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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80

      Is there an optimal tire height in relation to lowering the car? (A-Body)

      It's a tough thing to set the ideal drop in ride height. And while coilovers and drop spindles do help, I can see it being an issue if the tires are too tall. So my questions are:

      1. What is the ideal drop for a street driven A-body
      2. What would be the recommended tire height for this drop? (to avoid hitting the top of the inner fender)
      3. Is 275/40/18 (26.6") too tall for a 2-3" drop?

      Thank you!



      Edit: 70-72 A Body


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Sep 2010
      Location
      Orange County, CA
      Posts
      665
      What year A-body?

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Quote Originally Posted by 65 drop top View Post
      What year A-body?
      You’re right, I’m sorry. 70-72 A-Body.
      I’ll edit the original post

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Nov 2002
      Location
      Georgetown,TX
      Posts
      2,557
      I won't use a front tire taller than 26" on a lowered 64-72 A-body but that's just me. IMO, a 275/35/18 would be more preferable.

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Quote Originally Posted by USAZR1 View Post
      I won't use a front tire taller than 26" on a lowered 64-72 A-body but that's just me. IMO, a 275/35/18 would be more preferable.

      Why is that? Strictly for looks, or performance wise?

      Personally, anything smaller than 26” doesn’t look like it fills out the wheel well from the side view. Kinda looks like a big person with super small feet. But lowering the car does make it look a little better in comparison to stock height

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Nov 2002
      Location
      Georgetown,TX
      Posts
      2,557
      Ok, lower your car 2" or more, in the front, then add a 27" tall/275 width tire and tell us how that works for you.

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Quote Originally Posted by USAZR1 View Post
      Ok, lower your car 2" or more, in the front, then add a 27" tall/275 width tire and tell us how that works for you.
      I’m a bit better at detecting sarcasm than I am on working with cars. All I asked was why do you prefer a tire smaller than 26”. If you’re trying to say that anything taller won’t work, just say it. I don’t want to waste money just to find out that it won’t work. This is exactly why I made this post. Not here to argue, but to get information.

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Feb 2013
      Posts
      799
      Country Flag: United States
      It's a little work, but not that much relative to other options, to remove your spring and cycle through the suspension travel with a wheel/tire sizing tool. Where you might rub or make contact shows up quickly and helps you make a decision.

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Quote Originally Posted by JustJohn View Post
      It's a little work, but not that much relative to other options, to remove your spring and cycle through the suspension travel with a wheel/tire sizing tool. Where you might rub or make contact shows up quickly and helps you make a decision.

      Thank you ! I wasn’t aware of this tool, but after a quick search online I found it. Worst case scenario I was going to take a ruler and start measuring lol.

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Nov 2002
      Location
      Georgetown,TX
      Posts
      2,557
      Quote Originally Posted by Yanchik View Post
      I’m a bit better at detecting sarcasm than I am on working with cars. All I asked was why do you prefer a tire smaller than 26”. If you’re trying to say that anything taller won’t work, just say it. I don’t want to waste money just to find out that it won’t work. This is exactly why I made this post. Not here to argue, but to get information.
      Not being sarcastic at all. It might work for you, if you're willing to chance clearance issues. Two reasons I don't like anything taller than 26" on the front, (One) Clearance issues will most likely occur and (Two) I hate tall ride heights on musclecars. However, if you like the jacked-up look, best to ignore this post.

      Old school guys are always complaining about "rubber band" tires and then try to run tall sidewall tires, on large diameter wheels. That doesn't always work very well. I see and hear about it, at least once a week, yet you can't tell them anything.

      Lastly, you asked for an opinion and I gave you, mine.

      FWIW, my 255/35/18 fronts are 25" tall. When I buy new wheels later this year, I'll either go with a 275/35/18 or 285/30/19. Both are right at 25.7"

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Quote Originally Posted by USAZR1 View Post
      Not being sarcastic at all. It might work for you, if you're willing to chance clearance issues. Two reasons I don't like anything taller than 26" on the front, (One) Clearance issues will most likely occur and (Two) I hate tall ride heights on musclecars. However, if you like the jacked-up look, best to ignore this post.

