Author Topic: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender (Read 6780 times)

moparstuff · « **on:** January 08, 2010 - 10:48:09 AM »

[quote author=moparstuff link=topic=19470.msg667527#msg667527 date=1262809198]

Hello Guys,

I'm currently running 245/45/18 in the front and use a 4.6 inch backspacing. I have a different inner fender well gaping from the outside of the tire to the inside of the fender well. The left side has all the room in the world and the right side is tight. It's about a half inch difference. My measurement is taken from the outside of the tire to the inside of the fender lip. The car is straight (according to alignment machine) and suspension is new. Did anyone have any similar issues when putting on wide tires?

Maybe its necessary to run differnet offset from right to left?
[/quote]

Quote from: ShelbyDogg on January 06, 2010 - 04:03:53 PM

Some are a little different from side to side. I noticed when putting on quarters that you can wided it a little before welding. Have your quarters been touched?

Quote from: moparstuff on January 06, 2010 - 04:45:31 PM

The rear quarters have not been touched. The front fenders are goodmark. Its more noticeable in the front but the space issue exist in the rear as well. Looks like the whole body sit closer to the right side than the left. The car comes up sqaure on alignment machine and chassis machine. Even looked at the K-Frame and looks to be bolted in sqaure.

Strange Stuff.

Quote from: PlumCrazyChris on January 06, 2010 - 06:50:49 PM

I'd say your fenders are just out of alignment when they where installed. There is a lot of play in those things. I got my car painted and the doors and fenders were rehung and they look great, but there was about a 2" gap when I tried to install the front valance panel.

good luck,
Chris

The fender are aligned and the door/hood gaps are perfect.

What all the mopar guys around my area say, is that these cars never rolled out the factory the same, causing strange issues like different wheel well gaps from left to right. But if it's really a factory flaw I can't see how I�ve never heard of anyone complain about this before.

I doubt this is it, but can adjustable strut rods cause the lower control arm to move out towards the fender? I think the adujstable strut rods only have the ablity to push or pull the tire further back . How about lower polyurethane control arm bushing, can they effect the postion of the tire in the wheel well?

inviolet · « **Reply #1 on:** January 09, 2010 - 09:14:20 PM »

Some cars can run a 275 in the front without a problem, no fender lip modifications. Others have a hard time running 245's. There a lot of variables to take into consideration.

This member had issues with 245 in the front:

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=28465.180

And so did this HotRod issue:

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/1043/index.html

And this member Fit 275 without a problem:

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=42140.0

Back spacing has to be right. The Front is always a little tricky, and no two cars are built the same, I'm sure others will agree.

tommyg29 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 09, 2010 - 09:47:14 PM »

inviolet, I just ordered ttIIs 17x9.5" (4.5" bs) and 17x8" (4"bs) rims with the bfg gforce 2s 275/40 rear and 245/45 fronts. You look like you have the g-forces too. How do you like them?

I may have to do a little grinding on my rear fender lips, but hopefully not. It will be close. Clearance from the leafspring will be less than 1/2", so 275 is about as big as I could go in the back. The 245s should fit up front no problem.

inviolet · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2010 - 04:09:13 AM »

Tommyg29,

The G-force is my favorite tire so far, I love the tread pattern. I have 245/40/18 in the front and 295/35/18 in the rear. I got the rears to fit using a 1inch relocation spring kit from Dr. Diff and a rear end housing from a 68 charger.
Probably if I rolled the rear fenders I would have been able to go 335/30/18 but that would be pushing my luck.
You may want to go with bigger backspacing in front. 4inch backspacing in the front may be cutting it close.

tommyg29 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2010 - 11:07:30 AM »

all 4 of my g-forces arrived already from tire rack, and the two front wheels. The rear two are custom made and will be another few weeks, but I will have the fronts mounted this week to see how they fit. I'm not going much bigger up front than is on there now and I have all kinds of room so I dont think the new fronts will be tight.
I used the tire calculator to compare my existing with my new setup and that jpeg file is on my work laptop which I'll post a copy of later. I researched the fit for hours and I'm confident what I ordered will fit. The important thing is the space the wheel and tire occupies, and if your 18" tire fits within the overall profile as mine it should work. That calculator is a great tool.
Oh, for the rear, I removed BOTH rear wheels and measured the distance from the mounting surface of the drum brakes (as I assume is the case with most) to the closest point of the leafspring about where it would contact the inner sidewall of the tire, and I came up with 5-3/8" on the right and 5-5/8" on the left. The fact that the two sides will probably vary is something you need to consider as well if you're going to be pushing it.
Sorry if this is slightly off topic but I think it applies for the rear anyways.

