Has anyone had problems installing 275/35/18's on a Dart or Valiant? I am installing offset shackles on my car and was hoping I could stuff those on as I need new tires anyway. I know there's the hump on the rear wheel wells. Does that usually interfere under compression with wide tires?

I also noticed that the center hub on my Dr Diff axles is larger than the centerbore of my current wheels so my 1/4" spacers are required for now unless I machine them out or buy a new set of wheels (which I'm thinking about). Does anyone know that center hub diameter?

Anything I should be worried about in the front? I already have larger T-bars and have raised the car just a tad to avoid machining tires as I was doing before.

I'm currently running a 255/40/18 all the way around. 18x9" with +32mm up front and +17mm in the rear with the offset shackles. I was hoping to get a square setup with both wheels and tires for the next iteration.

Samy what tire are you thinking about getting?
Since every 275/35-18 tire brand has different widths it is important to figure into the equation. For example a BFG Rival S in that size can fit a 9"-11" wheel. I would run at least a 10" wide wheel to get more tire on the road.

I was planning on running Bridgestone RE-71R's which is in about the same range of 9-11" wheels. If I was going to a new wheel, my math says that an 18x9.5" Enkei PF01 +35mm offset should be just around ballpark of what I need.

RE-71R's are a great tire! I think they are a bit on the narrow side as well. I have a set of 255's and they are narrower than my previous Yokohama AD08's. The PF01 is also a strong wheel and glad you are able to find the size you need. PF01's should be around $300 bucks each and lots of people use them on the track!

I mean, once the job is done and the rear end is centered, I just need to measure everything up to verify it will fit. Where are you finding them for $300? Silver or Black?

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/enk-4608956635sp/overview/

I paid $320 each for two PF01's about 3 years ago, they were 10.5's whoops I didn't figure that they would be more expensive. I love black wheels but keep in mind it is more difficult to find cracks when they develop. I still vote black though!

I found them here for $353
http://www.ultrarev.com/Enkei-460-895-6635BK-PF01-Racing-Series-Wheel-Black-18-x-9.5.html

$345 here but you pay tax
http://www.sparktecmotorsports.com/enk-460-895-6635bk.html

My guess is that the Dr Diff hubs are the correct size for Mopars, 2.81".

Good to know. If anything, I could show Summit or whoever the price and ask them to price match. I like blacks, but I'm just wondering how an all black wheel would look on my car.



A guy on FABO measured it for me. The Dr Diff bbp axles measure 2.795" (~71mm). The stock bbp axles measure 2.825" (~72mm). So, I should be good with Enkei's if I choose to go with them.

I have a 275/35/18 square setup on my 72 Dart swinger...im running 18×9.5 Enkei NT03+M wheels with Hankook Ventus R-S4 tires. The rears are a 38 offset and fit perfectly with the Explorer 8.8" @ 59.5" wide and the Dr. Diff offset kit. The fronts are a 27 offset and clear everything and no rubbing the frame.

My aluminum brake rotor hats are 0.250" thick front and rear so thats factored into it too. Without the hats on the tires would just be a hair from rubbing the frame in front and the leaves in the rear.

My next tires will be 285s as my offsets are bang on so i coulda gone bigger but i was playing it safe for the first ones. Also my tires dont measure out as wide as the spec sheet said they were either.

Not sure how you squeezed 275's in the back of a stock 72 Swinger. I could just get 245's in, rolled fender lip, stock spring location. Had maybe 3/4" clearance ins'de and out.

That would just barely rub the leafs on hard turns.

Dr Diff says 1/2" more, which is maybe 13 mm. I guess if I was running 35 profiles instead of 60's and left 1/4" inside and out for clearance it could be done. Is you fender lip rolled or cut?

I had 275s on n the back of my 69 Valiant with the offset Shackel kit ... so they should fit a 72 Dart as well.
JRC are you driving this beast around our fine Winnipeg streets yet?

That sounds comforting to know. It might be awhile before I can buy new wheels and tires. I just bought a new car.

If i had a way to upload some pics i would...on my rears i have about 5/16" from the tires to the leaves. They just squeezed on without trimming the lips but it was like 1/8", so just trimmed the lip back about a 1/4". The fact that these are low profile tires with a larger rim is why it fits along with the 1/2" leaf offset. I had 245s on 14s and they had cuts on the sidewalls from rubbing.

