70 Chevelle wheels/tires fitment

[4MuscleMachines]

Getting ready to start the suspension mockup on my project 70 Chevelle. I will retain its stock rear but add all Global West suspension products front and rear. Does anybody know if I can fit 275/45/17 on the front and what is the biggest size for the rear? Any input will greatly help me....Thanks.

[4FTTY4]

There are several guys on here running 275's on the front of their chevelles or elkys, I'm sure they'll chime in. The widest rear tire I have heard of on the rear with no major modifications was a 315.

[dennis68]

275/315 is the biggest combo that will work. You have to nail offset perfect for them to fit and you can't go too low or the rears will rub.

I run 17X9.5 with 5.5 b/s and 17X11 with 6 b/s on a 68 Elco. Tires are 255/285 40R17. I went with the smaller tires after running 275/315 for a while. I am about 5" lower than stock and got tired of rubbing.

[F1 Speed]

1969 Chevelle SS: 275/40/18 on 9.50 Kinesis K18,s front with GW uppers and lowers with no clearance issues but the rest of the front suspension and steering are custom MWPE peices. For the rear 305/35/18 on 11.00 Kinesis K18's with a custom width rear 9" housing and MWPE Truck Arm suspension. TIGHT fit so you will have to nail the backspacing and a 305/35/18 is actually a little wider than a 315/35/17. Trust me on this. I would atribute the MWPE peices that made this combo work but there may be other combo's that may work as well. Dennis has a lot of knowledge as to some of the other combo's that work well on the A-Body cars.

[USAZR1]

275/315 is the biggest combo that will work. You have to nail offset perfect for them to fit and you can't go too low or the rears will rub.

I am about 5" lower than stock and got tired of rubbing.

Dennis,how did you come up with the 5" lower number? What is the measurement from fender lip to the ground?
My car is lowered approx. 3.5" and measure 24" from fender lip to the ground. On your website photos,your car looks higher.

[dennis68]

The pic on the main page was at 5" drop, I am at about 4" drop now. I figure that by the height of the rear coil springs. Stock is 15.25" and I currently run 11's. I had removed 9.75" springs last month or so. I had to remove the rear bump stops completely as the other springs caused it to sit on them at rest. It looks deceiving, crossmember to ground is only 5".

OK Clint, I went outside and measured center of rear fender to ground is 23" right now, still coming down another inch.

Here is 5" of rear drop with 315's-

[4MuscleMachines]

Thanks Mike,Clint,4Ftty4, and Denny for those fine pics and info...helps alot. Anybody else care to post? The more pics and info the better..

[MrQuick]

Hey Clint you gotta remember Dens Elco is an ex field car, sat very high so it would not get stuck on cow paddies...LOL frank go with the 315/275 and make em fit! he ha.

[USAZR1]

Dennis,if you're at 23" fender to ground,that's definitely a 4.5" drop or more. That photo you just posted of the rear is way down there,for sure. I agree with you about it looking deceiving. My car is way down there,too,and will be capable of going lower with the new shockwave coilovers.
How low can you go in front before you start having clearance problems? I'm at 24" fender to ground now with 275/40/17's and want to go lower,if possible. Guess I'll find out when I get the car back from Steve Cook's Monday or Tuesday.

[Blown353]

I'm running 17 x 8 with 4.75 bsp all the way around on my 69 with 255/45/17 tires; stock width rear, and GW/B-body spindles up front. Went with 8's all the way around so I could rotate the tires front to back, my backs always wear out faster for some reason.



If I had to do it again (and I will be changing wheels again) I'd run 10's out back with 5.5 or 5.75 backspace with 285, 295, or 305 wide tires in an aspect ratio that keeps the overall height around 26.1". I know for a fact that 285/40/17 on a 9.5" wide wheel with 5.5 backspacing fit with a mile of room out back even with the stock wheelwell trim (borrowed a wheel/tire from a friend's 66 Chevelle); no rolling of the fender lip needed. Tire/wheel was nearly perfectly centered in the wheelwell with plenty of clearance on both sides.

The 255/285 combo fits very well and looks pretty good.

Up front with my current combo, the insides of my tires lightly rub the front sway bar near the frame bracket when I have the wheel cranked for a u-turn. You could go with wider wheels up front but then you'd definately be rubbing on the sway bar quite a bit. About the only room to grow on the front is inward; if I pushed the front wheels out anymore I think they'd contact the fender lip on compression. You could probably get away with a 9.5 wide wheel up front with B-body spindles with 5.75 backspace if you could live with a bit of rubbing.

My car is also lowered, very similar to Clint and a smidge higher than Dennis; ground to fender lip clearance is 24.25" up front and 24" out back.

Troy

[dennis68]

I have had the front crossmember at 4" with 275's...no clearance issues at all. I don't run inner fenders though so that may be the limiting factor. I will have a CM height of about 3" when done with the new front end and a rear fender height of 22-23" ( I may notch the frame, we'll see)

[dontlifttoshift]

Thought I would dig this up from the dead as my question certainly applies here.

Anybody get a 295 on the front? I am thinking 295/30-19 and 305/30-19 on 10.5" and 11" wheels. I am going to measure the car tonight, I know the 305 in the rear is pretty much a slam dunk but the fronts are what I am concerned about. Certainly there is room for another inch of tire........splined sway bar and some negative camber and we are in business?

[Simmo]

Good call, I'd be interested to know how wide we can go up front too! Happy to ditch the inners and run a splined bar.

Doing a rear clip so a mini-tub to some degree (hell of a lot of work for 30mm of tire I know) is in order. Want to avoid the Pro Street front/rear split, I'm thinking a 295/335 combo would be peachy.