17” American Racing Torque Thrust Wheels

[Izzonyg]

Hello, been a long time since I’ve posted on this forum. My 1970 has been fully restored and back on the road for over 5 years. I’ve been running the stock restored 14” factory wheels and I’m starting to get the itch to change up the look. I love the look of the American Racing Torque Thrust SL black wheels at the following link:
TORQ THRUST SL

Would an upgrade to a 17” wheel all the way around fit without having to do any sort of modifications, adding back spacers etc? I do have more recent photos of the duster and I can try and get them posted asap.
*I wanted to add an edit that my plan is to keep the brakes stock drums in the rear and stock disc in front.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Mike I.

 

[Kendog 170]

Looks like you pick your back spacing when ordering. I don't know much from there .

 

[txstang84]

This subject is pretty well documented in this part of the forum; just do a search and you'll get a thousand answers. Depends on what you want...how wide do you want to go?

 

[33IMP]

A 17"wheel (or a 20", for that matter) will fit, or NOT fit, depending on wheel width, backspace (kids call it offset), and what tire you put on it.
A 17X7 with a reasonable size tire should fit on the front, you'll just have to make sure the backspace is right. A 17x8 on the rear (with somewhere around 4 1/2" backspace) should work too. If TIRE height is the same, wheel diameter doesn't mean much.
I have 255/50x17s on 17x8 with 4.5 bs, 27"tall, on the back of a stock 55 chevy. Fits beautifully. If it fits on a tight 55 chevy wheelwell, it should fall on a Duster.
Edit: if you want the same size all around, I'd settle for 17x7s, with 4"bs.
BUT!!! ,do your own measuring and calculations!
(Also have 17x7, 4"bs on the front. Both my 17s are zero offset. An aluminum wheel actually measures about an inch wider than refered as, so the middle of an 8" wheel, really 9 inches, is 4.5..... so, zero offset)

 

[txstang84]

based on lots of other reading on here, 17" wheels on the front have a limit for backspace of about 5.2" as they'll contact the upper ball joint...or maybe it was the outer tie rod, either way, it was an interference limit. If you go with an 18" wheel, it'll tolerate a little more backspace...

 

[DionR]

If it was me, I would do a 17x8 minimum with a 245/45 tire on the front. Since the offset looks to be custom, if you are (or plan to) run stock brakes, a +24mm offset should work. This is effectively what I have on the front of my Duster and didn't have to do a thing to the fenders. If you want a bigger tire, like a 275/35, you will need to go to an 18" wheel with more offset and tweak the front lower opening.

The back (in my opinion) requires a 275+ tire to proportionally fit the car. I would suggest taking some measurements and see where your current tire sits and figure out the difference. This is a nice webite to help you - Tire Size Comparison

If you run an aftermarket front brake kit, the offset will probably need to increase depending on the kit.

Watch for hub sizing issues, or issues where the wheel has the right spec but the hub tapers and won't fit over the hub snout.

 

[DionR]

based on lots of other reading on here, 17" wheels on the front have a limit for backspace of about 5.2" as they'll contact the upper ball joint...or maybe it was the outer tie rod, either way, it was an interference limit. If you go with an 18" wheel, it'll tolerate a little more backspace...

UBJ can be an issue, but usually it is the outer tie rod that is the biggest limiter.

 

[Izzonyg]

This subject is pretty well documented in this part of the forum; just do a search and you'll get a thousand answers. Depends on what you want...how wide do you want to go?

As for tire width I was thinking 245 in front 275 rears.

 

[dano]

Not a Duster, but my Dart with those wheels. 17x7 front and 17x8 rear, both with 19mm offset, no adapters or spacers. I have far less room than you do.

 

[dogbreath]

Tire rack has really good prices on Riken Raptor all season sport tires . I chose the 215/50zr/17 for the front and 255/50zr/17 for the rear on my duster , $450 shipped to my door . Wheels are 17x7 all around with I believe 4.5" back space . A-body 8-3/4 rear with shortened big bolt truck axles and big bolt discs up front . fit is perfect. Watch using much larger tires on the front as they might rub

 

[Cuprum-74]

On my 74 Duster I have 17x8's on the front with 5.25 backspace (+19mm offset).
I also have 17x9's on the rear.
My front's have 245/45R17 tires & the rears have 275/40R17's.
But then again I have front disk brakes with a QA1 Upper control arms. Nothing rubs.
@72bluNblu is the guy to talk to about fitting 17's and 18's on these rigs.

 

[OllieDemon45]

On my 74 Duster I have 17x8's on the front with 5.25 backspace (+19mm offset).
I also have 17x9's on the rear.
My front's have 245/45R17 tires & the rears have 275/40R17's.
But then again I have front disk brakes with a QA1 Upper control arms. Nothing rubs.
@72bluNblu is the guy to talk to about fitting 17's and 18's on these rigs.

What backspace is the rear wheel?

 

[Cuprum-74]

What backspace is the rear wheel?

No rubbing on the front wheels I should've stated.
On rears, the backspacing on the 17x9 is 5 in. And since I currently have an 8.25 axle I needed to utilize spacers as the wheels/tires definitely would've rubbed on the leaf springs.

 

[txstang84]

UBJ can be an issue, but usually it is the outer tie rod that is the biggest limiter.

I knew it was one or the other-I've been away from the discussion long enough that I couldn't recall which one...but I'll be getting back to it soon, so I know some spacers will be in my future for the Scamp as well.