Questions for those with 15x8 wheels on front of Challengers

[KillerBee]

Thinking of changing wheels and tires on my 1971 R/T Challenger and going more of retro look with all 4 tires and wheels real close to the same height/size.

I've been doing a lot of reading here on the many wheel fitment posts.

I'm an OLD guy so I'm not interested in going with the larger 17" and up sized wheels.

I'm leaning towards the gun metal MB Motoring Old School wheels which seem to be a popular style.
There is a new set of 4 15x8 with 4 1/2 backspacing on E-bay going for $364 with free shipping which sounds pretty good.

My Challenger has it's original drum brakes on front.

I currently have Weld Prostars 15x8 on the rear with 4 1/2" backspacing and 275/60-15 tires and 15x7 on the front with 235/60-15 tires.

Everything fits real nice but the front tires are just a bit too short for me compared to the rear tire height.

So from reading posts here I should be able to fit a 15x8 with 4 1/2 backspacing on the front with a 245/60-15 without having to trim or modify anything?

My car has manual steering and I haven't seen too much talk about how difficult it is to steer those bigger tires without power steering?
The current 235/60-15 tires are actually fairly easy to handle/drive right now even with the 4 speed.

So for those running 15x8 on the front of their Challengers am I missing anything on fitment?

Feel free to post pics of what your running and thanks for any info and/or advice.

[brads70]

   I'm curious to know too?

[ek3]

so... will a 245-60-15  on an 8 "  rim w/std backspace  fit on the front of a challenger  [with 15" fenders]  ?

[KillerBee]

Well I guess I'm gonna find out as I just ordered a set of 4 15x8 with 4 1/2 backspacing (0 offset)

For those who are interested Discount Tire Direct is having a Black Friday sale until Monday and I got all 4 wheels shipped to my location for $314, that's about $78 bucks a wheel! .

I did have to pay tax as they have a location in my state.
They also matched Summit Racing's lug nut and valve stem price of $25.00.

So I'm gonna give the wheels a try.
Heck if they don't fit I'll bet I could sell them for a profit on Craigslist.

I have access to a high tech tire machine and balancer so I can experiment with different tire sizes.
I'll start with the current 235/60-15 tires I already have up front and if it appears there's room I'll pick up a set of 245/60-15 tires and try them up front too.
The rear should fit no problem as that's the current wheel/tire size that's on the car.

Looking forward to trying these wheels out, unfortunately it's going to be awhile until I can get to the car as it's stored for the winter.

This is the look I'm going for.
Mr. Norm's 1971 GSS Hemi Challenger
Now I got to figure out what looks better....raised white letters in or out.

[HP2]

so... will a 245-60-15  on an 8 "  rim w/std backspace  fit on the front of a challenger  [with 15" fenders]  ?

If standard is 4.25 BS, then yes, they will fit, but, depending on ride height, you may want to roll two small sections of fender to prevent any possible collision.

I have 15x8 with 4.5" back space with the equivilent of a 255/50x15 tire. At full compression and full lock right or left, I had maybe an .125 of clearance to two sponts on the fender lip. This was a bit tighter than I wanted, so I rolled those spots. Now, I have .25" more backspace than you, but I also have a 10mm wider tire and my ride height is so low, that my 26" tall tires are actually tucked into the fender wells toa point that teh fender lip is only a inch or so above the rim. If you duplicate the taller height of the Mr Norm's car pictured above, you will probably be okay.

[KillerBee]

I couldn't remember the backspacing on the current 15x7 wheels on the car so I snuck out to the garage and pulled a front wheel off to check.

As I suspected the backspacing is also 4.5", so I should be good.

There is plenty of clearance with the current shorter 235/60-15 tires and the car could easily be dropped down a bit.

I'm thinking of going straight to the 245/60-15 tires on the front and tweaking the ride height.

