Trans Am Race Engineering Superlite 17x8 - now available with a useful backspace?

MRGTX said
So 17x8 seems to be a common size and a fairly well-known quantity. They would work well for 245s and would be ok with 255s too making them suitable for a pretty well balanced package.

Yeah, 17x9 might be better but it's even harder to find wheels that accommodate the even more stringent backspace requirements. Meanwhile it's much more likely to find a 17x8/5.5" backspace which would work on both ends....and with stock-width axles, you can run a small spacer on the rear and even out the stance a bit if necessary.

If I have that wrong, corrections would be welcome there.

IIRC, a 9" wide wheel would likely need a 6" backspace or more and even then, 275s would be a risk so it may not be worth it. I believe @72bluNblu has 275s on 18x9s on the front of his Demon...so it obviously can be done some people have a good eye for this stuff and can figure out how to make stuff work without very expensive trial and error. :D

The issue with 17's is that the outer tie rod ends don't fit inside the outer lip of the rim. So, unlike 18's with 73+ suspension, there's a backspace limit because of the outer tie rod clearance instead of just the clearance to the frame rail. That clearance depends on the shape of the inside of the rim. For example, the Bullit style mustang wheels that are a common choice in 17" usually have issues with tie rod clearance starting around 5.6-5.7" of backspace. But the 17x9" Cobra R's can usually manage up to 6" of backspace. So the style of the rim is the deciding factor, and you may not know what you can get away with until you actually have the rims in hand.

For 275's up front, you really need 6" of backspace on a 17x9, unless you're willing to do some fender work with rolling the lip and pushing/flaring the fender out a little with the roll. My 18x9's effectively have 6.1" of backspace using 73+ disks as a reference for track width. I was able to run them initially without rolling or pushing anything, but as my car has gotten lower I have rolled the fender lips and pushed the fenders a bit with the roller when I did it. And it does depend a little on bodystyle, the Dart and Duster fenders have about the same clearance to the outer lip of the fender, Barracuda's like autoxcuda's car have a little bit more.

For reference, the 15x9's with 4 3/8" of backspace that autoxcuda runs with his 245/50/15's stick out a full 1" outside of where my 275/35/18's are. I'd have to fully flare my fenders to pull that off. Now, those 245/50/15's are only 24.7" tall, compared to the 275's on my car at 25.6", which is a big part of it. The other part is those fenders have been pushed out pretty significantly, that's not something you can run without doing some bodywork, even on a Barracuda.