Hey,

I am new to the 3rd gen boards, but not new to 3rd gen's. I have a 91 trans am LB9 5-speed t-top, 3.42 car, I am trying to get "cruise worthy" by summer. It is a great car, runs excellent, no leaks, stays cool, NO RUST!!! But anyways, the reason I am posting is because I am trying to find sum nice decently priced wheels to put on my car and I think I found them! My worry is backspacing. I am goin to run 18x8's in the front and 18x10's on the rear. There is a variety of backspacing available, and I basically want a staggered dish front to rear, with the front dish being slightly skinnier than the rear. I want the widest dish before it starts looking 70/80's style airshocks and big tires on the back, you know what I mean?
I can get the fronts with a +2 offset/4.5" backspace, and the rears I can get with a -11 offset/5.00" backspace. This is the smallest backspacing available, while providing the deepest dish(right?). But my question is, will it work, or will it stick out of the wheelwells? I want to lower the car with eibach sportline's, is that to low with 18's with this offset or will I need to go with the pro-kit? I am prolly going to run 245/35's up front and 275/35's in back I basically want the wheels even with the edge of the wheel opening/quarterpanel, or maybe a little inset, with the tirewall leaning in just slightly(not straight up/flat). I am willing to roll the inner lip if necessary. I know some of you have similar wheel setups, can you post some pics with the stats/details including tire sizes. Thanks so much everybody!

 

4.5" on the front with a 8" wheel is good, its also good on the rear with an 8" rim. If you go with 5" BS on the rear with a 10, the wheel will sit outside the wheel well about 1". You can use 6" on the rear, and get a slightly larger lip on the rear, but the wheel will still be about flush with the side of the car, might even stick out a little. 6.5" of bs on the rear will put the wheel and tire about in the center of the lip inside the quarter panel lip, i think thats where you want to see it. But there will be no difference in lip.

only other way to get a larger lip in the rear is to buy a narrowed rear

 

I misunderstand the Backspacing idea then. How can there be no difference in lip with an inch and a half of differnce in BS? Do the spokes vary there curve or bow then to retain the lip? DO you have wheels on your car? Can I see pics? Thanks for the info, I just want to be clear so I know what I am doing when I order the wheels.

 

what im saying is, you can only use so much front spacing before the wheels start sitting outside the wheel well. a 18x8 with 4.5" of BS is what i use on the front, it puts the outside of the wheel just inside of the fender lip. its perfect in my book, especially if you have a brake upgrade that puts the wheel out another 1/3" or so.

now, the wheel will sit in exactly the same place in reguards to the fender lip on the rear of the car too, to its really not possible to get a deeper dish in the rear without having the wheel sit outside the wheel well. follow?

as for the wheel spokes, every wheel is different, some have ht spokes flaring in, other out, other straight, so depending on the style of the wheel, certain wheels will have a slightly larger lip that others, but you will still have the same lip front and back unless you tuck the front wheels in more, or stick the rears outside the fender lip.


for example, here is an old pic of my car with 18x8's with 4.5" of bs front and rear, see where the wheels sit


its about the same front and rear, so if you want a larger lip in the rear, the wheel will have to sit out farther to create that lip, and it will be outside the car. It will look bad, and is illegal in most places.

the only way to really get a big difference in lip on the rear is to buy an aftermarket axle that is narrowed, or put more backspacing on the front to pull the wheel in more, which may cause clearance and rubbing issues, but will make the front lip smaller than the rear.

 

A bumble bee stripe? I like it. Did you do that to tick off T/A purists? Or Mopar purists? Or both?

 

I could prolly go another 1/2 inch further out one the back wheels, maybe an inch with a slightly slanted sidewall on the tire, with a 275/35 it should lean in a little. What backspacing would you recommend then, for an 18x10? Would 5.5 BS work?

Thanx

 

if you want the wheel out further than in my pic, you would want 6", the extra 1/2" should put the tire almost perfectly flush with the outside of the fender lip. I think 5.5 is a little too much, but 5.5" of bs is commonly used on 15x10 wheels, but the tire rolls in more at the top and sits about flush while the wheel is out a little more.

 

didnt intend to tick off anybody, and so far have never had a negative comment on the strip. I will probably put one on my 92 at some point

 

Look good

 

I have just what you want. Will try and get some pics soon.

Anyway, they are aftermarket wheels for bmw. Yes they have the bmw pattern.
Fronts are 18x8.5 with 13mm offset, rears are 18x9.5 with 18mm offset.
Got tires ordered. I am going with 245/40 and 275/40.