How wide rear tire and wheel with DSE tubs on a 68 Camaro?

[Regraves77]

I am installing DSE mini tubs with forgelines on my 68 Camaro. I am at the point where I need to order wheels and tires. I have been told by a few people that I need to run a 11" wide rear wheels, that the 12"s are to much. I am also going with the quadralink. I would like to run a 19"x11.5" if that would work. I just hate giving up the width for the rear. Any one dealt with this issue?

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Just a couple here have done it...

All kidding aside, you can fit 12s in the rear if you nail the tub install and BS measurements. Good rule of thumb - check everything twice before you order or you'll have wheel, rearend (or both) adjustments to make.

Tubs should get you 14.75" @ 10: and 2:00. No obstructions in the inner wheels wells. WMS to WMS on your rearend should be in the 54.5" range and BS should be in the 5.5" range. Work w a pro vendor here and you should be fine, and get a mock up tire before you order the wheels...

[Matt@BOS]

Not sure it really makes a difference, but I think the Quadralink rear that ships from DSE is 54.75" I feel like a total dork correcting Ron on that. He is usually my go to guy for obscure numbers and facts. Anyway, I think you're actually fine with the 19x11.5. That is what I have under my '69 and there is plenty of clearance with Nitto NT05 tires, enough that I think it would fit fine under a '68. Not sure how things would fit if you run a different tire like a PS2, etc.

Matt

[Ron.in.SoCal]

You kill me Matt. I think it was me that went to you for some obscure facts yesterday

Your point is well made on two fronts. 11.5" will get you to a 335 and (obscure fact alert) NT05s are a smaller section width. As Marty will tell you, not all 335s are the same width and I've found Tirerack.com to be a a great resource for this info.

[Matt@BOS]

I didn't know NT05s were actually a smaller section width, Ron. I always thought that Nittos were just just more "square" tires, i.e. there is not much space between where the contact patch ends and the sidewall begins. I swear to god you have some innate ability to commit all of the data on these forums to memory.

Matt

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Yeah but I can't remember what I had for breakfast Matt. I must be sick...;)

[Regraves77]

I was going to order a 19x11.5 with a 5" backspacing. I guess I need to get a tire somewhere after I tub the car.

Would it be a big problem to go ahead with the wheel order? I thought the 9" ford reared could be made to work around the wheels easy. I appreciate the info so far.

[Chad-1stGen]

I didn't know NT05s were actually a smaller section width, Ron. I always thought that Nittos were just just more "square" tires, i.e. there is not much space between where the contact patch ends and the sidewall begins. I swear to god you have some innate ability to commit all of the data on these forums to memory.

Matt

NT05's run pretty narrow from my experience. Comparing a 275 NT05 to a 275 KDW had the KDW with about 0.5" wider tread pattern.

[TheJDMan]

I installed DSE Mini-tubs in Dust Off and I'm running 18x12 Forgelines with 5.9" back space and 335 BFGs. I still have about 1" clerance between the inside sidewall and the tub. My rear axle is 57" WMS to WMS. Buy your wheels and tires first then mock them up under the car to measure the rear end width. I would recommend you spend some time on the Motiv8r web site. Larry is also running 18x12 rear wheels.

http://www.motiv8r.net/

[Reactor]

Being new at this and just completing my 69 minitub, I was also concerned with ording wheels. DSE had a back space of 5.5" on there 18x12. I also used there rear end. I went with a 19x12 with a 5.75 bs. My thought was I could always run a spacer behind the wheel if it was to close on the inside. I you are to close on the outside, you have no way of adjusting if you are off a little. When I got my wheels they fit fine with no spacers. But it gave me some peace of mind that I could move the wheel at least a 1/4" if needed. If you can find a wheel to fit and take measurements off of that would be a sure fire method to make sure the wheel would fit. Just a thought. Good luck

[Regraves77]

Steve, did you roll the inner fender? I have seen your car in a previous post, what type do subframe do have and what size wheels and backspacing up front?

[TheJDMan]

I did roll the lip on the rear fenders but not the front. I have a DSE subframe, DSE SFCs, DSE Mini-tubs, G-link rear suspension and Moser 9" floating hub rear. The front wheels are 18x10 Forgelines with 6.9" backspace and 275s, rears are 18x12 with 5.9" backspace and 335s. I was skeptical that the fronts would fit the stock wheel wells but they have not rubbed at all.





I would just add that I have about 1000 miles on Dust Off now and the floating hubs have been a non-issue. For anyone interested, floating hubs work just fine on the street.

[Regraves77]

Steve, I like your car. Mine is the same color. I have been torn about the finish on my wheels. I saw that dust off originally had black on the sketch. I was thinking matte black center with polished hoops on the ZX3R wheels, and also tossed around the idea of gunmetal or titanium. I am not sure of these colors on the lemans blue. I know the machined centers like on "Reactors" car would work great. I am leaving the trim on my car. It is currently a solid color, but I was thinking a bumble bee stripe in white or black depending on the wheels selection. The sketch you had done looked awesome, but the color in it seemed a little deeper/darker than our cars.

[TheJDMan]

The rendering was a bit darker and did not really match the car color and the wheels were darker but not really black. I had the rendering done to get a general visual idea of where I wanted the car to end up. The car is definately closer to my vision than the rendering is.