Ginger's new shoes! Forgestar F14 18x10 Goodyear Supercar 285/40 all the way around.

[SUX2BU]

First off a HUGE thanks to Nineball (Tony) for setting me up with these wheels. He is the second wheel vendor I have purchased Forgestars through and the experience was a world of difference. Customer service, communication and most importantly his custom wheel knowledge is second to none!

I FINALLY got my car back down closer to the ground so I cleaned her up and took some pics.

I REALLY like this set up compared to my last Forgestar F14 set up (18x8.8/18x11). I can rotate the wheels anytime I want, tires sizes are easier to find, they are still EXTREMELY light (50 lbs lighter than the narrower stock 20s) and they are 27" tall instead of 26" tall like my last set up. With my 26" tires my car was a little too low, it scraped on some tall speed bumps and some steep inclines. The 27" tall tire looks a little goofy on stock springs but I think it looks perfect on a lowered car, not too short and not SUV tall.



Here are some top up pics.




The wheels are Textured black Forgestar F14 deep concave 18x10. I (much like Tony) like wheels to be perfectly flush with the fender. Sitting a little in is ok, but sticking out is a big no no! A lot of people don't care if the tire sticks out of the fender, hell the ZL1 tires stick out quite a bit, but I can't stand it at all.

I wanted the widest wheel/tire set up I could run on the front AND back. I had staggered wheels before and hated that I couldn't rotate them. So I decided to go with 18x10 all the way around. I went back and forth a lot on the offsets and I think I nailed it PERFECTLY. The only slight downside is that I went with the Goodyear Eagle F1 Super car 285/40 18 tire. I originally wanted a Potenza RE760 295/35 18 tire all the way around at about $240 each, but then I found the Goodyears at $79 EACH and I had to jump on them. Most people don't realize that the tire specs have a just as much to do with a good fit as the wheel specs and the Goodyears sidewall bulges a lot more than I would like. This bulge really messed with my perfect sized set up on the front. I had to adjust the camber as far out as it will go to clear the struts. It is at 0* camber which is still with in stock specs but I really wanted to run -1.0* camber for better handling. Also the bulge makes the sidewall just barely poke out past the fender. Most people wouldn't notice this but I do, it's not that bad so I can live with it until I need new tires. If I stumble upon some $$$ I may just get some coil overs so I can have more clearance and get the camber exactly where I want it. This will also pull the tire in and make it sit perfectly flush with the fender. The rear tire bulge just barely pokes out a tiny bit but I have yet to align the rear and I can get that sucked in pretty easily. Some of you may be thinking, why not just run a wheel with less offset to clear the front strut better? I could, but then that same wheel would start to stick out in the rear. The offsets I picked are perfect, the tires sidewall is the problem.

I also had to grind a little off the top of the knuckle to kit the wide 18" wheels. Here is more on that http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201546

Here are a couple of pics of the strut clearance and where the tires sit.





And just for shits and giggles, here are the 4x4 pics with stock springs.

[blazzin1]

Hey SUX, your new wheels/tires look great!!! Nice set-up. But I sure hope you can buy some coilovers soon, those are some tight clearances you got there!!! Hopefully nothing rubs going around any tight turns!!!

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by blazzin1

Hey SUX, your new wheels/tires look great!!! Nice set-up. But I sure hope you can buy some coilovers soon, those are some tight clearances you got there!!! Hopefully nothing rubs going around any tight turns!!!

Already did clearance testing. You can see in the pictures I spray painted the struts to see if the tire rubs on it. Went to an empty lot and did some extreme maneuvers. Came home and the paint was all intact, so I'm good to go.

[SGOS252382]

Looks great. But wow your car is low to the ground. I can't believe your old setup was lower.

What kind of clearance do you have under the car?

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by SGOS252382

Looks great. But wow your car is low to the ground. I can't believe your old setup was lower.

What kind of clearance do you have under the car?

Lowest part of my car is the header flanges at about 2.5", the next lowest is the front mud flaps at about 2.75". The very front tip of my bumper is about 6.5" and my air dam is about 3.5".

With my last tires everything was about 1/2" lower.

On my skinnies and drag radials everything is about 3/4" lower.


I've always had lowered cars so I am used to driving them. When I first got in my car at the dealer I felt like i was jumping in an SUV!

[grocerygetter]

Nice dude. Those tires are fat for 285s.

[SUX2BU]

Here is the comparison between my 285/40 18 tires on 18x10 and stock front 245/45 20 on 20x8.







Here is the 285/40 18 on 18x10 compared to the stock 275/40 20 on 20x9.







Here is the total width of the 285/40 18 on 18x10. It's just a hair under 12"

[Rencor]

Nice Look!

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by grocerygetter

Nice dude. Those tires are fat for 285s.

Yeah but what sux is that only 10" of the almost 12" of width is tread. There is 2" of sidewall bulge, 1" on each side.

The REALLY wide Michelin Super Sport 295s are just as wide but they are all tread and have flat sidewalls.

[edgehead2000]

Really nice setup and thx for the low down on details... you're da man!

[Nine Ball]

Thanks for the business! The 27" tires look better to the eye, good choice. Our lowered convertible always bangs that rear support brace when the suspension dips after a speedbump or steep parking lot exit. That area where you have the floor jack on. Yours do the same?

Tony

[Camaro21]

Damn Juan, Those look SWEET !! Nice Job Bro !!

[Pro Stock John]

That's pretty interesting, so the same size wheel fits front and rear from a fitment standpoint. So are the fronts sucked in a bit more or vice versa?

[white 2SS/RS]

Wow! That looks great! I've been waiting to see what the 27" tire looked like on the 1" springs (still on the 1" springs, right?).
While it looks perfect, I'm not sure I could deal with 2.5" of clearance as I'm almost afraid that would scrape on my driveway.
I'm probably better off with a 28" tire.