[brads70]

 I just bought one of these today. Local speed shop had them on sale.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Percys/760/01201/10002/-1

I'm wanting to go 17 or 18" and with the C-Body spindles and hubs, A-Body LCA's  set up I have , I'm thinking I can't assume anything?

[HP_Cuda]

Killer

I'm about to go down this road, what did you find with 15x8 Rims and 245/60-15 Tires?

I'm thinking this is going to work.

B

I couldn't remember the backspacing on the current 15x7 wheels on the car so I snuck out to the garage and pulled a front wheel off to check.

As I suspected the backspacing is also 4.5", so I should be good.

There is plenty of clearance with the current shorter 235/60-15 tires and the car could easily be dropped down a bit.

I'm thinking of going straight to the 245/60-15 tires on the front and tweaking the ride height.

[KillerBee]

Killer

I'm about to go down this road, what did you find with 15x8 Rims and 245/60-15 Tires?

I'm thinking this is going to work.

B

Everything fit perfectly on my Challenger.

I put about 500 miles on the car last summer with the new wheels and tires on it.

I started with the front end raised up with the torision bars then lowered the car a little at a time and drove it over a few weeks until I got it where I was happy.
It does take a few miles of driving to get the car settled to it's ride height after adjusting the torsion bars up or down.

I obviously took lots of pics when adjusting the ride height.

I like it on the lower side and plan to lower the rear 1" next spring.
High or low I never had any rubbing.

I would think fitment should be the same on a 1970 'Cuda.

I'm very happy with my wheel/tire choice and even without power steering I don't find the 245/60-15 front tires too difficult to steer.

Good luck.

[HP_Cuda]

Awesome, just what I wanted to hear.

Time to order tires and drop off the rims then.

 

[crash340]

wait up, Killerbee lost me back there stating he had 15x8 with 4.5" bs (0 zero offset) shouldnt zero offset be 4" bs on an 8" rim???

[HP_Cuda]

4.5 BS for a 245/60-15 tire in front on a 15x8 RIM.

[brads70]

Killerbee, thanks for the pictures!  :2thumbs:You car looks to be about 2" higher than mine so I'm not exactly sure if it will work on lowered cars ? Yours looks great though!

[KillerBee]

Killerbee, thanks for the pictures!  :2thumbs:You car looks to be about 2" higher than mine so I'm not exactly sure if it will work on lowered cars ? Yours looks great though!

Thanks Brad.

I like the 245/60-15 tire as it's fairly close in height to the 275/60-15 tires on the rear which makes the car look more balanced when it sits level front and back.
I had a size smaller (235/60-15 on a 15x7 Weld wheel) on the front and the difference in tire height between the front and rear made the car look nose down unless I really lifted the front end up.

In the pics I posted the ride height is all over the place as I tested different levels.

The last pic above actually had a floor jack under the K member so the front suspension is hanging down making it appear to have a bunch of space above the tire.

The pic below is where the car is currently sitting, which is fairly low but I did have the front even lower, basically the torsion bar were completely unloaded.

I haven't had any tire rub anywhere so far with the car sitting up or down.

I'm going to drop the rear an inch in the spring when I get a chance but I'm also planning a quick little engine/tranny swap

Kevin





The pics I posted at the beginning of this thread are of the car with 235/60-15 on the front on a 15x7-15 Weld Wheel 4 1/2 backspacing.
The rear has the same 275/60-15 on a 15x8 rim.
The front wheels/tires really looked short and tiny under the car when mounted and the car had to be really lifted in the front to make it level with the rear.

I didn't like the look at all.

Thankfully I have access to a tire machine so I was able to do a lot of wheel/tire combo swaps.

[JAS]

I am doing the same with vintage American 200-S (coke bottle) in a square setup.  Not many people do this but I like the 70's look riding high all around.  The wheels are 15X8.5  3 3/4" bs as all of them were back then.  I may have to play with the tire size a little to get it right.  Haven't seen anyone on here with these wheels or offset.  They are my favorite aftermarket wheels.  The beryllium finish on the originals is amazing.