Hi Guys,
The next phase of my project is done. Just got these babies back from the wheel shop. I had the rims widened from 18x8 to 18x11. Looks like they did a nice job....you can barely see the welds. Mounted the tires today 295/40/18. Next phase is to make clearance in the rear fenders to fit these bad boys!

 

looks absolutely amazing, what is the backspacing on these rims now? I'm trying to fit 15x10 with 6.5" bs and 325/50R15 drag radials which are 13" section width and having trouble finding someone who is running something similar.

 

Thats gonna look so badass... Who did them? Whats the backspacing now?

Looks like 17s on the front? What size rubber on the front?

 

wow.... how much those things weight per corner?

 

That looks sweet! What tire size is on the fronts?

 

Hi Guys,
I am not sure what the backspacing is it at this moment. I want guesstimate atleast 7". The wheel shop just basically added 3" of material to the rear of the rim. Unfortuanetly, the rims will not fit the car now. I need to do some major 'surgery' to the inside fenders!

That last picture is a optical illusion. Those are both the rear wheels, even though one looks smaller.
I am running 18x8 255/45/18 on the fronts, and 295/40/18's on the rear.

Tommy

 

I have a LOT of metal cut out of my rear wheelhousings and am still iffy if 6.5bs would fit with a 13.0" section width tire on my camaro. I have offset LCAs with rod ends as well if that extra 3/4" is needed as well. Hope to hear your results and some clearance pics shortly as well.

 

I'd Love to know the name of the shop that did your wheels?

 

This is the place:

http://www.motorsport-tech.com/index2.htm


BTW, the backspace on this wheels is 8 inches!
I have alot of work on my hands!

Tommy

 

Sweet!!!! They are only a 30min drive from me. Do they gaurntee their work? I'd love to convert my 18 x 10" Boyds to 18 X 11 or 12.

Thanks,

 

awesome, if I end up keepng my wheels...I will definently have to have that done! If you don't mind me asking, about how much did it cost to have them widened?

 

Yes, I beleive they do guarantee their work. They do alot of work for wheel shops all across the country, and they seem to have some high tech/state of the art machinery to complete the job.

Sickness, the wheels cost $225 each to widen. I think that is a bargain, considering that new wheels ( I was going to get Kinesis wheels before I decided to widen) would set me back atleast 800-1000 each.
Regards,
Tommy

 

Money well spent Tommy, they look absolutely amazing. BTW, did you get a chance to weigh them yet....?

 

I have not weighed the tires+rims yet. I know prior to the widening, the rims weighed 26lbs each. I am guessing that the extra metal probably gained an additional 2-3lbs maybe?

Tommy

 

Have you tried them on yet?
8" of backspace? wow, I think those will be hitting your LCAs even after you cut the inner fender out.

 

I hope you document with pics the steps it will take to modify the wheelwells to house those wheels.

 

Yeah the first thing I thought of were LCA's. You'll probably need to run spacers. You might be able to gain a tiny bit of clearance using the 1.25" tubular LCA's like what BMR or Spohn offers.

 

I run offset rod ended LCAs that move the LCA over at least 1". I'd like to see how extreme you have to take this though.

 

Tommy,
Your car has always been my favorite Iroc on the boards!!! ...with each year that passes, and more and more thirdgens go "custom", the more I plan to leave mine 99% stock appearing, including the 16" rims. HOWEVER, it appears that you're doing EVERYTHING that I would do If I were gonna modify it!!! ....including the stock finish on your wheels!!!!!!

DON'T STOP!!!! It makes going "stock" easier knowin' you're doing yours the way you are!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

absolutely gorgeous i'm so jealous!

 

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the kind words about the wheels. It looks like I have really gone over board this time. The fender mods will have to be extensive, including probably modifying the LCA's. I was going to do the work myself, but my welding skills are sub par, and this type of modification will require some skilled work. I also did think about adding a spacer, but I don't want the wheels to stick out any further than they already do.

