Widening a wheel.

[Jimmys66]

Anyone have an alum. rim widened? I wanted to have more than 4.75 bs on the rear rims of my stang but no luck. That's the only bs they come in.

So, I'm tight on the fender and have a full 1" from the spring to the tire. Maybe add 1/2" to the back and take a little heat off the front side?

Just kicken' it around for ideas. Any thoughts?

 

[CraigMBA]

http://www.weldcraftwheels.com/

They do narrowing too, and they are kind of local to you. I'm jealous. They do top notch work from what I've heard.

 

[Jimmys66]

This is definately worth a phone call. Thanks

 

[ForceFed70]

Adding backspacing by widening the wheel will do nothing to help/change your outer fender clearance.

Generally, it's not the spring that rubs 1st, it's the inner fender. Sounds like you only have about 1/2" of room if that.

 

[dodgestang]

Narrow the rear

 

[Jimmys66]

Adding backspacing by widening the wheel will do nothing to help/change your outer fender clearance.


Actually it should. I have a 255 mounted on it right now and have some minor rub issues on the drivers side. The car is already painted so I'd like to avoid more paint work or screwing up the paint that is already there.

Here's my thought. This 255 is tight to the front and is really maximum tire for an 8" rim. Widen the back half by 1/2" and it will move the tire back 1/4" from the front, giving me some clearance and a wider footprint from the wider wheel.

This makes sence in my head anyways. Anyone see fault to my logic?

 

[Jimmys66]

Narrow the rear

This crossed my mind also. My thought was that the next time the car received some paint work I'd do(have done) a small flair and would be able to use a 9" rim with 5.25BS.

Using the 8" 4.75bs rim I have now the extra bs will take care of half the 1" and a small flair will take care of the other half.

I'll get a 275 with no rubbing, one way or another.

 

[Jimmys66]

After a talk with Weldcraft I'm told that they widen rims in .50" increments, after the first 1".

So, the price to widen a rim is $175. To get a rim widened .50" they would cut .50" out of the wheel first and then add a full 1". Cutting the wheel is an extra $25.

A grand total of $200 per wheel. Not the cheapest solution in the world but worth a consideration anyways.

 

[ForceFed70]

Adding backspacing by widening the wheel will do nothing to help/change your outer fender clearance.


Actually it should. I have a 255 mounted on it right now and have some minor rub issues on the drivers side. The car is already painted so I'd like to avoid more paint work or screwing up the paint that is already there.

Here's my thought. This 255 is tight to the front and is really maximum tire for an 8" rim. Widen the back half by 1/2" and it will move the tire back 1/4" from the front, giving me some clearance and a wider footprint from the wider wheel.

This makes sence in my head anyways. Anyone see fault to my logic?

I think I understand what you are trying to do... going to a wider rim will make the rubber sit with more of a /---\ shape instead of |---| This may help you.. but keep 2 things in mind:

1: Technically, you are changing the rim width to help resolve your problem...not the backspacing (although the backspacing will change in your case).

2: Personally, I think that tires looks best on the skinniest wheels possible. Wheel/tire packages where the wheel is too wide for the rubber look like ass. Not to mention that you want the rubber to be wider than the wheel and stick out past the wheel lip. You want this so that the rubber protects the wheel from contact with curbs, etc.


Have you rolled the fender lips yet? If not, spend the money doing this instead of messing with the wheels.

 

[Jimmys66]

[1: Technically, you are changing the rim width to help resolve your problem...not the backspacing (although the backspacing will change in your case).

Correct on both accounts.



Have you rolled the fender lips yet? If not, spend the money doing this instead of messing with the wheels.[/QUOTE]


They were done half ass. This is where I have a problem. They guy that painted the car wanted me to start the rolling and he would make everything nice and smooth with a hammer and dolley when he did the body work.

I did my part and he didn't. Now I have protrusions in the wheel well that rub and a nice finished outside that I'm afraid to screw up if I start banging on it.

I won't be resizing these rims. At $200 it would double the original price of the rim. It was just a thought from the begining and might work well for someone that wants more room than the 1/2" that i want.

 

[ForceFed70]

I rolled my own, after the car had been painted.

If you are careful, you'll be able to do it without hurting the paint (at least in any visable locations). But it sounds like yours may be harder to roll now than if they were still stock.

 

[Jimmys66]

I'm just going to have to grow a sack and do it. If I wreck paint, I wreck paint.

I need to learn how to do paint and body work sometime.