      Old school guys are always complaining about "rubber band" tires and then try to run tall sidewall tires, on large diameter wheels. That doesn't always work very well. I see and hear about it, at least once a week, yet you can't tell them anything.

      Lastly, you asked for an opinion and I gave you, mine.

      FWIW, my 255/35/18 fronts are 25" tall. When I buy new wheels later this year, I'll either go with a 275/35/18 or 285/30/19. Both are right at 25.7"

      No worries. I appreciate the insight and information. I’m gonna try to attach a picture that I saved recently. I found it from Forgelines website. The front tire height is about 26.6 and is also fairly lowered. It’s what actually gave me inspiration to pull off the same stance

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Name:  B37ECB5B-385E-463C-B2FF-15C72BBD38C7.jpg
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    13. #13
      Join Date
      Nov 2002
      Location
      Georgetown,TX
      Posts
      2,557
      Quote Originally Posted by Yanchik View Post
      No worries. I appreciate the insight and information. I’m gonna try to attach a picture that I saved recently. I found it from Forgelines website. The front tire height is about 26.6 and is also fairly lowered. It’s what actually gave me inspiration to pull off the same stance
      The Blue 70 is running 245's on the front, not 275's. You can fit a tall or wide tire, on these cars. Fitting a tall and wide tire is where it sometimes gets interesting.
      Very nice 70.

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jun 2012
      Location
      Chicago burbs
      Posts
      247
      Country Flag: United States
      Some people like to have the top of the wheel well just kiss the top of the rim. for the a lot of the 70+ A bodies, that can be achieved relatively easy. My personal taste is to leave some sidewall showing(try to get equal ratios front to back). On my '69, it's a pure radial arch, so I need a tall tire with sidewall to get the ratio and the body rake I desire. I think I did a pretty good job with it, it's not perfect but close I think. the front is a 285/35/R18 (25.91) and the back is a 295/45/R18(28.46). Spacing on the front needs to be dead nuts due to the width, I still kiss the inner frame with the tire on full lock.

      The dront is dropped ~3 inches(2'' from drop spindle, 1'' from Hotchkis spring") when I installed the tall lower ball joint, it was too much and I had to use a spring spacer to get back to 3''. The rear I think is dropped 2''. Hope this helps.

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      1969 442 6.0L LQ9 T56
      Fab9 w/ custom 3 Link conversion
      FAYS2 Watts link
      Thanks to Mark at SC&C for his honesty and passion for the sport, and Ron Sutton for the wealth of knowledge that has helped shape so many of the cars on this site.

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      80
      Quote Originally Posted by jetmech442 View Post
      Some people like to have the top of the wheel well just kiss the top of the rim. for the a lot of the 70+ A bodies, that can be achieved relatively easy. My personal taste is to leave some sidewall showing(try to get equal ratios front to back). On my '69, it's a pure radial arch, so I need a tall tire with sidewall to get the ratio and the body rake I desire. I think I did a pretty good job with it, it's not perfect but close I think. the front is a 285/35/R18 (25.91) and the back is a 295/45/R18(28.46). Spacing on the front needs to be dead nuts due to the width, I still kiss the inner frame with the tire on full lock.

      The dront is dropped ~3 inches(2'' from drop spindle, 1'' from Hotchkis spring") when I installed the tall lower ball joint, it was too much and I had to use a spring spacer to get back to 3''. The rear I think is dropped 2''. Hope this helps.

      Name:  IMG_20180318_143454.jpg
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      DOPE! What’s the width and backspacing for both the front and rear wheel? And just out of curiosity, do you think a 295 will fit on the front?

      Thanks for posting the picture, it looks really good

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Nov 2002
      Location
      Georgetown,TX
      Posts
      2,557
      Quote Originally Posted by jetmech442 View Post
      The front is a 285/35/R18 (25.91) and the back is a 295/45/R18(28.46). Spacing on the front needs to be dead nuts due to the width, I still kiss the inner frame with the tire on full lock.
      Also interested in the width and offset on your front wheels. I'm seriously considering a 285/30/19 front tire, on either a 19x9 or 19x9.5 wheel, and am interested in your numbers, for comparison.

