18" wheels

mopardude318 said
Just to be clear, those of you with 18x9's on the front, say it is easier To get a 9 wide with an 18 than a 17?

Just saw a valiant at the show this Sunday with 18x9s with 285's on it! I think it was "tomswheels" old car...? Purple valiant.

Yes, it's easier to get an 18x9" on the front than a 17x9. I wouldn't plan on running a 17x9. I've only ever heard of one car that did it with a set of 17x9" Cobra R 5 spokes that had a 6" backspace, and he later admitted he had some clearance issues. Most 17" rims start to have outer tie rod end interference issues at about 5.6" of backspace. That will vary by the rim design. But with a 9" wide rim 6" of backspace is pretty much the minimum with a 73+ disk brake set up and 275's up front, any less and you're into the fenders. With 255's you might get away with a little less backspace, but not 5.6". That's with the stock tie rods, if you used a heim conversion like Hotchkis' tie rod set up you might have better luck.

Tomswheels valiant actually has 18x10's in the front with 285's. But he also use a porta-power to push his front fenders out.

JoeSBP said
Can somebody fill in the blanks for me? Running disc brakes and 8-3/4 from a '73 dart Sport on my '69 Valiant. Wanting to mount rims without spacers, moving springs, or major fender mods if I can

Front
18"x8" with 245/??/R18 and 5.25" Back Space
Rear
18"x9" with ???/??/R18 and ?.?? Back Space

Considering going with these. My little grocery getter has fresh B5 blue, thinking dark bronze with a machined lip..

245/40/18 would be the profile you're looking for in the front. That's a 25.7" tall tire.

In the back with the stock spring locations I would also run a 245/40/18. You might be able to fit a 255/40/18 but it will depend on your particular car's clearances and ride height. You could also run a 245/45/18 (26.7" tall) if you like taller tires in the back. I'm assuming you've got an A-body 8 3/4 with aftermarket BBP axles? If that's the case you'd want about 5" of backspace for a 9" rim. Some cars might need a small spacer, but it's better to have too much backspace than not enough. But, you really don't need a 9" rim. An 8" wide rim will work for the 245's, and you could run 4.75" of backspace with that. If you want to try to go with a 255 you'd need the 18x9".