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by Nine Ball

Thanks for the business! The 27" tires look better to the eye, good choice. Our lowered convertible always bangs that rear support brace when the suspension dips after a speedbump or steep parking lot exit. That area where you have the floor jack on. Yours do the same?

Tony

Yeah I would rather have the performance gains of the 26" tire, but this 27" tire looks so much better.

I know exactly what you are talking about, but I'm surprised your vert scrapes with the taller 22" wheels. How much did you lower with the coil overs?

The heads on my rear brace bolts are ground down pretty good. Once they get bad enough I will get some new ones, LOL.

Originally Posted by Pro Stock John

That's pretty interesting, so the same size wheel fits front and rear from a fitment standpoint. So are the fronts sucked in a bit more or vice versa?

Yeah, same exact size and offset. Not sucked in at all. I did a TON of measuring to make sure that all four wheels are perfectly flush with the fenders. The rears could go another inch wider on the inside to 11" but I wanted a squared set up (like my 18x11 with .

Originally Posted by white 2SS/RS

Wow! That looks great! I've been waiting to see what the 27" tire looked like on the 1" springs (still on the 1" springs, right?).
While it looks perfect, I'm not sure I could deal with 2.5" of clearance as I'm almost afraid that would scrape on my driveway.
I'm probably better off with a 28" tire.

Yeah they are BMR 1.0" springs, but since I am a heavier convertible they actually sit a little lower, probably closer to 1.3".

The 2.5" is at the really thick and low hanging flanges. Everything else under the car is almost an inch higher that that.

I have a really steep driveway and i don't scrape at all, not even when I had the shorter 26" tires.

[Tx1Lt]

Ah, the inspiration for the semi fatties on my car. Awesome dude

[Falundir]

Can I make a pic request?

Take a side shot with the whole car in the sun? To me the wheels/tires are a bit dark and would love to see them in their full glory. I'd love to go 18s for cost savings but worried about the look.

[overhaulengines]

those look great. nice job man

lupe

[SUX2BU]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Originally Posted by Falundir

Can I make a pic request?

Take a side shot with the whole car in the sun? To me the wheels/tires are a bit dark and would love to see them in their full glory. I'd love to go 18s for cost savings but worried about the look.

They are Textured matte black so the look won't change much in the sun, but I'll take a pic for you tomorrow.

[Pro Stock John]

If you are talking pics J, can you take one from the front or rear with a little bit of of an angle so I could see how the wheels/tires line up with the body? So not exactly from the back, like a wee bit to the side so I can see down the side of the car?

[black.]

Damn your car is clean.

[tadams72]

SUX,

Looking good. Thinking of doing the same as I already have one set of F14's in 18x10 with my DR's on them but I am moving more to road track time so thinking about going to 18x10's all the way around. If you don't mind telling me, what offset did you go with? Also, seem to remember you hooking up a hell of a price match to get those tires. Mind shooting me a PM on the specifics so I can do the same? Thanks.

Travis

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by Falundir

Can I make a pic request?

Take a side shot with the whole car in the sun? To me the wheels/tires are a bit dark and would love to see them in their full glory. I'd love to go 18s for cost savings but worried about the look.

Here you go, don't mind the yard.

Originally Posted by Pro Stock John

If you are talking pics J, can you take one from the front or rear with a little bit of of an angle so I could see how the wheels/tires line up with the body? So not exactly from the back, like a wee bit to the side so I can see down the side of the car?

Will do. These are my old wheels, but this is the angle you want on my new wheels right?

Originally Posted by tadams72

SUX,

Looking good. Thinking of doing the same as I already have one set of F14's in 18x10 with my DR's on them but I am moving more to road track time so thinking about going to 18x10's all the way around. If you don't mind telling me, what offset did you go with? Also, seem to remember you hooking up a hell of a price match to get those tires. Mind shooting me a PM on the specifics so I can do the same? Thanks.

Travis

These wheels are 38mm, but I would go 35mm if you want to run wide tires on stock struts.
Here is the thread on my offsets. http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201546

I remember just Googling for tires and I stumbled upon them for $99 at some no name site, but now I can't find them. Cheapest I found is $128. But either way Discount tire matches prices and so I bought the tires thru them and I then also got the Goodyear $80 mail in rebate.

PM "RacnJsn95" I remember telling him what site they were on and he got the same deal.

[Falundir]

Thanks a lot. That doesnt look bad at all!

[SUX2BU]

Updated the weights of all the wheel/tire combos I have had on Ginger.

33.1 lbs 17x5 Weld RTS w/ 28x4.5 17 M&H bias ply front runners
33.3 lbs 18x4 CTS spare w/ 185/50 18 M&H radial front runners
33.6 lbs 17x5 Weld RTS w/ 185/55 17 M&H radial front runners
44.5 lbs 18x8.5 F14 w/ 245/45 18 no name tires
48.2 lbs 18x11 F14 w/ 315/30 18 Hoosier drag radial
53.0 lbs 18x10 F14 w/ 285/40 18 Goodyear F1 Supercar
53.5 lbs 18x11 F14 w/ 315/40 18 Nitto NT05R drag radial
53.8 lbs 17x10 Weld RTS w 325/45 17 M&H drag radial
54.1 lbs 18x8.5 F14 w 255/50 18 Nitto NT420S
54.5 lbs 18x11 F14 w/ 295/40 18 Falken Azenis RT-615K
56.6 lbs 18x11 F14 w/ 335/30 18 BFG G-force T/A KDW
62.3 lbs 20x8 Stock wheel w/ 245/45 20 Pirelli
68.0 lbs 20x9 Stock wheel w/ 275/40 20 Pirelli