Need a little help from the experts

[shaolin.138]

Yes, this one has been asked before, but my situation is a bit unique:

Car is a 1971 Cutlass with stock suspension. I am ordering a set of 18x9 front wheels, and have several offset choices. -12, 0 and +12. I will need to run a 1.25 inch wheel adapter to run these, so having a hard time determining fit. I prefer the lower offset, but want them to fit. So... a little help here?

Thanks!

[astroracer]

Ordering wheels that don't fit? I would not run a 1.25" spacer on the front. If you are ordering them you should be able to get them with the correct offset and B/S so you don't need the adapters. Putting that much leverage on the wheel bearings will not be good, especially during cornering situations. I would run a away and look at wheels that can be ordered to fit.
Mark

[shaolin.138]

Ordering wheels that don't fit? I would not run a 1.25" spacer on the front. If you are ordering them you should be able to get them with the correct offset and B/S so you don't need the adapters. Putting that much leverage on the wheel bearings will not be good, especially during cornering situations. I would run a away and look at wheels that can be ordered to fit.
Mark

Thank you for the advice. I didn't mean they were custom when I said I was ordering them... just meant ordering online.

I found them in 17x9 in the correct bolt pattern... so now the question is: will 17x9 with -12 offset fit in front? Will a 275/40 tire fit up there? Want to run the same size all around.

Thanks again!

[Apogee]

Why not convert everything to inches, that way it makes the math easier. A 9" wide wheel with a -12mm offset equates to a 3.52" backspacing...are you sure it's a negative offset? If it were +12mm, then the BS would be 4.47". Either way, adding a 1.25" spacer will reduce the effective BS of the wheel by the same amount, so you'd be looking at either a 2.27" or 3.22" BS taking the spacer into account.

In general, since most muscle cars use centered or relatively low offset wheels, you would want to move up to a medium or high-offset wheel when you need or want to run a thick bolt-on type spacer or wheel adapter, otherwise your tire is going to be all up in yo' fender's face.

Tobin
KORE3

[Ron Sutton]

Why not convert everything to inches, that way it makes the math easier. A 9" wide wheel with a -12mm offset equates to a 3.52" backspacing...are you sure it's a negative offset? If it were +12mm, then the BS would be 4.47". Either way, adding a 1.25" spacer will reduce the effective BS of the wheel by the same amount, so you'd be looking at either a 2.27" or 3.22" BS taking the spacer into account.

In general, since most muscle cars use centered or relatively low offset wheels, you would want to move up to a medium or high-offset wheel when you need or want to run a thick bolt-on type spacer or wheel adapter, otherwise your tire is going to be all up in yo' fender's face.

Tobin
KORE3

LOL