HP2 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2010 - 11:18:51 AM »

Quote from: moparstuff on January 08, 2010 - 10:48:09 AM

The left side has all the room in the world and the right side is tight. It's about a half inch difference. My measurement is taken from the outside of the tire to the inside of the fender lip. The car is straight (according to alignment machine) and suspension is new. Did anyone have any similar issues when putting on wide tires?

This makes me wonder if you have the correct lower control arm in place. I believe an A body lower control arm is around 1/2 longer than an B/E body arm. If it was incorrectly replaced at some time in its life, then the upper bushings tweaked to get the alignment right, then you would have one side that sticks out further than the other. Do you have offset bushings in the upper arm on the side that sticks out? I'd also suggest you put a tape to the two lower arms to see if they are identical in length.

FWIW, there are better performing 17" tires in the price range of the BFG KDWs; http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=64841.msg667319#msg667319.

tommyg29 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2010 - 11:30:42 AM »

true, but I like the look and the sizes of the g-forces, plus, theyre worlds better than the radial t/a's theyre replacing. I dont NEED the highest performing tire. I wont be racing the car. In fact, I drive it like a little old lady, with only the occasional rear tire chirping to please the passengers.

tommyg29 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2010 - 12:45:47 PM »

Heres what I put together to compare my existing wheels with my new setup. It helped me to visualize whats going on.

It helped me determine my fitment, but real world measurements are important too. The most obvious thing you notice is that the new rear tire is much shorter than existing, and the rear will sit about 1" lower (1/2 the height difference). The front tire is just slightly shorter but comes out about another .9".

autoxcuda · « **Reply #8 on:** January 10, 2010 - 02:36:52 PM »

The problem is that all you guy are only running 4.0" of front backspace. Factory on a 15x7 is 4.25" backspace.

You can run 5.0" of front backspace on a 17" rim. And 5.25" backspace on a 18" rim. The reason some are fitting 275/40/17 17x9 is because they are running a over 5.0" front backspace.

Read here: http://www.moparfins.com/CLAIRDAVIS/Cobra_Wheel.htm

HP2 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 10, 2010 - 04:06:17 PM »

True. I've got 4.75 back space with my 15" rims and I can get a 255 tire under my fenders without issue. Change to a 4.5 back space and I'm running close to fender interference. I couldn't imagine what 4" would do.

tommyg29 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 10, 2010 - 07:11:35 PM »

he he

unless the front lower corners of your fenders are trimmed like mine

I swear I just noticed it, but Ive only owned the car 6 months. No wonder I have plenty of room.

moparstuff · « **Reply #11 on:** January 11, 2010 - 01:32:28 PM »

Quote from: HP2 on January 10, 2010 - 11:18:51 AM

This makes me wonder if you have the correct lower control arm in place. I believe an A body lower control arm is around 1/2 longer than an B/E body arm. If it was incorrectly replaced at some time in its life, then the upper bushings tweaked to get the alignment right, then you would have one side that sticks out further than the other. Do you have offset bushings in the upper arm on the side that sticks out? I'd also suggest you put a tape to the two lower arms to see if they are identical in length.

FWIW, there are better performing 17" tires in the price range of the BFG KDWs; http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=64841.msg667319#msg667319.

The lower Control arms are the same length. The car tracks straight. My front wheel offset is 4.75, the rims clear the fenders and don't rub. The issue is just more space in the left wheel well than the right. 1/2 inch more, If the body was a 1/2inch off wouldn't all the gaps be off from the fenders to the doors and to the hood? Can it just be the aftermarket Goodmark fenders? Has any one ever experienced this before.

ShelbyDogg · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2010 - 02:27:02 PM »

Maybe you car has T\A fenders: Pics on Page 3

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=49349.30

Cudas probably had the same type deal for AARs, so eyeball yours and let us know.

moparstuff · « **Reply #13 on:** January 12, 2010 - 02:36:22 PM »

I will check, but my fender are repos from Good Mark. Anyone have any issues with these?

72rtchallenger · « **Reply #14 on:** January 12, 2010 - 05:37:51 PM »

Quote from: moparstuff on January 12, 2010 - 02:36:22 PM

I will check, but my fender are repos from Good Mark. Anyone have any issues with these?

sounds like the fenders,,if its aligned and drives good,,

Author Topic: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender (Read 6780 times)

moparstuff

Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

inviolet

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

tommyg29

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

inviolet

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

tommyg29

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

HP2

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

tommyg29

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

tommyg29

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

autoxcuda

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

HP2

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

tommyg29

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

moparstuff

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

ShelbyDogg

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

moparstuff

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender

72rtchallenger

Re: Wheel Well Gaps, Tire to Inner Fender