1- for an 8" rim in the front you'd want a backspace between 4.5" and 5" or so. A 245 is a pretty easy fit as far as the width is concerned, although a 245/45/18 is 26.7" tall, which is a pretty darn tall for the front. I try to say closer to 26" tall for the front tires. A 255/40/18 would fit just fine as well and be a little better on the height, and you could run that one on a 9.5" wide front rim. With a 18x9.5" in the front I would suggest 5.25 to 5.5" of backspace.
2- No need for an offset in the back to run 275's no problem at all there. 285's shouldn't be an issue, 295's would be pretty tight unless you didn't mind rolling the lip on the quarters. I would stick to 275's or 285's without the relocation though. I would say 5.25 to 5.5" of backspace again for an 18x9.5" on a stock E body rear. 5.25 is probably about right on the money, 5.5" might need a small spacer (5mm or so). But if you ever decide to go with disks on the rear it helps to have a little extra backspace, most of the aftermarket disk kits add a little width to the rear. And you can always add a small spacer if you have a little too much backspace, but you can't do anything if you don't have enough.
3- Yes. You absolutely want good shocks and larger torsion bars. The stock torsion bars on these cars are horribly undersized. 1.03's would be a good choice, they would significantly improve your handling, but still should be fine when it comes to ride quality. The Hotchkis Fox shocks are awesome. I have a set on my Duster. They're even better than the RCD Bilsteins, which are pretty darn good themselves. I run 1.12" torsion bars on my Challenger (270 lb/in wheel rate) with the Bilsteins, I still think it rides great. And the handling is light years ahead of stock. Even though my Duster is a bit lighter than my Challenger, I run 1.12" bars on it too (300 lb/in wheel rate). With the hotchkis shocks the ride quality is very similar to my Challenger, despite the higher wheel rate and lighter car.
As for the steering, going to a stage 3 box will get rid of that overboosted, drive with your pinky finger and not have any road feel issue that the stock boxes have. But it doesn't change the ratio any, the power boxes are all 16:1. So it just changes the amount of "boost" that the power steering provides. Another option is to go to the quick ratio steering arms, which actually changes the steering ratio to 12:1 and will make the steering faster (and less overboosted). Only issue with those is header clearance, so you have to make sure you've got headers that will clear them.
I run my Challenger with 17x9's with 5" of backspace and 275/40/17's on all 4 corners. I do have a relocation kit installed with a 68-70 width B body rear end, but I have enough clearance to run 335's with that combo. As I already mentioned I also run it with 1.12" torsion bars and Bilstein shocks. I also have Hotchkis UCA's in the front, and I use the 73+ style F/M/J spindles with the later B/R body 11.75" rotors and stock calipers, no need for aftermarket brakes with that combo on the street. In the back I just run mopar XHD springs, but I also have 11x2.5" drums in the back to aid in stopping. The car sits pretty low also...
Topic: New Suspension/Brakes/Wheels and tires combo Challenger (Read 2181 times)
