18x9 front wheels?

[Anarchy Customs]

I can get them with either a 5.94" or 6.34" backspacing. I know they will physically fit on the car but I'm worried about them hitting when turning. Anyone know if a front wheel this wide can work? Car is a 71 Dart, tubular UCA's with big ball joints, factory LCA's with big ball joints, F body spindles with custom 13" brake/caliper kit.

[70 Dustpan]

I have 17X8's with 5.72" BS on the front of mine with tube upper arms and I had to use 1/2" spacers to clear the control arm sides when the wheels are turned all the way with the suspension fully extended.

[Bakaruda]

I have 17X8 with a 4.5 back space. If I was to do it again I would buy 17X7 with a 4 3/4 back space. This way the tire sets in side the fender.

[jackie]

about the time that someone says that it can't be done, someone else will find a way to do it!! but i have to ask, if you are planning 18x9's on the front,, what are you planning for the rear??? i guess the pro- street look is out....    good luck!!

[Anarchy Customs]

about the time that someone says that it can't be done, someone else will find a way to do it!! but i have to ask, if you are planning 18x9's on the front,, what are you planning for the rear??? i guess the pro- street look is out....    good luck!!

20x10s in the rear. 

[Bill_Reilly]

I'm doing 18X9's in front with 285/35's and 18X10 in the rear with 305/35's...It's going to be CLOSE. It'll be a while until I can tell you for sure, I have to assemble the whole car yet....

[Anarchy Customs]

I'm doing 18X9's in front with 285/35's and 18X10 in the rear with 305/35's...It's going to be CLOSE. It'll be a while until I can tell you for sure, I have to assemble the whole car yet....

Whats the backspacing on the 18x9s you're using up front?

[Bill_Reilly]

I got the 6.27 backspace - they're the deep dish bullet wheels in black. I'm thinking with stock suspension they may work nice, but they're so wide, it's tough to say if they'll clear the fender and frame rail. If they do, it'll only be by about 1/4" on each side.

[Anarchy Customs]

I got the 6.27 backspace - they're the deep dish bullet wheels in black. I'm thinking with stock suspension they may work nice, but they're so wide, it's tough to say if they'll clear the fender and frame rail. If they do, it'll only be by about 1/4" on each side.

Thats funny! Those are the exact same wheels I'm looking to get. Are you getting yours from americanmuscle.com too? I hear they have a very good return policy so I'm just going to order them and see if they work. If not, I guess I can send them back and order the ones with the other backspacing. BTW Bill if you have any pics of your car with the 18s on the front I'd love to see them. Thanks

[fasttcars]

ya i got 18x8.5  can't remenber bs..i think it was 5.5.....car lowered...  tire just slighly rubs  max turn on inner wheel well's   max turn  out had to trim  fender lip....that's alos with a 245/4018  tire...so with a 235  or 225   i don't know why i wouldn't work out

[andyf]

Here is a Valiant with 17x9 rims all the way around.  He also has 13 inch Viper rotors and calipers up front.  The 9 inch wide wheels fit just fine if you get the offset correct.  You'll probably also have to do a little trimming here and there.

[andyf]

Here is a shot from the front.

[PureGTS]

ANDYF - I'd really like to know the details of your wheels. Offset, MFG, OEM front suspension, spacers??, etc. I beat myself silly trying to find something like that for my 68 Dart only everyone wanted a truck load of $$$, they were so pretty the locals would steel them, I had to use spacers to make them fit or they would attract the cats by the thousands just to pee on them. Can you hook me up with this info?

P.S. I like the pics keeping the BMW's at bay. Cool!

[Anarchy Customs]

I'd also like to know. Thanks.

[andyf]

The Valiant in the pictures I posted has basically a stock front suspension with big torsion bars, a big anti-sway bar and FMJ knuckles.  This car has a custom front brake setup using Viper rotors and Viper calipers.  The rotors are hung on custom made aluminum hubs.  I don't know the exact offset on these rims or who the mfg is.  As far as I know they are just inexpensive Mustang clone rims.  I do know that they are 17x9 rims and they probably have about 6 inches of backspacing but I don't know the exact number.

It isn't really rocket science to figure out the correct offset to get the big rubber to fit but it can be frustrating to find the necessary offset in an off-the-shelf rim.  On my car I just went with custom built Fikse rims since I got tired of searching for the correct offsets but this guy found stuff that worked in a catalog somewhere.

[andyf]

Here is a picture that I took in the pits between races.  These are DOT approved racing tires, size is 275/40-17 on the 17x9 rims.

[PureGTS]

I don't suppose you are still in contact with that catalog wizzard? The wizzards around here are more like hobits and trolls. "What's a Mopar?" is the overlying question from these twits. If these are Mustang wheels, I've heards you have to enlarge the hub portion of the wheel to fit the larger hub of the Chrysler wheel AND add spacers. Machining is one thing I won't use spacers on anything I'm going to take to the limits.

[andyf]

If I remember correctly the red Valiant is running about a 3/4 inch spacer in the rear.  Up front he might have a small spacer but I don't recall.  I built the front hubs for him and I designed them to work with the Mustang rims and no spacers but these are new wheels and he might have had to move things around a bit.  I usually design my custom hubs so they'll accept a stack of spacers and still remain hub centric.

There is nothing wrong with running spacers if you do it correctly.  They just need to be hub centric on both ends.  The Valiant runs 120 mph+ on a long road race course with spacers without any problem.  High end rims have drilled and tapped holes in the centers so you can bolt spacers in and those rims work on LeMans type cars.  You just have to do it correctly that is all.