my 18" street/drag setup
 

Forgestar F14's in Textured Gunmetal finish

18x9.5 front
18x11 rear

Wheels were ordered from Tony at Deviate Motoring a well known vendor here (Nine Ball). Tony knows his stuff, the wheels fit great.

Tires
275/45 front with Bridgestone Potenza re050a from Sears and
325/40 M+H Racemaster drag radials from Summit racing.

This combo is within .1" of stock tire height front and rear.
Forgestars are very light for the price, complete set tires and wheels are 29lbs lighter than stock ZL1 five spokes and GY's.

Main reason was consistency and traction at the track, Car is M6.
However,the rears hook so much better on the street, 1st gear is useable now and second isn't a crapshoot.
With wide fronts I can go to a regular street tire in the rear and run them all summer if desired.
Already had an awesome ride for a performance car, it now feels like a 200mph Caddy.
Textured gunmetal and Ashen Grey is all business and hides brake dust well too!

more

want to thank members SUX2BU and SGOS252382 for their many informative posts in the wheels and tires general section, learned a lot!

looks good...get to the track and try them out

looks like a very tight fit. very nice. any problem with the sway bar in the rear at full compression or droop? also how much space is there between front caliper and inner barrel?

I have the same 18" set up from 9ball. Perfect fit after you tie the ebrake cable back. MT drag radials give these cars a fighting chance with traction. I wanted M&H but thought they might not handle well on the street.
How do the M&H handle on the street?

"With wide fronts I can go to a regular street tire in the rear and run them all summer if desired".

What would you use on the rear for street purposes (just curious)? :drool:

Thanks, guys.

Dyno time scheduled early July, then the track.
Stephen, speaking of track time, when is your next shot into the 10's?


I have not run through full compression/droop in the shop.
Bolted them up, clearances looked good with and without tires installed on wheels. Has been driven hard with 3 people in the car, no issues except the ebrake cable. LCA and swaybar are fine.
Front calipers are tight, bout 1/4" to barrel. Interesting that the rear clearance is the same as the front.
Has about 3/8" clearance with the cable, when driving it must move around as bolth sides have a slight rub :frusty:.
I will be tying the cable back.


Trackman, the M&H's handle great. Roundabouts, on-off ramps etc.. I don't even notice they are a drag radial. Under hard accel (T/C off) they squirm around a bit, especially if the surface has any rutting/not perfectly flat. Just takes a little getting use to. Better than counter steering everywhere with the 20"s. hmm, or is it? :happyanim:.
No comparison to my older muscle cars with 15" drag radials or slicks. Feel safe running these everyday.
30psi is what they have in em now.
How about the M/T's, they were my second choice?
Now that I have rubbed on the ebrake cable, how did you tie yours back?


Tire choices are limited, Nitto seems to have the most NT05R, 555R, 05, 555, 01 and 555r2.
Types to fit an 18x11" wheels.

M/T 305/45 will work. On a 18x11.

M/T drag radials are fine on the street and highway. I thought they might wiggle around but they feel good. The traction is awesome on the track and street. I might not put my 20's back on unless I autocross or long road trip.
Disconnect the ebrake clip support that is about a foot in from the caliper and use a a couple tie wraps to secure it back in the new position.

Very nice set up bro!

That is good to hear, sounds like either tire is a good choice.
Are the 305's pulled out at all on an 11" wheel?
Why I went with the 325's.

I would like to run the 18's more as well, as they ride and hook much better. Only issue is tire wear. They def show it when you are out playing around often!

I figured it was that easy, as it is only a slight rub.
thanks

What are the rest of the specs on the wheel? (Backspacing and offset). The combo looks great on your car!

thanks.
I did a fair amount of research because at the time these were ordered it wasn't 100% they would fit over the ZL1's front rotors. I found someone on a Pontiac forum that put these wheels on his G8 with CTS-V frt. rotors, so I knew the wheels would work.

However, most of my offset info came from searching posts by members SUX2BU and SGOS252382 in the wheel and tire section. Nineball fine tuned my #'s as he has done many 5th Gen aftermarket wheel sets.


Front is 18x9.5 27mm offset, which works out to 6.3" backspacing

Rear is 18x11 47mm offset, 7.9" backspacing.

Overall tire width affects things, the M&H's are a narrow 325.
A 43-45mm rear probably would have been enough to keep from the slight rub on e-brake cables.


Stock 20's are 10" front at 23mm, and 11" rear at 43mm.