C Wellington

I would like to upgrade the wheels and Tyres on my 1965 Sting Ray roadster and believe I can fit 9 inch rims to the rear, as we are fitting modified springs.

Can anyone advise on whether they have fitted 9" rims to a C2 and recommend a set of wheels? The car will have a modified 600bhp engine, but will remain street legal and will take part in the occasional track day.

66since71

9" wide (and a comparable tire) won't fit without modifications to the suspension, parking brake and/or body. 17" wheels are a little easier to fit than 15", but still will require some mods. It's really about how much you're willing to modify...

Harry

3JsVette

1st with Harry.

If you want to fit the biggest tire and wheel combination possible you need to get your hands on one of these.
http://wheelworksinc.com/index.php?o...=78&Itemid=148
Very expensive to buy for one fitment but try and find a tire shop that has one or maybe you can find a rental. It would be money well spent and a lot cheaper then having to repair fenders or having "custom" wheels you can't return.

mrg

Just as a comparison I had 200S American Racing wheels on my car. They were 8.5's with 3.75 backspacing. The front wheels cleared ok without issue. The rear wheels needed a bit more negative camber to tilt the top in for some extra tire/fender clearance. Even then, going around a curve a little hard would rub the tire sidewall and fender. Just had to be aware of that.

With a slightly wider track than a drum brake car I'm not too sure these wheels would have worked out on the rear of a disc brake car. My car is a '64.

bub

Suspect you will have issues clearing the trailing arm to the inside of the rear tire.

They make offset trailing arms just for this purpose (usually used with extra wide wheels), but I am not sure where the cutoff is where they become necessary.

66since71

Just to add a little more detail... In the rear, in addition to the fender lip and trailing arm (and it's attached parking brake cable), look for interference with the end of the spring. In the front, it's tie rod end, upper control arm, fender lip (especially when the wheels are turned) and frame/sway bar rub (mostly benign because there is nothing sharp to rub).

Lots of help here as you get more specific about what you'd like to do!

Harry

66since71

Very cool tool, thanks for posting the link!

Harry

Sky65

I'm running 17X8 4" BS front and 17X9 5" BS rear. 255/50 front tire and 275/50 rear. I have offset trailing arms and stock length spring and no sway bar. I also have small flares. I am still fooling with fender clearance. I went larger on the tires than I planed for when I had the rims made. Originally I was going to use 255/50 in the rear. They would clear. Right now on a hard bump the inside edge of the fenders kiss the side walls on suspension compression.

There is not much room to go any farther in on BS. The tires is not far off the frame. Might be able to get 1/4" or something but I would not say as much as an inch.

groovyjay

Stock bodied SWC with 10x18 rear wheels with 285/45/18 tires. Double Offset trailing arms and frame slightly notched around the trailing arm pockets.

sub006

That Wheelworks tool looks cool, but don't tire dimensions change when inflated on a rim? And each additional half-inch of wheel width increases tire width about 2/10ths of an inch. So it would bring you close, but not exact for a specific wheel/tire combo IMO.

C Wellington

Wow, amazing response in just a few hours. Lot to take in but thanks for the advice.

TheSaint

How wide rims and tires can you have on a stock body and trailingarms car without being afraid for cracking any fiberglass?

Thinking of 17 wheels

Mike Culpepper

GroovyJay,

That looks absolutely amazing.

Any more info?
Ride height?
Front wheel/tire combo?
Tire make and model?
More photos? Especially of the frame mods.

93Polo

Very any shots from the side and what did you fit on the front?

Bob_R

Hi
I have the honour of fitting all the mods for the OP, so am very interested to read all your comments. I am going to move the parking brake lug to the top of the rear axle as I have seen this done before and it allows more clearance for the 9" wheel. From what I can see on here and shopping around 9" wide wheels looks to be the limit wihout mods. Seems to be a divided opinion on offset trailing arms. Would be great if anyone had some definitive dimensions.
Many thanks for everyones input

Bob_R

Our C2 project is coming along now. We have just fitted the new wheels, and struggling with the clearance.
We purchased the Speed Direct Dominator kit at over $9000 and was kind of hoping that it would fit together nicely.
Err not quite!!
Have over come most of the issues, and if anyone wants to know the full story I will be happy to run a thread on it.
Anyway, we are now finding that the wheels will not clear the body.
We got 17x9 on the front, running a 255x45 17 tire, thay are not too bad but have a feeling that they are going to bump on compression.
The rear is the big problem. we have 18x10 wheels. Originally wanted 285x50 x 18 tires, but we couldnt even get them on the hub when it was on the jacks. So now we are down to 255x18 x 45 and still they wont go under the fender arch.
Have jacked the suspension now but still worried about cracking the body work at the first bump.
We have fitted vansteel offset trailing arms with the dominator kit and there is barely 3/4 inch clearance inside from the sway bar and about the same from the frame. Had to modify the bump stop too.
Would welcome any suggestions, as I may be missing something here.
Bodywork cutting and flaring is not an option.

Many thanks
Bob
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JohnZ

As noted earlier (see post #2 and #4), 9" wheels aren't going to work, much less 10" on the rear, without a LOT more body and chassis modification. Time to look at more conservative (dimensionally) wheels.

TheSaint

In my local corvette Club there is a 1964 and a 1966 that is original except for the wheels
They use 225/50/17" front and 245/45/17" rear

But with offset trailing arms you should be able to fit 255 rear tires?


What is included in the Speed Direct Dominator kit?

woodsdesign

The corvette shop I deal with said to look for 17 X 8.5 rims and 255/50 tires. These would require wheel spacers. He has done this many times. FYI He really likes the 96 Grandsport rims