I recently purchased a kit and it came with 15x8 chrome smoothie wheels with a 4.139 backset/offset. When mounted they contact the fenders. Have any of you experience with this situation? What do I do? Mike
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I recently purchased a kit and it came with 15x8 chrome smoothie wheels with a 4.139 backset/offset. When mounted they contact the fenders. Have any of you experience with this situation? What do I do? Mike
Check to see if you have equal spacing on each side. If you don't the body is not square on the pan. If that's not the problem then you don't have enough wheel offset. Where is the wheel rubbing ? Tread side or side wall?
The wheels rub on the outboard side at the top. All wheels appear to have the same amount of problem of interference. I am using an adapter that moves the wheels out 3/4". This is some of the problem, but not all. The wheels are a 5X4.75. What wheels are common for this car?
You can get undrilled rear drums and have them custom drilled to gain back the 3/4" - my bet is 7" is best you could go with width though. On a regular classic speedster 5 1/2" are often tight at top (unless off set is altered).
My body has flares, but the process would be the same:
Are you using a 3/4 inch adapter (adapter bolts to rotor/drum using existing studs, then the wheel bolts to adapter using second set of studs pressed into adapter, two seperate sets of wheel nuts required for each wheel) or a 3/4 inch spacer (one piece of aluminum with holes in it, uses one set of longer wheel studs)?
I had a set of 1.5 inch adapters machined down to 1.3 inches, while still maintaining stud integrity. Had to hog out the chamfer on the inside also. These worked just fine.
If you have spacers, you may need thinner spacers, and similarily shorter wheel studs, to maintain your existing wheels.
Front spacer/adapter does NOT have to be same thickness as rear spacer/adapter. Slight differences in tread width will not be noticeable or affect vehicle handling. Hope this helps.
Are you using a 3/4 inch adapter (adapter bolts to rotor/drum using existing studs, then the wheel bolts to adapter using second set of studs pressed into adapter, two seperate sets of wheel nuts required for each wheel) or a 3/4 inch spacer (one piece of aluminum with holes in it, uses one set of longer wheel studs)?
I had a set of 1.5 inch adapters machined down to 1.3 inches, while still maintaining stud integrity. Had to hog out the chamfer on the inside also. These worked just fine.
If you have spacers, you may need thinner spacers, and similarily shorter wheel studs, to maintain your existing wheels.
Front spacer/adapter does NOT have to be same thickness as rear spacer/adapter. Slight differences in tread width will not be noticeable or affect vehicle handling. Hope this helps.
Mike, What is the outside diameter of your tires? If they are over 25" in diameter you will have a clearance issue. Also if your suspension is set up on the soft side you'll bottom out on the tires.
OK the rest of the story. I have 24" diam. 15X8" wheels and tires with a 5X4.75 bolt pattern. The have been adapted by a 3/4" plate so they can be pounted on a 4X130 VW hub on a dropped spindle. Stockton Wheel said they could reweld the centers of the wheels so that they got moved inboard 2" for $65 per wheel. This means I would keep the smoothies that are on the car now if I got them altered. Another option is that I have a set of undrilled hubs that I can have drilled to whatever I want. This might be my better option since I could then get the wheels that I really prefer ( alloy spokes). I haven't figured out how to know for sure that they would work in my application. The cars I've seen on this site are beautiful, so someone has figured it out. Maybe they would share what they did for wheels. Thanks, Mike
Sorry to ask more info. I like to see the whole picture if you know what I mean. Do you have drum brakes or disc brakes?
If you are running disc brakes buy the rotors that have the 5X4.75 bolt pattern which will eliminate the 3/4 spacer. It will make a difference . I'm running4 disc brakes with 5x4.75 bolt pattern a 17x8 wheel with a -5inch offset. Rear tire diameter is 25" front 23.9" no rubbing.
I just bought new discs from cip1.com. that have Chevy 4.75 X 5 and Porsche alloy 130mm X 5 bolt patterns drilled in the same disc. Thread is 14X1.5MM but they don't come with studs. Gives you more options.
I hope those 17 x 7 and 17 x 9 Turbo Twist wheels I bought will fit a CMC widebody. Rear track is 25mm wider per side as it is with 85.5 944 turbo aluminium trailing arms.