Just spent another 4 hours cutting and reshaping both sides of my camaro. Trying to fit 28x12.50 slicks with a 12.8" section width on 15x10s with 6.5bs Couldn't run 5.5bs because the wider tire would stick out beyond the fender lip. I've cut out the whole bumpstop area and welded it flat along with removing a bunch of metal out of the front lower section which I will square off and weld in sheet metal there as well. Right now with the suspension loaded I can fit my fingers all around the slick on the inside between the sidewall and the wheelwell. I would imagine this to be 1/2" or so of room. I have a spool in the rear, so when making a turn, will the tire pull more than this towards the wheelhousing? Or am I just paranoid that the tire will bend over to the sheetmetal?

 

Sidewalls only need about 1/2" because they don't get any wider. Depending on how much a tire will grow, a minimum of 1" should above the tread surface.

Time to get a BFH out and start bashing the inner fender.

With 15x10 rims with 5.5 backspace, I was able to squeeze 29.5 x 10.5 ET Drag tires under the fenders. They had a sidewall width of 13.1"

Put on a 1/2" wheel spacer

 

I wasn't worried about width growing so much as when turning I know I've seen tires "pull" with a spool one way or the other while pulling into a parking spot for example. I have the 1" around the tread in the middle, didn't think the outside edge of the tread grew much at all, I probably have 1/2" or so at the outside edge of the tread to 1" clearance in the middle at least. Is a wheel spacer NHRA approved at all?

 

if you have a 1/2" your fine. Mine has maybe 1/4-3/8" in some spots near the front of the tire/wheel well opening. Yes when i'm racing at 10psi it does flew over going around sharp turns and yes it rubs to make the metal now nice and shiney....but street driving we'll run on 20psi and all is well. Never seen any signs on the tire that this may be a problem so I was very nervious at first, not anymore, as long as you dont have any jagged edges to cut the tire it will be fine.

 

thanks again josh, glad to see your car is finally coming along, hope to hear good things about what it runs shortly.