Installed the 18" Wheels on the Duster

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goldduster318 said:
I hear ya there. I remember renting a car when my truck had total exhaust manifold failure and I wasn't quite 25. That was rough. Figures they fixed the truck for free under the emissions warranty but I probably had a rental car for 36 hrs and I think it was damn near $180.

That would be quite a roadtrip with the Dart. 2260 miles or so, about 32 hrs one way. Probably cheaper to rent a car still!
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Probably cheaper, but not as fun. I think I rented an econo car for about $125-150 for 4 days through Orbitz. On top of that I got insurance for the whole trip for about $90. And then when I actually picked up the car, they decided to add an extra $250 because of my age (which was stated could happen on Orbitz's website). So, overall I spent about $500 on an econo car I barely drove 100 miles in. That's almost like throwing money away.

Well, a 1 week (maybe more) long vacation in the Dart driving approximately 5000 miles can't be too bad. It sure would be memorable as I could make some stops along the way. It would probably cost $200-300 more in gas, but at least I'll actually have a car to drive down Woodward and enjoy. The only issue I'd have is if something went wrong or broke along the way.
 
Looks clean, I like it. I typically don't like anything over 17" but I think it look sharp.
 
Looks awesome, the biggest thing people don't understand is tire availability. There are buku tires in a 275/35/18 that deliver premium feel and durability. If all you're gonna do with your A-body is idle it to car shows and stare at it from a lawn chair, stick with whatever. If you want to confidently drive it ANYWHERE, follow the formula shown here. These cars are down right impressive with the right combination of parts.
 
I opened this thread fully expecting to hate it, but it looks damn good !

Nice job on your setup, and your wheel tire choice.
 
MuuMuu101 said:
Probably cheaper, but not as fun. I think I rented an econo car for about $125-150 for 4 days through Orbitz. On top of that I got insurance for the whole trip for about $90. And then when I actually picked up the car, they decided to add an extra $250 because of my age (which was stated could happen on Orbitz's website). So, overall I spent about $500 on an econo car I barely drove 100 miles in. That's almost like throwing money away.

Well, a 1 week (maybe more) long vacation in the Dart driving approximately 5000 miles can't be too bad. It sure would be memorable as I could make some stops along the way. It would probably cost $200-300 more in gas, but at least I'll actually have a car to drive down Woodward and enjoy. The only issue I'd have is if something went wrong or broke along the way.
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The thing I would be worried about from my own personal experience during the Woodward weekend is being basically cooked alive inside a modified car with black interior. I'm not sure if actually shutting off the heater core lines at the engine would help or anything, but even with the vent doors open, and the windows my car becomes just about unbearable in any heavy traffic or even just cruising on the freeway on a 90 degree humid day. I'm 5' 11" and about 180 lbs and I sweat like crazy in that thing on days like that. Short of carrying extra charging system stuff, I can't imagine having too many breakdowns along the way if you keep your eye on stuff and have real gauges.

72BBSwinger said:
Looks awesome, the biggest thing people don't understand is tire availability. There are buku tires in a 275/35/18 that deliver premium feel and durability. If all you're gonna do with your A-body is idle it to car shows and stare at it from a lawn chair, stick with whatever. If you want to confidently drive it ANYWHERE, follow the formula shown here. These cars are down right impressive with the right combination of parts.
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Yeah, this was one of the main motivators. The car handles a lot better, and just in general feels really good compared to with the 15's. I even had some good 15" tires (BF Goodrich G-Force Sports) and these Continental Extreme Contact DWs are a big upgrade. I liked these tires on my Colorado that's lowered for the last 5 years. Since I work for Conti, I get a few sets at a good discount every year so that helped. Otherwise they make what my friends who autocross refer to as "Jesus Tires", the Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R in 275-35-18. Those things are insane gumballs.

IIRC that size came on enough Corvettes and Vipers among other things that the selection should be around for a while. If you don't want to go that aggressive, they make a lot of the same tires in 245-45-17.

The standard BF Goodrich Radial T/A that everyone buys is a god-awful horrible tire for any real driving. It's hard to think of too many tires that are actually lower performance anymore.
 