For now, I am going to bolt to on a pair of 16 inch wheels in the rear and take care of some other tuning issues with the car. I will then need to revisit this fender clearance issue. I need to find a good shop that is experienced with this type of work. I was really hoping to have the car finished by July, but that's not going to happen now.

After the final engine dyno tuning, I will have the wheel wells done. Then comes paint (about a month process)..will be lucky if the car will be done in mid August! Another summer passes without enjoying the car...ugh!

Anyway, I will keep you guys updated with the fender mods.
Regards,
Tommy

 

Get those billet spacers. You should'nt have to cut away so much. I have 295/35R18's for rear and no mods required. Little rubbage sometimes cause I have drum instead of disk rear. They are a little narrower.

 

Yeah you are going to have to run spacers/adapters. There's quite a few 4th gen guys that have done the same thing. I am thinking about having my firehawk wheels widened. You have to use a spacer because of the side the width gets added to. There's not going to be anyway to run the wheels without using a spacer. It's going to sit in problably 2 inches to far.

 

Mini Tubb it. and run tubular offset lca's.

 

The finish on the added section makes me cringe. Looks like they turned the wheels after the welding process to make the weld line blend in better or assure good penetration.. but only did a rough cut.
I suppose it makes no difference.. but I worked in a machine shop for quite a while and we never sent parts out looking like that. Not that difficult to add a few more passes and a second finish tool.

 

I dont blame you about not wanting to push them any further out. Makes the car look cheap and tacky.

Good luck and please post pics!

 

Widening wheels is always a nice touch wheather you are widening stock 15x7 firebird wheels to run slicks or liek you have done and made a nice wheel even nicer.

 

Like others have said I've always admired your car!

Just curious, why did you choose a 45 series in the front and 40 in the rear? I think it would make the wheels look even nicer had you stuck closer to the stock 25.5" tire diameter.

Good luck with this..

 

Yeah, I just realized that as well. 295/40 is a 27.3" tall tire! That is pretty big! I couldn't figure why you need to do so much modification, but now I understand.

 

Its because of how tall it is. Its because of the width/back spacing. Tommy will need to do alot of fab in the rear to tuck in a wide tire.

 

It is because of the height. the taller the tire, the less backspacing can be had due to the shape of the rear wheel well.

 

Hi Guys,
The reason why I chose a 295/40 series was because I wanted to closely match the tire height of the 255/45/18's in the front.
However, it now turns out that the 295's are about an inch taller that I thought they would be! I should have probably gone with a 35 series...oh well..next time. All the tire charts that I consulted before I bought the 295's stated that the 295/40 would be a very close match in tire height with the 255/45's. However, being that these tires are made from different manufacturers, I guess there are some variations in size.

I dropped off the car at the shop today for the fender clearance. Let's hope they can do a good job. Where can I get the offset LCA's that you guys are talking about? Who makes them?
Right now I am running the Lakewood LCA's, and hope there will be enough clearance for the wheel.
The shop that is doing the work will take pictures of the entire process. I will keep you guys updated.
Thanks,
Tommy

 

The 295/40's match the 255/45's well. Its just that the fronts should've been 255/40 That way you've would've got 295/35's. I have those on the back and they fit without difficulty.

You should try returning them and getting the proper size. The tall fronts are probably gonna rub while turning.

 

You have 295/35/18s with no issues? How low is your car?
What size rim are you running?
My car is slammed, and with the 11's there is no damn way even a 295/35/18 would fit without mofifications!

 

Matt
OK...I just saw pics of your car. Very nice and clean man!
But I notice that your ride height is not too low so you would not have much issues with the wheel fitment. As well, are you using a spacer?
Also, who makes those 295's that you got? They don't look as wide as mine?

 

If I could figure out how to post pictures I'd post some of my 18x10s with
295/35/18 BFG G-Force KDWs 6.125 bs. I had to do some cutting and hammering with that combo but I think it sits in the wheel well perfectly.

