Opinions on rim and tire size.

[ranger56528]

Ok now that I have the 95 fixed Im trying to figure out what size front and rear rims to go with,I have the On3 turbo and 2.73 rear end,I was told the rear end is fine being I put on the turbo(I do have 4.11s in the box). Right now I have stock 16s on it and was thinking of putting on 17s,now as for driving this is not a daily driver to say it's more of a get out and have fun type of car and it might see the local drag strip.
would staying 16s be better then going 17s or would 15s be even better? I more then likely will be putting lower springs on after I decide what rims to go with.
fronts I want to stay 9" and rears would like to go 10-10.5.

 

[mcglsr2]

I think the question really is what size do you want to go with? It's really up to you. You can run 15's (assuming they clear whatever brakes you have on the car) up to 22" if you want. I would say most folks probably run either a 17" or 18" wheel. Cars with drag tires probably run a 15" for more sidewall.

So I'm not sure I understand the question - meaning, the question really is for you: what size do *you* want to go with?

 

[ranger56528]

I think the question really is what size do you want to go with? It's really up to you. You can run 15's (assuming they clear whatever brakes you have on the car) up to 22" if you want. I would say most folks probably run either a 17" or 18" wheel. Cars with drag tires probably run a 15" for more sidewall.

So I'm not sure I understand the question - meaning, the question really is for you: what size do *you* want to go with?

No you got it and that answer was about what I thought,my plan was to go 17s with 9 front and 10.5 rear being the 10.5 would give me more tire on the ground at the drag,the 15s do fit but barely with my new rotors and caliber's,I'll just K I S it and go 17s with Eibach lowering springs. Besides my Dyno tune will be done with the 17s on and I'm not ready to be messing with the Moates and Binary Editor yet Ill leave that to the pros for now.
Thanks.

 

[mcglsr2]

Sure thing :thumbsup:

 

[PM-Performance]

If you want looks and tons of tires to choose from, go 18's. I have 17's and there just is not enough options for good tires. 15's and 16's are great if you need the meat, but driving on a large sidewall tire isnt really all that fun. Great for hook, but bad for handling.

Whatever you do, spring for a good quality tire. You are going to find that with boost, these cars do not go straight very easily. Good suspension, tight chassis and awesome tires will make your life ALOT easier!

 

[ranger56528]

Right now I'm doing springs,cc plates,bump,sways,control arms then see where I go with rims and tires,want to stay around 3.5-4" side wall but still not sure if 17's are the way to go,I have 16's on now so maybe 18 would be the way to go but I'll see how it sits with the suspension done 1st.

 

[PinkieT]

Not to hijack the thread, but I was looking at a power adder and the on3 setup seems to be the best bang for the buck. How do you like your system so far?

 

[ranger56528]

Had issues with the hot side from the start and thought I had it fixed after talking with Greg but after my first start up the cross pipe moved a bit into my harmonic balancer and took it out so instead of just fixing it on veh and being I was upset I removed the whole system,I'm looking for a new hotside right now and mean while I put my other exahaust on,pit in 24lb inj and MAF then took out my Moates and Putin my old Bama chip car runs fine now but having the Bama chip re programmed for this set up....

From looking at the on3 site it looks like the newer hot side is different from my older set up..............I'm sure I'll enjoy the on3 system when I get a better hot side for it,I did leave my intercooler on the car being it will only take 4 hours or so to reinstall the turbo set up being I've done it already. Just got a bad hotside.

 

[ranger56528]

Make sure your turbo headers fit and you have clearance with the cross pipe,make sure it's clear of the sway bar and way clear of the harmonic balancer,mine was only about a inch maybe but it wasn't enough,when you put the header up to the block make sure all the bolts fit,I had to use a wrench and it took forever to get the bolts in because they were up against the header pipe so it was a one flat at a time turn,not fun........should of know then things were not going to turn out right and as far as the cold side goes that fit just fine so did the hot pipe to exhaust......just the headers and cross pipe were bad.

 

[ttocs]

I have watched this build but I have no idea what the end plan is for the car. Street/strip/mix? Are you wanting to be all out drag strip or are you just going to be on the street kickin ass when the time comes?

 

[ranger56528]

I have watched this build but I have no idea what the end plan is for the car. Street/strip/mix? Are you wanting to be all out drag strip or are you just going to be on the street kickin ass when the time comes?

It's not going to be a daily driver but more of a weekend meet ya at county road x and let's see what happens and then I might want to try the open public drag at Brainerd Int speedway,public you can run up to 11.49 and any faster you need to have license and special equipment on your car and Sabin is the same,don't need to worry about that till I put in my new motor and get some strip time.
My springs,sway bars,rear control arms,cc plates and a few other add ons should all be here by Thursday then I want to see how it sits,some say go right to 18s because of more tire sizes ???....but I also would like to have a set for the rear for straight out drag ?.

