. I went with a staggered 18" package with 18 x 9.5 rears and 18 x 8.5 fronts. Well I think they look great, and the rears hould fit under rolled fenders using Modern Motorsports adapters. So here's the pic's:

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The next pic's show the clearance at the strut tube. I may have to go with a 8" spring to allow enough room for my tires. I'm thinking of 265/35-18 or 275/35-18.

 

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The pic below is looking straight down. You can see these will require some rolling...but I already figured I would need to.

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Nice wheels! I like the big polished lip! Mmmmmmm dish! LOL

 

Is the suspension compressed in those pics? I found that when my car is on the ground the top of the tire is pretty even with fender lip but up in the aire its like 2" outside the fender lip.

 

I went with a 265/35 for my 18x9.5's and the tire is pretty much even with the lip of the rim. I think 275's would give it a very very slight bulged look. I just got some cheap tires for now which are Falken ST115's. The biggest that discount tire has for this size rim is the 265/35. I would have gotten a better tire but I'm a little strapped for cash with the new paint and a lot of little stuff for the car lately! LOL

 

Guy

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Nice wheels! I like the big polished lip! Mmmmmmm dish! LOL

 

Is the suspension compressed in those pics? I found that when my car is on the ground the top of the tire is pretty even with fender lip but up in the aire its like 2" outside the fender lip.

 

I went with a 265/35 for my 18x9.5's and the tire is pretty much even with the lip of the rim. I think 275's would give it a very very slight bulged look. I just got some cheap tires for now which are Falken ST115's. The biggest that discount tire has for this size rim is the 265/35. I would have gotten a better tire but I'm a little strapped for cash with the new paint and a lot of little stuff for the car lately! LOL

 

Guy

Yes, the lip is fantastic. The suspension is mostly compressed with the jack and jackstand on the lower control arm as close to the wheel as possible. The other side is on the ground, so it would sit different with the right side on the ground as well. The rim is a little over 10.5" wide, so a 275 would probably fit without changing to a shorter spring.

 

I'm still thinking about it...I have the 9.5's back on and I'm taking a closer look.

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I got the complete set of rims for $520 plus tax.

 

For a while I was thinking the 9.5's might be too wide for the back, but I'm sticking with them. In the pictures you can see that the suspension isn't fully compressed, so it should move in a little more once it is. Right now I just have the one corner of the car jacked up, so I'm going to raise the whole car so that it's level to get a better idea of clearances.

 

The Modern Motorsport adapter I'm using is approximately 1" wide, and the wheels are advertised as +35 offset; so the net result is approximately a +10 mm offset. The front may require different size adapters.

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If I were you and had wheels that wide I would stretch some tires on the fronts and rears. That way when you will roll the fenders and the suspenison compresses, the tire will be angled and travel in the same motion as the suspension causing it to run parrallel with the inside of the fender lip....if that makes sense to you...

 

You wont have to go this crazy but just to give you an idea of what I mean....

 

009.jpg

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Here is an old picture of my car with 275/50/15's on the back (with a 10" wide rim), there is about 3/8" clearance between the tire and the coil over.

 

S1010010.jpg

 

The followin two pics are with my new flares on the car and 255/50/16's, (again with a 10" wide rim) they do clear but if I hit a large bump at a moderately high speed they do rub and I am running 300lb springs.

 

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These also have about 3/8" clearance between the tire and the coilover. I would recomend that you get some rubber on there, pull off the spring on one side, reconnect everything without the spring then use a jack to raise that tire up to full compression in the wheel well. Good luck.

 

Dragonfly

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Those are nice looking wheels, good price too. Where did you get them?

 

I think you are going to rub though, actually I know you will. You are about flush with the outer lip now. That is one rub point, the other is about 1.5" above it on the inside of the fender were it starts to taper in. I would see if you can get those adapter cut down or try them without the spacer. It looks like you have about .75" between the wheel and coil sleeve. I have about 1/8" clearance between my sleeve and wheel and that's after I ground a flat spot on the sleeve and still rub on the fender/body somtimes.

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One of the advantages of getting a larger diameter rim is that you can fit more backspace. Of course this is only true until you start interferring with something other than the strut tube. The strut tube angles in from the lower mount allowing larger diameter rims more clearance between the strut tube and the rim.

 

I think that if I roll the fender and pick the right tire it should work. I'm looking at various tires to purchase and I haven't decided yet. Some of the tires I like are on backorder, or not available in the size I want, or just to darn expensive. Falken has a new FK-452 that's pretty inexpensive and available in the sizes I like. It's what they consider a luxury sports tire and may be a good place to start. I could always get more aggresive tires in the future.

 

I got my rims from ebay seller sgmotoring, and Stephen was very helpful and easy to work with.

 

BTW - I want to thank everyone that's been givning me suggestions and advice regarding wheels. This includes Clifton, Mikelly, johnc, and more. Even though I couldn't make all the specific choices that were recommended to me, I tried to take everyone's perspectives into account.

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I think if you take Dragonfly's advice and jack the suspension up and down with no spring on there you'll quickly realize that you need to start looking for flares.

 

I had trouble with a 23" diameter tire on an 8" rim with 5" of backspace hitting the inner fenderwell at full bump. You've got a lot more diameter which should exacerbate that problem I think. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. Dragonfly's method will let you know for sure.

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I think if you take Dragonfly's advice and jack the suspension up and down with no spring on there you'll quickly realize that you need to start looking for flares.

 

I had trouble with a 23" diameter tire on an 8" rim with 5" of backspace hitting the inner fenderwell at full bump. You've got a lot more diameter which should exacerbate that problem I think. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. Dragonfly's method will let you know for sure.

I will remove the spring to see what happens throughout the wheel travel.

 

If a 23" diameter tire on an 8" wide rim with 5" of backspace hits the inner fender, then there must be quite a few cars out there hitting the inner fenderwell at full bump. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to understand all the issues and how they're being resolved.

 

John Coffey set up a car with 17x8.5 rims with 5" backspace and 245/40-17 tires. Depending on the specific tire used that would be right around 25" in diameter.

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