I actually tried to post some for you a while back but gave up ( I had no time to mess around).

 

Hey buddy, it's easy to post a picture. First get an account to photobucket.
www.photobucket.com.
Upload your pictures there, then when you post here, there is a link on top where you can insert a picture...so just link the picture from Photobuket.
In any case, would like to check out that picture!
The main reason why I am having issues is because i want my car to sit low, and I dont want to use spacers to push out the wheels.
The one thing I like about my car is the stance. I definetly do not want to change the stance because of bigger tires.

 

I understand wanting to make the rear tires match the fronts, the problem of course is that your front tires are too tall! There's nothing wrong with running a taller tire, other than the fact that you increase the probability of rubbing and the fact that your speedo will read wrong (which of course is fixable).These are tolerable issues so long as you really prefer a beefy looking tire.

The problems you are encountering really have nothing to do with the tires at this point. It's the backspacing that creates the issue. I'm tucking 285/35/18's on my Z28 with absolutely no modifications to the body. The wheels/tires tuck in just like a stock wheel as well. I recently slammed the car and there is no rubbing whatsoever (intrax drop). I could easily up the tire size to a 295 but on my 9" rear wheels I don't see it necessary.

Anyway my point here is that a 295 tire can tuck on our cars without modification, but it's all dependent on the specs of the wheel being used.

 

I have been runing 255/45/18s on the front for over 6 years now...there are no issues. I know that everyone likes the 40 series tires but I just think the tires look too skinny. I guess maybe I should have only gone with an 18x10 rim..., but I still think there would be issues with clearing the fenders since my car is so low, but probably not as much as the 11" now.

 

I like the wheel combo in your sig.

What springs and shocks do you have?

 

My 295's are BFG KDW2's. My car is a bit lower than my vbgarage pics. My wheels are 18x9.6 C5 wheels. +56mm offset. So I have 2" spacers. There is a little bit of rubbage when I corner hard and get on the gas (wheel tucks in tighter) If I lower I might have more problems. I'm gonna be putting on LS1 rear disks soon, that'll move it out about 0.25" and will help alot.

Just remember, our wheel wells are round. So the taller the tire, the less room you have.

What was the offset of the 18x8 you used? Was it the +16mm or the +0 offest ones.

 

exactly what i plan on doing rim wise, polished irocs widened to a x10, with 295s and 225s or so, looks great!

 

Let's see some wheel well mods, from somebody????

 

Alright, sorry I didn't reply sooner ( TGO didn't email me that there were more responses !?)
I spent some time uploading to photo bucket so here you go
18x10 foose rims w/ 295/35 BFG G-force tire fender well mods and rim fitment
exact backspace is 6.125" and rim measures 11" lip to lip.

Here is a link for more ( hope it works)
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...n/IMG_0468.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...n/IMG_0467.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...IMG_0465-1.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...IMG_0464-1.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...n/IMG_0463.jpg

 

Wow very interesting makes me want to get my thirdgen back on the road sittin on somethin like that.

 

hmm, Post pics and now nobody cares...LOL

 

I'll post! that looks freaking sweet!

 

Have you compared your fender to that of a hardtop car? I noticed on mine, to fit the top foldering mechanism they cut out the very top of the fender and flattened it out. I'm tucking a 295/35-18 BFG KDW2 on a c5 wagon wheel (18x9.5) with a sportline drop and the top of my fender is shiny from contact. I never hear it, but it's polished the metal.

I had to hammer the front inner portion of the fender and that was it.

 

Sorry about that...have been quite busy with other things. But it looks like you hammered out your fenders pretty well. Unfortunately, since my wheels have an 8" backspace, I need to do extensive surgery!
On a positive note, the guy that is creating my new fenders was one of the project managers of 'Monster Garage"...so he has some good skills.
I hope to have some pictures up this week when they start cutting into the car (YIKES!!)

 

So are you building fenders like Neil and using spacers?