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Feb 2011
      Posts
      284
      I have 26" on right now (a little too short) and have had 28" on (a little too tall.) So of course I think 27" would be perfect, which happens to be the factory tire height.
      70 GTO - Alum 5.3/4L80e, 7875
      17 GT350

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Jun 2012
      Location
      Chicago burbs
      Posts
      247
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by USAZR1 View Post
      Also interested in the width and offset on your front wheels. I'm seriously considering a 285/30/19 front tire, on either a 19x9 or 19x9.5 wheel, and am interested in your numbers, for comparison.
      Quote Originally Posted by Yanchik
      Hey!

      I saw you put a picture comment on my thread with your Cutlass. Can you please tell me what width and backspace the front wheels are?

      And also, do you think that you could fit a 295 on front? Or is 285 the absolute max you would go
      Hey, so I'll give you all the math just so you can check it yourself also. I have 18x9.5'' C6 Z06 rims(front and back). They have a 7.38'' backspace, but I use a wheel adapter that is 1.37'' thick. So as far as backspacing, that puts me at 6.01''.

      Could I fit a 295? Sure. But at full lock I do kiss the inner frame. Not a huge deal because thats parking lot only type stuff. Currently, I don't rub at all on the outer fender.

      Let me know if you guys need any pics or measurements. I am considering adding a wee bit of thickness to the spacer to eliminate the frame rub, but am going to try a little at a time to make sure I don't ever hit the fender.

      Oh-also, if you have a big Hellwig bar up front, you need sway bar lockers(or maybe HD end links) that don't allow the bar to laterally shift, cause if you don't it will shift into your tire on slow parking lot type ramps. I just found this out the hard way two weeks ago. EDIT: Nevermind this, I spoke to mark and he thought that was weird behavior and suggested looking at the tierods to see if they were hitting the bar. He was right of course and I just raised the end link half an inch and the issue went away. Just thought I'd edit in case anyone re-read this.
      Last edited by jetmech442; 07-23-2018 at 01:50 PM. Reason: added comment for sway bar.

      1969 442 6.0L LQ9 T56
      Fab9 w/ custom 3 Link conversion
      FAYS2 Watts link
      Thanks to Mark at SC&C for his honesty and passion for the sport, and Ron Sutton for the wealth of knowledge that has helped shape so many of the cars on this site.

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Nov 2002
      Location
      Georgetown,TX
      Posts
      2,557
      I plan on going with a 9.5" width wheel w/5.75" backspace (+12 offset). My experience with 6"bs on that width is the same as yours, a little inside rub.

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Apr 2008
      Location
      Virginia Beach VA
      Posts
      381
      For reference on this thread I'm running 27" (26.97" to be exact) tall tires on the front 255/45/18 and almost 29" (28.78") on the rear with 305/45/18s. For me running a taller tire has 2 benefits: 1. You can lower the car less but it "appears" to be lowered more because the tire will tuck into the wheel well more 2. You will have more ground clearance for headers for speed bumps and dips in the road or driveways. That said I would guess a slightly shorter tire might out perform the taller one in hard cornering performance simply because the entire car will be closer to the ground. Here's a few pics of mine:




      Details on rims and tires:
      Front Tires/rims- NewGen500 18x8 rims (5.25” BS- {old rims w/stock spindles and rotors were 4.5}) w/Nitto*** 555 255/45/18s
      10”sw – 26.97”d
      Rear Tires/rims- NewGen500 18x10 rims (6.0” BS – {old rims w/stock rotors were 5.5}) w/Nitto*** 555r 305/45/18s
      drag radials 12.02”sw – 28.78”d
      ***Nitto words sanded off and BFG Raised white letters glued on for show***

      One note on the rear - may be adding rear coilovers and if so will get that rear down that last 3/4 of an inch or so to match the front. Running standard springs now in the rear and they are just a little too high for what I like.
      Joe Lincoln
      Lime Green 71 Olds 442 Convertible

      Upgrades thread: https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ible&highlight=

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