Finally some more progress. All along I've wanted to get mini-lite style rims for the Cuda and I figured I would get the Vintage Wheel Works V48s (those are the rims on the rendering of my Cuda). However, finally a new company called NewGen that Driverz Inc sells, has come out with a more "modern" looking mini-lite. The advantages of these are any type of finish is available, plus they are CNC machined from forged aluminum with any backspacing. I put down a deposit on these back in the fall before one was even built (I was going off the drawing of the wheel). Anyway, the first set of these was finally built (not mine but they are close). I plan on going with the polished outer with a matte black powdercoated center. Here's some pics:
I think they will look pretty sweet. So now I need to measure for sizes to finalize my wheel order. So I "rented" a Tire Mount Mate from Marty (SyborgTT on pro-touring.com) to mock up these tires I've had sitting around forever. The Tire Mount Mate allows you to play around with various backspacing while holding the tire in place. Here's what it looks like on the car.
So I have a couple tires to play with. The tire in the front of this picture is a 275/50/17 from a friends Dakota R/T. I'm going to try and make that fit on the front of the car since it's the width I want to run, even though its a lot taller then I need (I'm only going to try and run a 275/40 in the front). Behind that is a 315/35/17 and behind that is a 335/30/18. This picture gives you an idea of the width differences in the tires.
So I first mocked up the 315 and that fit with a ton of clearance, so then I mounted up the 335.
The only thing I don't like about the 335's 18's is I can only seem to find them in 30 series. I wish someone made a 335/35/18 for a little more sidewall height. They do make 335/35/17's, so right now that's the leading tire size candidate. With the tire mounted in this position it was with a simulated 18x12" rim with 6 inches of backspacing. I had ~1" to the quarter panel lip and over 1" to the lower 4 bar which is the next limiting factor.
I made sure and measured on both sides (that's why you see both shocks disconnect so that I could get the full range of motion). I got the 275 mocked up on the front but only finished one side since again I had to remove the shocks, etc. I'll post pics of the front later this week once I get I both sides done.
Travis
72 Cuda
