F: 17x10 - R: 17x12 advice from the pros

[patra_is_here]

yeah and it doesn't alter your spring rate at all.

[Convette]

yeah I've thought of doing something like this, def a great option and would only need it on the fronts. All super cars have a similar setup.

[attack vector]

UPDATE:

 

Discount Tire called this morning. My Yokohama S.Drives have arrived! But they won't mount my stretched rubber. So I've called a performance shop that I know mounts stretched rubber and scheduled an appointment to have the tires mounted on Tuesday the 28th. Sadly the performance shop can't do a lug-centric balance, but it seems that the Discount Tire where I ordered my wheels can. LOL So I'm gonna do a little back-and-forth dance over next week to get this all squared away.

 

The bigger question I've got is regarding fender rolling. The rears are gonna need it. I'm debating whether I should try to roll them, or if I should handle this the same way I did my MR2 and just take a metal grinder and shave that inner lip down.

 

Convette, Dvenable, and others... how have you guys managed your fender roll-shave-tuck issues. I'm looking for ideas.

 

Thanks!

[patra_is_here]

man i just used a metal jack handle and had my friend pull the car forward/backward very slowly =(((

 

but, then again, my car is a pile. yours is pretty nice so you might want to do it the right way. any idea how much clearance you'll need? maybe you can get a body hammer and gently tap the inside flat.

[polarisman14]

Yeah everyone I've talked to says that a run-of-the-mill fender roller doesn't work because the fenders are multi-ply metal and very hard to manipulate. Gotta smack them back with a BFH first, then take a roller to it to try and bring some of the shape back. And you may want to borrow a heat gun, warm up the paint first so that it's less likely to crack when you start smacking on it.

[Dred_85.5_TSI]

^ This

I bent the lips on my front fenders over to clear my new wheels. I used a ball peen hammer and a flat faced body hammer. and it turned out ok. I haven't bothered to try the rears cause they are beefy.

[patra_is_here]

once the car is lowered your camber is gonna go more negative. it might clear if the tires are stretched

[attack vector]

Thanks guys. All good suggestions!

 

I have a rubber sledge, a heat gun, and a large aluminum dowel that's already wrapped in neoprene foam (it's the detachable handle from one of my low-profile floor-jacks) I figure between all of these things... I probably have the tools to DIY a fender-roll. But yeah... that steel is THICK. Hahaha. And of course I imagine technique is the key or else I'm guessing it's pretty easy to end up with a warbled lip and chipped paint.

[Dred_85.5_TSI]

You could also section the rear wheel arch lip with a cutting wheel. Individual sections would be easier to bend. I've never done this just an idea.

[patra_is_here]

your best bet is get it mounted and adjust your camber and try and get an idea. it might be more than simply rolling the inner lip. it might require pulling the whole sheet metal outward, in which case you'll have to cut the inner structure. if it's not too much, you might be able to pull it without having to section it.

[conquestador89]

i used a powered by max roller to pull/roll my fenders...camber maxed out...

http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr91/conquestador619/Snapbucket/745C1E4E_zps79b6bdad.jpg

[polarisman14]

You can take two approaches to this. Roll and pull your fenders as far as they'll go and then fine tune the wheel placement to match. The second, which I think you'll have to do because of your aggressive fitment approach, is to mount up the wheels and tires, put the camber where you want it to be, and manipulate the fenders to fit the wheels. This will eliminate the need for spacers (not that you'll need them anyway) and the sky is the limit for the fit.

[D_Venable]

I ground the paint off the fender lips, then beat the lip over with a ball peen hammer, it's all about control of where the hammer hits, I made a couple bobbles on mine. Then I primed, and used a spray can of color matched paint and resprayed the lips once I got them where I wanted, any over-spray on the side of the car, I just polished it off.

[Convette]

Use heat and take your time. I used a bat on the tire at first to get the lip to roll, then a proper eastwood roller. You dont want to go to far with them. I woulds do like everyone else said and mount them up, see where they are at and do what you need to do. If you dont go too far you can still keep very nice surface quality. If you go to far you will create a hollow spot in the center of the fender...no good for highlights.

 

 

And hurry up man. we need to see this thing already.

[Convette]

so updates?

[attack vector]

UPDATES!

 

Dropped the tires and wheels off this morning at a performance shop to be mounted. Will pick them up tonight on the way home and then take them to Discount Tire sometime during the week to be lug-centrically balanced. But I should have everything ready to put on the car by this coming weekend!

 

But here are some pics from the weekend as I finished up the brake upgrade:

 

Tires!

 

Quick cheater trick for drawing a knurled stud in dead center. Worked like a charm.

 

I found that a C-clamp worked but was pushing the stud in off-center, so I stacked 5 1/2" split-lock washers and used the lug nut to draw the stud in true.

 

Being OCD and measuring / averaging the set-length of each stud to ensure the deepest setting possible :-)

So for reference, on a factory stud the average set-length for rear studs is approx: 33.5mm

 

The fronts were approx: 38.5mm

 

Hell-Raiser cube-tool worked like a charm. Much more effective then beating on the piston like a cave-man :-)

 

Rear caliper-piston fully retracted:

 

Fronts were a snap compared to the rear.

I had never done the brakes on the car so I lol'd when I saw the size of that front piston. Thing is a friggen coke-can! LOL!

 

This last pic I snapped just because it captured the zen of the weekend.

GARAGE LIFE FEELING OF MAXIMUM MOTORING ENTHUSIAST CREATE!

 

More updates soon!

[patra_is_here]

dang you're serious about your OCD (no offense).

 

im the opposite. i just put the studs in, put the wheels on and let the wheel nuts draw the studs tight. =/

[attack vector]

Patra, no offense taken on the OCD :-) I think I'm just trying to be as methodical as possible because I'm not using ARP studs (at least not yet) so I feel like my specs need to be spot on. I measured front and back set-length and made sure I used the correct torque specs too. IIRC it was 36 ft. lbs. for the rear caliper to hub bolts, and in the front those bolts are 70 ft. lbs. Also the shop that mounted the wheels offered to take a stab at balancing, but they said they can only do hub-centric using a cone adapter and I passed. I want a proper lug-centric balance with the correct adapter. With luck I'll get that done tomorrow at a different shop.

 

I picked up the wheels yesterday from Speedware Motorsports where they were mounted. They said they had to use the cheetah to get them up on the beads :-) They also liked my setup so much they took a photo of it and put it up on their FB page, which I thought was pretty cool seeing as they work on absolutely bonkers cars all day long. When I was there they had a Pantera, Murcielago, Exige and many many other crazy cars and they were like, "these wheels with these tires are sick..." which was pretty cool seeing as the job they were mounting right next to mine were a set of single-hub-bolt Alpina racing wheels on Avon competition tires which I thought was pretty boss.

 

Anyway, I snapped a few pics while I was there. The rears have a lot more stretch than the fronts, which surprised me, but in the end I think it will work out for the best because the rears have a lot more inner-fender lip to contend with.

 

 

[patra_is_here]

im so curious as how much modification you'll need to fit the fenders. looking forward to more pics

[polarisman14]

Those look awesome. Time to test fit them on the car, and don't be stingy with the pictures!

[Convette]

I bet not much.

[BOHO]

Why aren't they mounted yet??? LOL

[Convette]

right?

[ZacMan]

PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICS of them on the car.

 

kthxbi.

 

;-).

[patra_is_here]

UPDATES?