17" Magnum 500's

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72,
Your 71 Ford truck has a harsher ride..............because it has stronger springs! It is a work horse designed to carry heavy loads. Apples to oranges comparison. And it seems you have a reading problem.
I said in post #44 that if the matching suspension components that are used with a 14" in wheel are used with the 17" wheel, the ride will be softer.

Drivers who have overinflated their tyres notice the ride is harsher, you feel the bumps more.
Air is compressible & the extra weight of air in the tyre is not able to compress as much from the road shocks...so you feel the bumps more. Exactly the same principle is involved with less air in the 17" wheel compared to the 14"wheel.
 
JYH,
Are you realllllllllllllllly that dumb?????????????????
 
Bewy said:
Drivers who have overinflated their tyres notice the ride is harsher, you feel the bumps more.
Air is compressible & the extra weight of air in the tyre is not able to compress as much from the road shocks...so you feel the bumps more. Exactly the same principle is involved with less air in the 17" wheel compared to the 14"wheel.
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this is, by far the stupidest thing you've said thus far in the matter.

we are all dumber for having read that.

anybody that takes your advice in regards to suspension should be ashamed of themselves for being so gullible.

please don't bother to respond. we all know it'll be some farcical nonsense. just go and start your own thread with pontiacs and air pressure and nonsense.
 
junkyardhero said:
the tire selection for my application in 15" is abysmal. basically it's cooper cobra (meh), BFG (nope) and general 400+ tread wear dog water rubber.

i have 15" steelies that i do want to run, but there's just nothing great in the size i need that meets my criteria (need handling characteristics).

going to 17" opens a whole world of possibilities, and cheaper prices.
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Run some Goodyear blue streak race tires…
 
Scody21 said:
Run some Goodyear blue streak race tires…
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pass.

modern suspension and brakes beg for a radial. and i'm not blowing what amounts to most people as a mortgage payment on non dot approved show tires.

but they look cool AF
 
junkyardhero said:
this is, by far the stupidest thing you've said thus far in the matter.

we are all dumber for having read that.

anybody that takes your advice in regards to suspension should be ashamed of themselves for being so gullible.

please don't bother to respond. we all know it'll be some farcical nonsense. just go and start your own thread with pontiacs and air pressure and nonsense.
Click to expand...
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
TT5.9mag said:
I have a M sport BMW with 18” wheels and 35 series tires. Rides like it’s on marshmallows. @72bluNblu once again nailed it.
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Yep, my M series BMW has 19” wheels and rides like a dream.
IMG_2144.jpeg
 
junkyardhero said:
considering picking up a set and looking for a little feed back.

anybody running them? likes/dislikes?

anybody got pics? bonus if they're on a 67~69 dart...
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Mopar's look pretty slick with those wheels. Not a Dart but you get the idea.
1731764152347.png
1731764222569.png
 
Some of You guys should take that act on the road,........."My 2&1/2 ton+ SUV with active/variable damping '45 AR' 19's(almost 5" sidewall ht.) & a bunch of compliance bushings rides like a dream".......Your A-body doesn't, & won't have or be any of that, but what a bunch of dumbasses You are if You believe it will ride harsh over lumps & bumps....
:rofl:
 
My primary objection to anything larger than 15" on pre-1980 classics is that their suspension is not designed/calibrated for larger rims/lower cross section tires. My '66 Barracuda has 17 Torq-Thrust with 225 45R17 Yokohamas mounted on them. It rides terrible compared to my first '66 that had 15" with Goodyears mounted on it. The lower cross section tires do not have enough compliance to absorb bumps etc that the larger 15 inch rubber has. I will change them out ASAP when tire time comes around. A set of steel Magnums in 15" is perfect for me.

RedBarracuda004.jpg
 
Those of you in My age bracket, say maybe -10yrs & up(that's ~50+), will well remember all of the shocks being sold marketed as 'radial tuned' in the '70's '80's early '90's when bias-belted tires were still readily available....and still OE on A-bodies to the end of production. The larger Mopars got radial tires starting in '74 IIRC. The dampers make a difference, & it goes way beyond just a "good pair of shocks" or "stiffer" shocks, even just dual jounce/rebound adjustable types fall short. Take a modern even basic strut from a car & it is dual gas-charged to be 'neutral' at ride height, which makes them a real F'n sweetheart to change(or the coil) even with a Brannick compressor, all of the damping & tuning revolves around the weight/spring-rate/strut extension at rest...the avg. Mopar guy/gal is simply not going to get this by buying 1.03" bars, good bushings, & Bilstiens...as good as they are.
I'm blessed that a back injury 16yrs on(which was really a 'final straw' after multiple one's I could ignore), I have been able to manage, with fewer relapses now that I retired from wrenching Pro........but when I'm in the ShelbyZ & I see something I can't avoid coming impact-wise, I still grimace & hold on & pray it doesn't set it off, I still work it plenty...but carefully.
 
