1970 Duster, Trans-Am-inspired "Pro Touring" build
After some researching on FABO I decided to go with some modern 18" Mustang wheels, 18x9 for the front and 18x10 for the rear. They are the "FR500" style and I purchased them new from OEWheelsLLC.com. One thing that drives me nuts about the current wheel/tire setup is the rears don't have quite enough backspacing so they rub the fenders but have over an inch of space to the leaf springs; I want to lower the rear of the car and get rid of the rake but the tires will just rub worse. So I did some measuring and used an online tire/wheel size calculator to make sure the new wheels I got for the rear would let me lower the car and not have to worry about rubbing.
Here are some pics of the mock-up for the rears. The center hub registers have a lip that I needed to grind down just a hair to clear the "hubs" on the rear axle flanges. The fronts are currently at a machine shop getting the hub registers bored through because the hubs on my '73-up front discs stick out too far and don't let the wheel seat on the hub.
I have a pair of 275/40-18 Continental ExtremeContact DWS-06 tires coming in the mail for the rear; my neighbor car guy friend made me an offer for 2 of the tires on his car he is taking off to mount bigger ones and the price was too good to pass up (those are 255/40-18 and will be going on the front of mine). I had been debating getting summer-only-rated tires for more grip at the track but winters are cold (consistently below freezing from Nov-March) here in northern CO and I like driving my Duster year-round. I don't drive it much in the snow anymore but summer-rated tires have warnings to not use them in freezing temps or the rubber can get damaged. I will eventually get dedicated track tires and wheels though for sure.
After some researching on FABO I decided to go with some modern 18" Mustang wheels, 18x9 for the front and 18x10 for the rear. They are the "FR500" style and I purchased them new from OEWheelsLLC.com. One thing that drives me nuts about the current wheel/tire setup is the rears don't have quite enough backspacing so they rub the fenders but have over an inch of space to the leaf springs; I want to lower the rear of the car and get rid of the rake but the tires will just rub worse. So I did some measuring and used an online tire/wheel size calculator to make sure the new wheels I got for the rear would let me lower the car and not have to worry about rubbing.
Here are some pics of the mock-up for the rears. The center hub registers have a lip that I needed to grind down just a hair to clear the "hubs" on the rear axle flanges. The fronts are currently at a machine shop getting the hub registers bored through because the hubs on my '73-up front discs stick out too far and don't let the wheel seat on the hub.
I have a pair of 275/40-18 Continental ExtremeContact DWS-06 tires coming in the mail for the rear; my neighbor car guy friend made me an offer for 2 of the tires on his car he is taking off to mount bigger ones and the price was too good to pass up (those are 255/40-18 and will be going on the front of mine). I had been debating getting summer-only-rated tires for more grip at the track but winters are cold (consistently below freezing from Nov-March) here in northern CO and I like driving my Duster year-round. I don't drive it much in the snow anymore but summer-rated tires have warnings to not use them in freezing temps or the rubber can get damaged. I will eventually get dedicated track tires and wheels though for sure.