Hotchkis TVS 67 Barracuda F/B - what wheels??

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backcountry800

backcountry800

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My question is, if you are spending over 2 grand in a performance suspension handling package, why the heck are you staying with 15 inch wheels? There are no performance handling tires available in that size... You would be MUCH better off going with a set of 17's instead...Otherwise, you're wasting your money. Just do a stock rebuild if ya stay with 15's...
 
mopardude318 said:
My question is, if you are spending over 2 grand in a performance suspension handling package, why the heck are you staying with 15 inch wheels? There are no performance handling tires available in that size... You would be MUCH better off going with a set of 17's instead...Otherwise, you're wasting your money. Just do a stock rebuild if ya stay with 15's...
Click to expand...


I have to agree with this.
 
If you stick with the 15x8's, I'd go with 4.75" BS in the front, more would be better. 4.5" would work in the back, but so should 4.75". With as low as the car will be with the Hotchkis springs, you'll want some extra room on the fender side of things.

Widest you'll be able to go in the front is a 245/60/15, and that will be tight because of its height (26.5"). You'd probably have to stick with 235/60/15's. Rear should work with 255/60/15's.

But I have to agree, really the only tires offered in those sizes are BFG T/A's, and those are not good handling tires. You'd be better off going with a 17" rim and tires.

Summit Legend 5's look a lot like that Coy's wheel, you can get them in 17x8" with a 5.25" backspace, which would be great in the front. You can also get them in 4.5" backspace for the rear, as 5.25" BS in the back would be too much. You could run a 245/45/17 in the front and a 255/45/17 out back.

You might even be able to squeeze a 275/40/17 out back if you got the backspacing right. The Legend 5s also come in a 17x9 with a 5" backspace, I had them on my Duster with 275/40/17's in the back and a .25" spacer. It'd be tight on the quarters though with as low as you'll be, you'd probably have to trim the quarter lip to do that.

The picture of my Challenger is with the Legend 5's installed. I run 17x9's and 275/40/17's all the way around on it.

SUM-141-7865GM19.jpg


http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-141-7865gm19/overview/
 
im looking at 16x8's for my 73 swinger, looks like to fit a 255/60-16 im gonna need 5.5" Bs (maybe have a 1/8" shim in there) on the front and 4.5" (planing on 5.5 bs like front with spacer) on the rear.

as far as tires i can get BFG sport comp II's so im happy, i dont like the big wheel look and dont have the coin for the wheels i could live with so steel 16" for me!
 

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Looks like a change of plans, thanks for the suggestions.

Was set on 17 x 8 but after looking at the backspace requirements I couldn't find 17 x 8 with over 4.5" B.S.

Thanks 72bluNblu, I like the Legends, hadn't seen those before. Gonna check with Coys and see if they can do custom B.S, if not, gonna go with those.
 
If you like the common mustang wheels, they come in 17x8 with 5.72" backspace. With an A-body rear, you'll need about a 1 inch spacer. If ya swap in a B-body rear, (and move the spring perches in 1/2 inches each side) they will bolt right in.

For the front, some A-bodies require the use of a 3/8" spacer. My 68 fastback did, using the '73-up disc brakes.

Go here for custom made wheels:

http://www.wheelsforless.com/
 
backcountry800 said:
Looks like a change of plans, thanks for the suggestions.

Was set on 17 x 8 but after looking at the backspace requirements I couldn't find 17 x 8 with over 4.5" B.S.

Thanks 72bluNblu, I like the Legends, hadn't seen those before. Gonna check with Coys and see if they can do custom B.S, if not, gonna go with those.
Click to expand...

Just ordered the Legends, Summit makes it to easy.
 
Perfect fit, had to use the spacer which came with the wilwoods though.
 

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backcountry800 said:
Perfect fit, had to use the spacer which came with the wilwoods though.
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in case u young guys don`t know it, there are a whole bunch of people that don`t like short sidewall tires. they handle a little better, but the thiner the sidewall the rougher the ride. I`ll stay w/ 15`s on my 700 horse fastback.-----bob :hello2:
 
famous bob said:
in case u young guys don`t know it, there are a whole bunch of people that don`t like short sidewall tires. they handle a little better, but the thiner the sidewall the rougher the ride. I`ll stay w/ 15`s on my 700 horse fastback.-----bob :hello2:
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Good for you! :thumbup:

It's too bad that 15's handle lousy because of the large flexible sidewall, have very few tire choice options anymore (BFG T/A's have HORRIBLE performance), which makes handling even worse, and won't allow any brakes bigger than 12". Not that it matters, because big brakes attached to hockey puck tires doesn't help much anyway.

I honestly don't care if people don't like how they look, I care how they PERFORM. And as far as a "rough ride" goes, I run 1.12" torsion bars on my Challenger, 1.12" torsion bars on my Duster, and 1" bars on my Dart. So, a little less sidewall means just about nothing to me with wheel rates that are already in excess of 200 lbs/inch at the lowest and 300 lbs/inch at the highest. The decrease in sidewall does transmit more road feel, but on a cars that had practically NO road feel from the factory I don't think that's a bad thing.

All the horsepower in the world doesn't mean anything if you can't put it to the ground, and I like to put my horsepower to the ground while cornering. My car, my choices. I like my 17's. In fact, I'm going to be running 18's on my Duster. :D
 
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