amtronic1 said:
My primary objection to anything larger than 15" on pre-1980 classics is that their suspension is not designed/calibrated for larger rims/lower cross section tires. My '66 Barracuda has 17 Torq-Thrust with 225 45R17 Yokohamas mounted on them. It rides terrible compared to my first '66 that had 15" with Goodyears mounted on it. The lower cross section tires do not have enough compliance to absorb bumps etc that the larger 15 inch rubber has. I will change them out ASAP when tire time comes around. A set of steel Magnums in 15" is perfect for me.

View attachment 1716328021
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That's a great looking ride. Large bolt pattern? Hit me up about those wheels. I have a 65 and the 14's I have aren't going to work with the disc brakes I have. I would happily help facilitate you going to 15's. Any rubbing or clearance issues?
 
I wonder how 16-17 inch slots would look?
 
Bewy said:
72,
Your 71 Ford truck has a harsher ride..............because it has stronger springs! It is a work horse designed to carry heavy loads. Apples to oranges comparison. And it seems you have a reading problem.
I said in post #44 that if the matching suspension components that are used with a 14" in wheel are used with the 17" wheel, the ride will be softer.
Click to expand...

Oh, so NOW the suspension matters? I thought the sidewall of the tire was the only thing that absorbed bumps? So now you think the suspension has a purpose?

OF COURSE the truck rides harsher, and it has NOTHING to do with the sidewall height. Good grief man.
th.jpeg


And, no, I read what you said about suspension components from the 17" wheels being used with 14's. And again, you missed the point completely. The capabilities of the shocks have to be matched to the input loads and frequencies they're damping. Which are different between a 14" wheel and a 17".

So no, using the shocks that work best with 17" wheels may not make the ride with the 14" wheels softer. Just like putting 14" wheels on a modern car wouldn't result in a softer ride, just a sloppy one.

Bewy said:
Drivers who have overinflated their tyres notice the ride is harsher, you feel the bumps more.
Air is compressible & the extra weight of air in the tyre is not able to compress as much from the road shocks...so you feel the bumps more. Exactly the same principle is involved with less air in the 17" wheel compared to the 14"wheel.
Click to expand...

Like I said, if this is the level of your physics knowledge, you've got no business thinking you know stuff. The weight of the air? Inconsequential. Over-inflating the tire changes the force exerted on the inside of the tire surface (PSI x surface area). And changes the surface area in contact with the road.

And no, it is not at all the same principle as the shorter sidewall. By your flawed logic if I kept the sidewall height the same, but made the overall diameter of the tire larger, I'd get a better ride because there was more air in the tire. Not what happens.

And just FYI, a 275/35/18 like on the front of my car has more air volume inside it than a 205/70/14. So, less air isn't the issue.

amtronic1 said:
My primary objection to anything larger than 15" on pre-1980 classics is that their suspension is not designed/calibrated for larger rims/lower cross section tires. My '66 Barracuda has 17 Torq-Thrust with 225 45R17 Yokohamas mounted on them. It rides terrible compared to my first '66 that had 15" with Goodyears mounted on it. The lower cross section tires do not have enough compliance to absorb bumps etc that the larger 15 inch rubber has. I will change them out ASAP when tire time comes around. A set of steel Magnums in 15" is perfect for me.

View attachment 1716328021
Click to expand...

You've fallen into Bewy's trap. You start off with a good point, the original suspension as it was designed was not intended for shorter sidewall tires. But that doesn't mean it's not capable of handling it with the proper tuning. The original suspension is actually very capable, and with some small changes can easily deal with the shorter sidewall heights. Tires do absorb impacts, but you literally have shock absorbers to do that job if you just bother to run the right ones.

I would bet that simply changing out the shocks you have on that car would dramatically change its ride. Lemme guess, you're running KYB's?
 
