I just got a great deal on some 19x9.5s and I'm looking at rubber now. I found some great price 275/40r19 bridgestone High performance all seasons but worried about the tire height. My car is highly modified and I currently run 18x9.5s on all 4 corners but I have 275/40r18 on the front and 285/45r18 drag radials on the back. Reason I'm changing is I want to get more offset (currently +56mm like a 4th gen) as I have a ford 8.8 rear which is almost as wide as a 4th gen. New wheels are 39mm so I know I can fit a 275/40r19 in the rear no problem as I'm fitting bigger rear tires now. My issue is the front... my current tires rub in a few places in tighter turns and they are only 26.66" tall... a 275/40r19 is 27.66" tall which means 1/2" bigger on each side of the tire = more rubbing. I def don't want to go any smaller than 35's on the rear/front and even then the I would likely prefer more sidewall.

Has anyone stuffed a 27.66" tall 275 wide tire in the front of these cars before?

 

I didn't try to read old posts to see what's highly modified. . .

But you have the numbers figured out. If you're willing to go to stiffer front springs, or a higher ride height, or add bump stops, or modify the areas of concern, or cherry pick your tires based on finding the manufacturer with the shortest height, maybe you'll achieve. It doesn't sound like your selection is going to fix the existing problem.

 

I run moly kmember, UMI tubular front control arms, Koni yellows and weight jacks with 850lb rate. Hotpart upper strut towers with aggressive street alignment. Baer black label 13” brakes which push out the wheel alittle over stock. The rear is a home made ford 8.8 swap, founders LCA and PHB with weight jacks 175 or 200lb rear springs I can’t remember. The car is raised in the rear bc of the larger rear tires.

the car already feels high with the 275/40r18s and 285/45r18 rear drag radials. I would like to lower the car more with the new wheels. My ride height was set by the rear drag radials which are 28.1” tall. Going to a 275/40r19 would lower the rear .25” and increase the front by .5” with just the wheel/tire swap. I’m worried about the front wheel opening as I already rub on the inside fender and stuff and those tires are only 26.6”.

going to a 275/35r19 would give me the same OD basically I have now but worried about the thinner profile as I don’t love rubber band tires.

 

It's a crap shoot to be honest. My car is also heavily modified and im running 19x9 up front on a 265/35 tire (26.3" tall). I have rubbing issues at full lock. For some crazy reason I have tons of rubbing at slight turn when backing up but normal forward driving is fine. I've thought about increasing my ride height with my weight jacks which may help. I've read so many threads on this forum where guys are running 10" wide up front and I just don't know if I believe them or not.

 

same, my front driver pulls the fender on a light turn. My fenders are no trimmed tho and I’m likely going to trim them with this new wheel setup. Wheels arrived today and I did a quick mock-up on the rear. I currently have 1.25” spacers in the front but have some 1” coming next week. The rear now needs no spacers and sticks out 1/8” more than before but the rim is still 1/2” inside the outside rear quarter edge. the front with a 1” spacer will stick out with .4” more which I have .75” from the outside fender edge. I’m going to drop yhr ride height 1” front prob and 1.5” or so rear to give it a tucked look. I just have to hope the front studs clear the backside of the wheel through the spacer. The wheels were 50%+ off so $212 each vs the 450-$500 I seem them else where so I jumped on them 19x9.5 +39mm. I think for the tires I’m gona do with 285/35r19 which are like .2” bigger than my current fronts OD but still have good sidewall. Tire options on no name is like $500 for all 4 which is good but no idea on compound or quality. My understanding is even the cheap tires have come along way in the past 10years.

weird thing is that the new 19” don’t look bigger than the current 18” bc of the c6 z06 design. And the new 19” has a deep dish look which I needed/wanted and was my biggest regret with the 18” Z06 replicas.

for what it’s worth I’m running 9.5 all around and you could run 10” easily given that I have 3/4” to the front edge which means you can run 1.5” wider and still fit inside the front fender edge. Taller tires tho your cutting the rear part of the fenders. I also assume if you run a smaller stock 25.6-26” tall tire maybe 17” wheel you would clear no cutting.

 

New wheels and tires are on. Went with 285/35r19 Atturo z850 summer performance tires. Backs bolted on no spacers and barely tucked. Fronts im using 3/4” or 20mm adapters for the 5x4.75 to 5x120 conversion and the 5x120 uses 14x1.5 studs so I picked up some cheap black tall ones but they are too big. I got short ones coming to replace them. I will color match the lug nuts and the front I had to get a dished center cap to clear the 3rd gen hub as it’s pushed in too far with the 3/4” adapter (I will color match that too). Car is lowered to 26” front and 26.75-26.875 on the rear. Less rubbing than I thought. I will see wear marks tonight and probably just loose the inside fender liners.

 

Fitment looks good from that angle. Those are 9.5" wheels with 20mm adapters? And I assume a big brake upgrade pushes the wheels out an additional 8mm? What offset are the wheels manufactured with?

 

That looks really good

 

19x9.5
5x120
+39mm offset

front I’m using 20mm adapter/spacer to convert to the 5x120 bolt pattern. I am running a BAER black label 13” rotor kit but I don’t think it’s 8mm difference. I did trim 3mm off the tip of the BAER hub wheel studs to clear the backside of the wheels which have 2.5mm recesses. The Baer wheel studs have speed tips so like 4mm of un threaded tip which is what I hacked off.

Rear is a crown Vic 8.8 which is 3” total width wider than the 3rd gen… basically the same as having a 1.5”
spacer on each side. I redrilled the stock axles to the 5x4.75 and run that with Dorman extended studs. I’m running no spacers on the rear, wheels are direct to the rotor.

put 40 miles on it today… very little rubbing. Prob just the liners and maybe the air dam. On bumps and stuff.

 

thank you. It was a lot of planning and looking but they just popped out of no where and at a great price. I was originally looking at some 18x9.5 with 35mm offset.