The Dodge Challenger Message Board

I know there have been a lot of discussions about rear wheel sizes, but what about the front wheels. I'm looking for new wheels to buy but don't know the backspacing for the front wheels yet.

The rear wheels will be 8,5x15 centerline convo pro's 4,5" backspacing with 275/60/15 for street and 275/50/15 for the strip. The front wheels will be 7x15 with 235's I quess. But what is the maximum backspacing for the front wheels... What are you all running in front? (rims/backspacing/tires)

Whatever the backspacing is on the 15x7 Rallye wheel is about the farthest you can go or your rim will rub on the end of the lower control arm. I ran into this problem on a set of reproduction rims that didn't fit the car and if I knew how to measure backspacing correctly, I would be able to post the proper size.

Will try to explain how to measure it Jack. Measure the distance from the center area of the rim (just beside the hubcap where the lug nuts hold the wheel) 90degree to the outside of the rim. This will propably be 3, 3,5 or 4" or maybe even something between. Then if your rim is 7" the backspacing will be 7" - what you measured. Hope this makes some sense. If not maybe somebody else can give Jack a better description.

This should help:

Your measurement of 7" rim is from beed to beed, to measure the back space you need a straightedge and a rule put the straightedge over the diamater of the rim and with the rlue measure the distance between the centre part of the rim where the hub or brake drum sit flush with the rim and the straightedge. So if your rim is 7" and your backspace is 4" the part of the rim you see when it's on the car is 3" this side of the hub.to measure how big you can go I would put a rim on the car with no tyre, then measure distance between beed of rim to leafspring,then beed of rim to wheel arch lip ,,,are you get the idear stick your head up under the car and think.

are look at that a picture say's a thousand words when your a one handed typer.

That's a better discription Luke and indeed a picture tells more then 1000 words. This should make it possible for Jack to measure his backspacing. The method you said to measure the max backspacing is for the rear wheels Luke, but I already knew that one. I was only wondering about the front wheels now. But thanks anyway, always handy to know more tricks to measure different things.

A factory 15x7 has a 4.25" backspace. The bad reproduction rim measured 4.75" and was rubbing the control arm slightly, so you might be able to slip by with 4.5".

You guys out there must have dead smooth roads and very few corners to run a tyre as wide as 235 on the front. here in blighty l run a 195 no more than 205 or the car will follow the rut's in the road even more interesting at 70+. my 71R/T has new front end and hi energy bushs +h/d torsion bars and sway bar. Run a 6" rim max on front

I think the backspace was 4.5 inches from the factory.

I know the reproductions that came out a few years ago ended up with a 0.25" gap between the trim ring and the wheel. So maybe it was these wheels that had the 4.25" backspace??

I believe the wheels/trims you get now are ok in this respect. I could be wrong about this but i seem to recall looking into this a few years ago. My memory is not reliable though.

I run 8x15s on the front of mine with 4.5" backspace. These will not fit without cutting the wheel arch lip. The 245 wide tyres do indeed follow the ruts in the road left on the nearside by heavy goods trucks. The solution is to only use the outside lane and drive fast!

What are your front end alignment settings Jay? It could be the cause of the problem. You should set the front end to these specifications.

Camber = 0.75 - 1.0 degrees negative.

Caster = as much as you can get with that camber setting. 2-3 degrees is fine. More if you can but the factory UCA bushings do not allow you much.

Toe Setting = 3/32" IN.

Hi DR had same probs with my 67/68 Cxxxxos and it was too wide a tyre put 195 on and you can really put it in to a corner and come out the other end. and good even wear rate accross tyre.And l only use the out side lane problem was with wider tyres car wanted to change lanes by its self. and at 99.99% throttle car was uncontollable now controllable at same rate

And now in English Jay?

Somebody correct me pls if i am wrong :

I am planing to order new wheels and they are available only with backaspace 3 3/4 for the front 15x7 wheel. It means that the wheel will go 3 3/4 inch (inside) from the mounting surface and 3 1/4 inch (outside) from the mounting surface.

If wheels 15x8 also can fit in the front but with Backspace 4 1/2 inch, then it means that such wheels go 4,5 inch (inside) and 3,5 inch (outside) from the mounting surface. This means that 15x7 with backspace 3,75 inch should be also OK or am i wrong ??

The best as far as i understand is 15 x7 with backspace 4,5 inch that go outside only 2,5 inch.

Does anybody can confirm my calculation ??

Looks right to me.

I just like to add that I have heard (or read posts) where people have had interference problems due to too much backspace. I think there are one or two posts on this MB regarding this, or...?

Too much backspace on 14 inch wheels will catch the UCA. 15 inch is OK on the front up to about 4.5" backspace. After that you have to be careful the tire does not hit the frame rail at full lock.

Click a few times on my picture and you can get a closer look.

I use original looking Goodyear Polyglass F-60 15's front and back of my car because I love the Stance of the car that current tires don't give with the more rounded edges.
No rubbing.
I don't know how to convert them to current sizes.
Having said that-- Yes they ride harder, the F-60's also tend to follow uneven areas in the road since they're wider than 70 series which came mostly stock on the front.
But they look great.
I always hated the skinny wheels on these stylish cars.

Post some pictures of some of your favorite stances due to the tires.

Here's a car that I almost bought a few years ago but it got away from me.
It's still eating at me. Every time I look at this picture.
Check out the STANCE. Doesn't it look great.
I asked the seller at the time the tire sizes but have since erased those Emails.
It actually looks good with current tires.BF Goodrich of some sort.

Too narrow (SKINNY)

regnellahC wrote:Too narrow (SKINNY)

That is the way they made them though. Looks like stock 14 inch size wheels which 90% of the Challengers would have come with.

Your wider tyres pictured above look like 15" wheels with 235 or maybe even 245 wide tyres.

regnellahC wrote:Post some pictures of some of your favorite stances due to the tires.

I have liked Freddie´s 74 ever since I first saw it....

Cheers
Chris

Freddie wrote: HI guys.

The wheels are custom halibrand replicas, 3-piece.
8X18 with 225/40/18 front, 10X18 with 295/35/18 rear. XHD mopar leafsprings with 1" lowering blocks. It looks lower than it is due to the size of the 18" wheels.

Rgds

Freddie