Also have hotchkis sway bars to help with roll along with 1.12" bars and 2 leaves added to my hotchkis leaf packs. So the wheels arent moving around nearly as much as the old 245 tire days! I have about 5/16" clearance everywhere...never trimmed front fenders or pushed anything in or out either. But have some good static camber and 200TW tires too.

Car is in shop being finished up with fuel cell and sub frame connectors, aluminum radiator and electric fans. Be back on the streets next summer. I have a 4mth old boy thats slowed my progress down this year! lol

Sounds pretty tight, but the low profiles help. I was running a 3/4" rear sway bar as well, but the taller sidewalls let the tire flex enough to rub.

This wasn't a dedicated track car and I really do not like the feeling of a low profile tire on the street.

What did ya get????

I can imagine Samy in a pink Fiat 500...

Fess up, is this the car??

A Panther Pink Mopar????

A 2018 Subaru WRX to replace my Scion.

Really? No witty comment?

Very cool Sami. You going to autocross it? AWD can be a lot of fun!

Nah, it's blue and pretty cool.



Probably not, or at least anything competitively, unless my Dart is down. I've driven it about 300 miles since Thursday and it's pretty fun and the ride quality is 1000x's better than my Scion. I love how you can just throttle through the corners. Plus, this is my first turbo car so that's always fun to deal with. I'm going to try to baby this car as much as possible for a daily driver unlike my Scion.

Besides that, the plan is to pick up the Dart on Friday. We'll see how finances go, but maybe I'll bite on wheels and tires early. I want to do quite a bit of measuring first to see what wheels will work.

Ignore the Chevy Spark in the background.

The car drives a lot better with 1.18" T-bars and the leaf springs moved in, but now I think I have transmission problems...

I drove the car from the shop to my work and then to my gf's house (about 30 miles all on streets) and it seemed to do fine. Later on in the day, my gf and I went on a little joy ride and the Dart was great. My gf was ecstatic and loved it. It was really fun.

Well, a couple hours later I had to take on the 30 mile journey home (mostly freeway). When I started the car, I kind of had a feeling there was a problem. I could sort of hear a little clunking noise from the car as it was idling and every time I pushed the clutch pedal it went away, but I wasn't sure. I put the car in reverse and backed out and as I shifted into 1st and was moving forward, it sounded like a mystery bolt came loose and clunked around for a second, dropped out of the car, then the car stopped and shut off. Keep in mind, the car was still a little cold (135-150F water temp) and has shut off on me when trying to move the car in 1st if it's not too warm (I rushed the warm up a little as I was trying to get home as it was late). I immediately started the car back up again and the noise was gone. I didn't want to scare my gf, so I drove away, planning on pulling over in a nearby neighborhood in case something happened as I didn't want her to worry (I know, not the smartest idea).

Well, as I was driving, the car felt fine, until I got on the freeway. It could just be me since I haven't driven the car in 2 months, but it felt like the car was fighting itself to stay at speed (70-80 mph). My frame of reference could be out of wack because I just got a new daily driver last week and have been driving that a lot. But I also noticed that when I hit the exhaust drone RPM band and tried cruising at that speed that the vibration was a lot more than usual, but would smooth out significantly after I raised the engine speed outside of drone RPM. Lastly, what I thought was kind of weird, and I don't remember it doing this before, was that sometimes when I'd try to accelerate to pass a car (let's just say I'm at 2500 RPM in 5th gear) the RPM would rise to about 3000 (still in 5th) for a second or two, but the car would stay at the same speed, then the RPM would drop to about 2700 RPM and it would increase speed by a small amount. This also did sometimes occur when shifting from 5th to 6th and vice versa. It may have done it before, but who knows, my memory could be off.

Anyways, I ended up getting home safe, but now I'm all freaked out that I have a transmission problem and I'm tired of spending money on this car. I swear this car hates me. I'm pretty frustrated with it at this point and if this ends up being something big, I'm parking the car until next June (when I finish my masters) because I don't have the time, patience, or money anymore to work on it. But who knows, this could all just be me and my tiredness.

A bolt holding the pressure plate could have rattled loose and fallen out. This will result in UNeven pressure to hold the clutch, especially under power.

That would make sense. It seems like the clutch discs were slipping when trying to pass cars (no bueno). I have the car propped up in the front under jack stands, but it seems like all of the bolts on the outside and all along the drivetrain are still intact. I'd hate to pull the trans out of this car.