Bad Sport said:
I think that's it, most of these bigger wheels I have seen just don't "fit the bill", but those wheels look great on there.

At some point I may rethinks the whole thing, lol.
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It's not just about 'the look' it's about a real forward leap in tire technology that blows the old s*it clean out the the water. Think how you can drive more places in more environments, safer and have more fun because your not worried about the *** end getting squirly unless you want it to! Some of the traditionalists gleen over this fact.

Nice reyhhumms dawg. ;D
 
goldduster318 said:
The thing I would be worried about from my own personal experience during the Woodward weekend is being basically cooked alive inside a modified car with black interior. I'm not sure if actually shutting off the heater core lines at the engine would help or anything, but even with the vent doors open, and the windows my car becomes just about unbearable in any heavy traffic or even just cruising on the freeway on a 90 degree humid day. I'm 5' 11" and about 180 lbs and I sweat like crazy in that thing on days like that. Short of carrying extra charging system stuff, I can't imagine having too many breakdowns along the way if you keep your eye on stuff and have real gauges.

Yeah, this was one of the main motivators. The car handles a lot better, and just in general feels really good compared to with the 15's. I even had some good 15" tires (BF Goodrich G-Force Sports) and these Continental Extreme Contact DWs are a big upgrade. I liked these tires on my Colorado that's lowered for the last 5 years. Since I work for Conti, I get a few sets at a good discount every year so that helped. Otherwise they make what my friends who autocross refer to as "Jesus Tires", the Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R in 275-35-18. Those things are insane gumballs.

IIRC that size came on enough Corvettes and Vipers among other things that the selection should be around for a while. If you don't want to go that aggressive, they make a lot of the same tires in 245-45-17.

The standard BF Goodrich Radial T/A that everyone buys is a god-awful horrible tire for any real driving. It's hard to think of too many tires that are actually lower performance anymore.
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Yeah, our rule for Woodward was that we'd cruise at night Wed-Fri as not to get cooked. On Satuday, we'd get up and on the road by 7-8am and stop cruising by 10-11am. The rest is just car watching. If we wanted to cruise after that, we'd take a car that had A/C (like the 2015 Charger R/T or the 2014 Challenger SRT8 Core). It was still fun in old and new cars.

As for the "Jesus Tire." If they make them in your size, you best believe the autocrossers are using them. The RE-71R's is like a 100TW tire that's just "mislabeled." I just found out that they make them in the current tire size I have on the Dart. Too bad, at the time, the best tire that was available were Michellin Super Sports. O well...

Also, at Woodward, I drove my friend's '73 4-speed Duster with a hopped up 360. It had warn out BFG's up front and a brand new set of Cooper's in the back (I believe 275/60/15's). Those Coopers are like crayons. I barely tapped the throttle coming out of parking lot and I got the back end to come loose. When my friend took me for a ride, she also made a very aggressive and enthusiastic left-hander and that back end just wouldn't hold. She had to correct the back end about 4 times before the car was tracking straight again. I'll take modern technology tires any day. Plus... I think they look cool. :D
 
MuuMuu101 said:
Yeah, our rule for Woodward was that we'd cruise at night Wed-Fri as not to get cooked. On Satuday, we'd get up and on the road by 7-8am and stop cruising by 10-11am. The rest is just car watching. If we wanted to cruise after that, we'd take a car that had A/C (like the 2015 Charger R/T or the 2014 Challenger SRT8 Core). It was still fun in old and new cars.

As for the "Jesus Tire." If they make them in your size, you best believe the autocrossers are using them. The RE-71R's is like a 100TW tire that's just "mislabeled." I just found out that they make them in the current tire size I have on the Dart. Too bad, at the time, the best tire that was available were Michellin Super Sports. O well...

Also, at Woodward, I drove my friend's '73 4-speed Duster with a hopped up 360. It had warn out BFG's up front and a brand new set of Cooper's in the back (I believe 275/60/15's). Those Coopers are like crayons. I barely tapped the throttle coming out of parking lot and I got the back end to come loose. When my friend took me for a ride, she also made a very aggressive and enthusiastic left-hander and that back end just wouldn't hold. She had to correct the back end about 4 times before the car was tracking straight again. I'll take modern technology tires any day. Plus... I think they look cool. :D
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Well you could always drop $1500 or so on a classic auto air kit...then you can cruise anytime.