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Killer6 said:
Those of you in My age bracket, say maybe -10yrs & up(that's ~50+), will well remember all of the shocks being sold marketed as 'radial tuned' in the '70's '80's early '90's when bias-belted tires were still readily available....and still OE on A-bodies to the end of production. The larger Mopars got radial tires starting in '74 IIRC. The dampers make a difference, & it goes way beyond just a "good pair of shocks" or "stiffer" shocks, even just dual jounce/rebound adjustable types fall short. Take a modern even basic strut from a car & it is dual gas-charged to be 'neutral' at ride height, which makes them a real F'n sweetheart to change(or the coil) even with a Brannick compressor, all of the damping & tuning revolves around the weight/spring-rate/strut extension at rest...the avg. Mopar guy/gal is simply not going to get this by buying 1.03" bars, good bushings, & Bilstiens...as good as they are.
I'm blessed that a back injury 16yrs on(which was really a 'final straw' after multiple one's I could ignore), I have been able to manage, with fewer relapses now that I retired from wrenching Pro........but when I'm in the ShelbyZ & I see something I can't avoid coming impact-wise, I still grimace & hold on & pray it doesn't set it off, I still work it plenty...but carefully.
Click to expand...

This is true to an extent, a modern car has more engineering going on than what you're going to achieve using 1.03" torsion bars, a good set of bushings and some Bilsteins. But even that combination is far ahead of what you'll get if you slap a set of 17" wheels on a car with factory torsion bars and KYB's.

The market for available suspension components has gotten MUCH larger with the pro-touring movement, and there is absolutely no reason why a Mopar with large diameter wheels has to ride worse than one with 14's. Maybe it won't be like pulling a brand new M series Beemer off the lot, but it can be a lot closer to that than you might think.

For example, I was running RCD Bilsteins on my Duster with 1.12" torsion bars and 275/35/18's. They're a good shock and the car rode well, but when I changed to Hotchkis Fox's the ride quality improved even more. The Hotchkis shocks were a better match to the combination of wheel rate and tire that I run, and I'm sure I haven't even found the BEST shock for my combination yet. The factory would set the combination by looking at damping graphs and a mountain of suspension data, the rest of us have to do a little trial and error because even if we wanted to do the calculations not all the data for the shocks is published publicly.

The problem is the wrong-headed mindset that running larger diameter wheels MUST result in a harsher ride. It's simply not true if you use the appropriate components, and those components are available.

toolmanmike said:
But the nice ride is from the suspension design and not from the taller sidewall on a 78 series tire.
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It's a spring and a shock, like everything else. MacPherson strut style suspension was originally designed and patented in 1947, so like torsion bars, coil springs and even coil-overs etc it's really nothing new and was originally designed for use with tires that had very different capabilities.

If you use components that complement each other, you can have a nice ride. If you just slap some stuff together without respect to the actual capabilities of the components, you end up with poor performance/ride quality.

The suspension on these cars is actually quite good with regard to its geometry, especially if you lower the car (even slightly) and add positive caster. At that point then it's just a matter of maintaining your suspension travel and matching your shock to your wheel rate and choosing a good quality modern shock that was intended for use with larger diameter wheels/shorter sidewalls, of which there are now plenty.
 
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junkyardhero said:
besides @TT5.9mag has cornered the market on slots.
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Have not, have not.
I only had one set of 14”s and I just gave them to @jedrattle for his kids dart. I do love a good slot mag though. Don’t think Ive ever seen a 16-17” slot. Is that a thing?
 
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TT5.9mag said:
Have not, have not.
I only had one set of 14”s and I just gave them to a friend for his kids dart. I do love a good slot mag though. Don’t think Ive ever seen a 16-17” slot. Is that a thing?
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US Mags makes 17's but only in truck bolt pattern & american sells the VN69 (nice) Ansen Sprint in 17 in our bolt pattern with ferd backspacing.

so baically, yeah you can get 17" slots for your truck or that free candy van you have hidden in the barn.
 
I just don't care for the LOOK of short sidewalls on huge wheels. It's just not my cup of tea. That said, they can be made to ride like a Cadillac as long as the rest of the suspension is well thought out and matched for the intended build. Although the sidewall height "can" have an effect on ride quality, if everything else is chosen wisely, that effect will be bare minimum, or maybe even none at all. All it takes is a common sense approach to building your car. The list of these badass pro touring rides is endless and I guarantee you a lot of them ride very nicely.
 
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