The T56 Magnum isn't that bad to pull out and service. I have done it myself when I had to flip the ring gear on my flywheel around. The worst part is putting everything back & aligning the trans so that the splines line up but its easy with the clutch tool and when you use the drive shaft to spin the input shaft. Also having the car on jacks as high as possible and a trans jack helps!

What's a clutch tool? Getting the car high up on jack stands has been difficult for me and on top of that, I don't have a trans jack besides me bench pressing it. But this does not sound like a fun job.

A "Clutch tool" is a plastic copy of the input shaft of the transmission. It is used as a dowel to properly position the clutch disc in exactly the right position while bolting on the pressure plate. It aligns the clutch so that the transmission should (In theory) bolt right up.
I would make sure to put LOCKTITE on the pressure plate bolts!

Blue or Red?

[ I could sort of hear a little clunking noise from the car as it was idling and every time I pushed the clutch pedal it went away, but I wasn't sure. I put the car in reverse and backed out and as I shifted into 1st and was moving forward, it sounded like a mystery bolt came loose and clunked around for a second, dropped out of the car,

quote=Frankenduster]A bolt holding the pressure plate could have rattled loose and fallen out. This will result in UNeven pressure to hold the clutch, especially under power. [/quote]


I'm going to guess that he's right. Put the car up on jackstands, pull the inspection cover off and check to make sure all of the bolts holding the clutch/pressure plate to the flywheel are still there by rotating the engine over.

Is there anyway to go look for that mystery bolt? Finding it may answer the question of where it came from rather quickly.

Where's the inspection cover? The bellhousing doesn't really have any slots to inspect the pressure plate.

I'd have to go to my gf's house and look around the street to find the bolt.

I run 275 35s square as well. BFG Rival S. 18x9s.

Trimmed rear lips, moved springs in 5/8". Removed front lips entireley. No rubs even in track conditions.

My apologies, apparently there is no inspection cover on a Quicktime T56 SBM bell housing. Guess you have to pull the trans. Good news is the bolt is probably still in there.

So, I just sent the Dart to a credible trans shop and they seem reasonable and will get the work done so, it's back to thinking about wheels and tires.

So, I'm doing the math, and I'm not sure if the 275/35/18's are going to fit very well with the wheel setup I have. I only gained about 0.5" with the offset shackles. Curently, the rears are rubbing on the quarters. I'm trying to keep things affordable as much as I'd like the Enkei's. I'm thinking about going to Bridgestone Re-71R's 265/35/18's with the M/T 18 x 9" +32mm wheels and +5mm spacers. I'm hoping with the 9" wheels, it will bring the sidewalls in a little for clearance. I know it's not ideal, but I just want to make sure everything fits. I'll test fit the front wheels on the rear for reference when I get the car back.

That is a great chart, Samy. Thank you.

I also found these little tiny front spacers (+2-3mm = 0.090"-0.125") to add with my +5mm spacers to buy me a tad extra room. +7-8mm total spacer.

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/wil-300-10716/overview/

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/joe-38120/overview/

Well, I just poked around at Summit to see my wheels (M/T SC-5, 18x9, +32mm). I put them in my cart and hit checkout and it seems that Summit says they're discontinued and they only have one in stock. So, I may end up going to Enkei's in the future. I just don't know when due to finances. I'd need a higher paying job or a big raise (not going to happen where I work) in order to afford them.

I flipped the front and rear wheels on the Dart yesterday to see how much room I have. With a +27mm offset wheel and a 255/40/18 on an 18x9" wheel, I have about 3/4" of room on each side. A 275/35/18 might seem easier than I think, even with the +35mm Enkei's I was thinking about getting.

First 3 pictures display the room between the tire and the leaf springs, inner wheel well, and outer fender in the rear. Pictures are upside down.

Last picture is how close the wheel is to the outer fender in the front with -10mm offset (from +32mm to +22mm offset).

All pictures are from the driver's side.

I'm thinking about going with Falkens in the future as they're cheaper and likely to fit better than the Bridgestones even though the Falkens don't perform as well. But we'll see when I'll be able to afford them.

1st picture is for 255/40/18 Michelin Super Sports.
2nd picture is for 265/35/18 or 275/35/18 Falken Azenis RT615K+.
3rd picture is for 265/35/18 or 275/35/18 Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R.