Year one 17 inch ralleys

Year one 17 inch ralleys

Thanks Blu!

Much needed information.

I will probably go with the 17" x 7 and 225/45/17 or 225/50/17 tires in front, I don't want to buy a lot of tires :)

I will toss the idea back and forth for a while on the tire size in the back, and I would not have thought to measure the rear to make sure it is centered, thank you.

I am also in Nor Cal, maybe I will run into you sometime at a car show.

Thanks again.
Mike

72bluNblu said
The 11 3/4" disks won't be an issue. They require 15" rims, but other than that they have the same offset and everything as the 10.87" 73-76 disks. The drop spindles will limit the amount of backspace you can run. Basically, with a 2" drop spindle and a 17" rim your tie rod end clearance will be the same as a 15" rim. For most people what that means is no more than about 5.6" backspace in the front.

Now, with the 17" year one rallye's that isn't an issue, because they only have 4.5" of backspace. What will be an issue is the 17x8" rim and only 4.5" of backspace. Its going to be tight for clearance on the fender, and I'm assuming if you want to run drop spindles you want the car LOW in the front. That will be your hang up. To make that combo work I'd keep the tire in the front limited to a 225/45/17 or 225/50/17. You might be able to clear a 235, but a 245 will rub for sure. You can also trim the inner fender lip or run a little more negative camber in front to give you some extra space.

In the back you shouldn't have any issues with an A body width 8 3/4". The 17x8 with a 4.5" backspace is pretty close to ideal for the stock 8 3/4 and stock location springs. You should be able to run a 245/45/17 back there with no problems. You could probably even get away with 255/45/17 as long as the axle is centered well, you might have to trim the inner quarter lip a bit for clearance to be safe though.

So, with the 17x8" 4.5" backspace rallye's I'd say a 225/45/17 front and 245/45/17 rear would be relatively "safe" for clearance. Those are pretty short tires though, 25" and 25.7". A 225/50/17 (25.9") front would work too, but that would be taller than a 245/45/27 in the back, so you'd have to find a 245/50/17 (26.3")

A 235/45/17 front and 255/45/17 rear would probably fit, but you'd be pushing a little bit for clearance. I think it would work, but it would probably involve some tweaking of camber in the front and trimming of fender lips front/rear.

With the standard disclaimer that all of these cars a little different, and the lower you go for ride height the bigger your clearance issues will be.