 

[ranger56528]

My budget for 6 tires and rims is around 2000 give or take for now.

 

[mcglsr2]

Okay, so here's the thing: when it comes to car setup, road-racing & auto-x require different things than drag racing. Typically, something you would setup for the auto-x will end up hurting you for drag racing, and vice versa. I'm being somewhat general here, but it's a good rule of thumb. Since we are talking about tires and wheels here, that's what I'll focus on as my for-example. So. For example, if you want to road-race/auto-x, typically you get the widest wheels that will fit. You then put the widest tire on the wheel that you can *while still maintaining sidewall rigidity.* That last bit is the important part. Don't go throwing 275 tires on a 8" rim. Even if the tire "fits", you will have too much squish on the sidewall because the tire is just too wide for the wheel. When you try to take a corner at speed with a squishy sidewall, your car will squirm a bit, as there is too much give. This squirming can lead to unbalancing the car, and just an over all crappy feeling when driving. It hurts confidence in the car as well.

The corollary to this is if you are drag racing, then a squishy tire is what you want. It will hook better on a straight line launch. And since there are no corners in drag racing, it doesn't matter if it feels squishy during cornering.

So there's the dilemma. My suggestion is to decide which you are more likely to do, and focus the tires on that. If you are really 50/50 on the auto-x and drag racing, then I suggest you focus completely on auto-x and get tires for that. You will still hook decently at the drag strip. If you have the budget (which it looks like you do) then buy two extra wheels for the rear, and mount up a tire with a squishy sidewall. But honestly, unless you plan on dragging quite often, this is a bit of overkill. If you don't drag that often, the tires will just sit and dry rot. So your call. If it were me, I would buy 4 wheels, mount up some good street/road race tires (DOT legal but in the 100 - 250 treadwear range), and use the extra money saved to buy more tires when these wear out.

 

[ranger56528]

Thanks for the info mcglsr2, I can narrow it down to rim width,I believe I want to have 9" rims all the way around and then go 245/45 on front and 255/45 on rear with 18x9 rims,would give me a little more sidewall on rear and also a bit more tire on the surface and keep tire roll down,I could go 235 in front narrowing the fronts down a bit,9.25 front ,255 10" rear.
Would this get me in the ball park for running curvy lake roads yet get me down the 1/4 mile or am I off.

 

[mcglsr2]

Thanks for the info mcglsr2, I can narrow it down to rim width,I believe I want to have 9" rims all the way around and then go 245/45 on front and 255/45 on rear with 18x9 rims,would give me a little more sidewall on rear and also a bit more tire on the surface and keep tire roll down,I could go 235 in front narrowing the fronts down a bit,9.25 front ,255 10" rear.
Would this get me in the ball park for running curvy lake roads yet get me down the 1/4 mile or am I off.

Just out of curiosity, why stagger the tire size front to rear? If you have 9" wheels all the way around, then run the 255's all the way around. For what it's worth, on my dual-purpose street/track car I run 17" x 9" currently, on all 4 corners, with 255's on all 4 corners. For road racing/auto-x, you are relying on your rears to provide motive traction (the go bit) and the fronts for decelerative traction (the stop bit). Further more, you use *way* more of all of your tires when cornering. Do not skimp on the fronts. Drag racers run skinny's up front because all they care about is putting the power to the ground at the rear - the fronts are just dead weight and used to try to get the car straight. Thus they run as small as they can get away with. This is terrible for a road course (another example of the inverse relationship between road racing & drag racing).

 

[Frank.JD.Perez]

I have 275s on my 9 inch rims. All 4

 

[ponyboy88]

I have 275s on my 9 inch rims. All 4

Anything done to make them fit. Was planning on 255s in the future but the more the better.

 

[Frank.JD.Perez]

Anything done to make them fit. Was planning on 255s in the future but the more the better.

I have real fr500 rims which run a 24mm offset which is just enough to run the 275s. Eventually I'll be running 315s all around but that's when my car is full on racecar. So with a 24/25mm offset I think you should be good. Click on my blue writing in my signature and it'll bring you to my build thread. I also had my 98 cobras which are 30mm offset with 275s and no issues either.

 

[mcglsr2]

9" is the absolute smallest I would run a 275 tire on. Ideally, you'd have a 9.5" or 10" (or even up to 11") for a 275. Keep in mind that the wider the tire and the smaller the rim, the squishier the sidewall.

 

[ranger56528]

No reason for staggered,this is why I ask......guess I'll go 9 on all four with 255 or maybe 275....if I want to keep it low 17 would be better the 18 right,18 would just fill the wheel well more.