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Re: Tire Clearence

To: "The List" <tigers@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Tire Clearence
From: "Mike Sutter" <mjsutter@cts.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 07:50:17 -0700
Chris Hill wrote:

Hey,
    My car is going into primer SOON.  Occurs that I should deal with fender
clearance before that.  Without respect to availability or my plans for size
(unclear yet), what fits without body mods on front and back, and what does
curling or shaving the fender lips get me (front and back) as far as
increased
size.  Do larger tires rub on the front valence too?  I'm asking about 13
inchers in the 185, 195, 205, 215 range.  Maybe 14's later on.  I've got LAT
70's to start so I'll assume a similare backside on any other wheels I use in
the future.  Thanks!!!

                   Chris Hill


Chris,

Some info on 15's in case you cant get a decent tire in 13 or 14 inch sizes.

Below is a post I sent years ago about putting Panasports on my car. I have
since lowered the car with Dales' springs and I still don't have a clearance
problem, I did roll the inner fender lips on the rear for piece of mind. It
was close and I felt any lateral movement of the rear end may cause me some
problems. (the panhard rod is on the shelf and will stay there)

Here is the original post, long time listers are probably tired of reading it.
Sorry.

Originally 3 types of 15" Panasport wheels were available for the Tiger,
15x6 24mm offset, 15x7 22mm offset (rear only) and 15x7 15mm offset (rear
only). Upon ordering I was informed that 2 offsets were currently
available. The 15x6
24mm and a new 15x7 20mm. This is the configuration I went with. I mounted
195/50ZR15's on the 15x6's up front, and 205/50ZR15's on the 15x7's on the
back. A 55 series tire was recommended by Panasport, but I couldn't get the
tires I wanted in that aspect ratio. The new rim/tire combo bolts up
without any frame or body contact. The inner sidewall on the rear tires
clear the leafs by 1/2". The 55 series tires would have been really tight
on the front edge of the front fender arch when turning with any body roll.
The inflated diameters of the tires are 22.7" on the 195's and 23.1" on the
205's. BTW I installed BFG Comp TA ZR's.

In addition:
If you run a 15"x7" up front you will probably get contact between the tire
and the lower edge of the front valance. Everyone I've talked with
regarding 15"x7"s mounted up front said they had to trim or bend the sheet
metal slightly in this area. If you run more offset up front to try and get
a 7" width, the inside of the rim may hit the upper control arm in the
vicinity of the ball joint. Fellow Lister Dick Barker runs 7"s up front on
his street car, and I think Brock Tella does too. If you guys are out
there, correct me if I'm wrong.

(I know Dick isn't out there.)


>From the previous post you can see that I run two different sized wheels
front to rear. This makes rotating tires a pain. If you run the
above listed 24mm / 6" wheels on the back, it may look silly (too narrow)
and the greater backspacing may cause tire and leaf spring contact. If you
get serious about Panasports and want to know if the 6" will fit on the
back, let me know and I'll swap my wheels front to rear too see if it will
work or not. I do not know if Dick and Brock run the 7" 15mm, 20mm or 22mm
offsets. The 15"x7" 20mm might work up front.

MS

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