Those coopers must be really bad. My car is likely significantly more powerful than that one and the 225/60-15 BFG G-force Sports would hold on unless you were well into the carb secondaries. But those aren't total crap.

The Contis that I have now really worked well on my '04 Colorado Sport I5 5-speed. With the normal stock tires in the same width I could rip a 10' patch on the 1-2 shift every time. These tires barely chirp at 1-2. Haven't had an opportunity to test the complete grip of them on the Duster. It already seems a lot better. Not even a chirp out of those yet.
 
Very nice wheels. I am leaning towards some Torque Thrust's for my 69 Dart. Are those wheels polished spokes or gray?
 
1969VADart said:
Very nice wheels. I am leaning towards some Torque Thrust's for my 69 Dart. Are those wheels polished spokes or gray?
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Grey. Well they are called Anthracite by American Racing. Just as a warning these 18's had to have the wheel centers machined to fit over the front hubs. They did two directions to grab the center caps and still clear the hubs. Cost me $100 extra but well worth it.
 
goldduster318 said:
Well you could always drop $1500 or so on a classic auto air kit...then you can cruise anytime.

Those coopers must be really bad. My car is likely significantly more powerful than that one and the 225/60-15 BFG G-force Sports would hold on unless you were well into the carb secondaries. But those aren't total crap.

The Contis that I have now really worked well on my '04 Colorado Sport I5 5-speed. With the normal stock tires in the same width I could rip a 10' patch on the 1-2 shift every time. These tires barely chirp at 1-2. Haven't had an opportunity to test the complete grip of them on the Duster. It already seems a lot better. Not even a chirp out of those yet.
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The car that we were driving down in was an immaculate '71 GTX that was restored 20 years ago. He did say if he was going to do it all over again 20 years ago he would have made sure to put A/C. It'll be a little tough in my Dart to throw one of those in as I have a big supercharger occupying space. :D

I was told that the 360 made about 400 whp and was running 3.23 gears. It sure felt powerful when she got on it so idk.
 
I read this thread title and expected to hate, but no!!! I like!!! I'm with Bad Sport on this, the centers make that wheel, even looks good in the 18, nice taste!
 
Vs29H1B said:
Why the use of wheel spacers - due to wheel offset or backspacing spec on these wheels?
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Yes. If you were set on the stock style brakes for life, you could probably roll with 5.94 backspacing mustang type wheels and not need a spacer in the front or back. In the back it would be tighter to the wheel lip. I may change to the Dr. Diff Cobra brakes at some point which will add some track width.
 
goldduster318 said:
While I haven't driven it on any of the extra rough roads (SE Michigan's roads are incredibly awful), The normal but still somewhat rough roads I have driven it on make it feel extremely good. It feels smoother with this tire/wheel combo than it did with my previous 225-60-15 tires. The even more amazing thing is that the car feels like it tracks better now.

I have the alignment at -1.5 camber +3 caster and 1/16 toe-in per side. We'll see if I decide it's worth it to take the UCAs off to add more caster or not. It's a garage alignment so it's only my time for that. I have some real turn plates coming now so that will help.
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I would go all the way 8-9* caster. Then you can go back to 1-1.2* negative camber.
 
Info request: What is your ride height measurement (ground to top of wheel arch) front and back? How much space do you have left between the tire and the outer tub "bulge" at the top of the arch? I think the wheel/car combo looks awesome.
 
rapom65 said:
Info request: What is your ride height measurement (ground to top of wheel arch) front and back? How much space do you have left between the tire and the outer tub "bulge" at the top of the arch? I think the wheel/car combo looks awesome.
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From the ground to the top of the wheel arch is 25 3/4" front and 26 1/2" rear. The space in the front is about 0.2" (but it won't rub) and about 13/16" rear.
 
I haven't rolled or cut anything yet. I was out driving today and I heard a really minor rub that I need to find. My left front fender has been in a crash before so that's my first suspect because it's probably a bit off.
 
Thanks again. I'm picking out tires and rims for my project Duster so every little bit of info helps.
 
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