rim clearance

[tricky dicky]

Hello Forum, My old F.B. is crawling to completion,my question is about clearance from the rim to upper control arms
I have 16in rims and a H.R. cross member with commodore disc brakes, 17in rims with lower profile tires would have
given more clearance.can I use spacers for licencing? if yes how much, 5mm might do. How much clearance do you advise?
regards, Dick Gray.

[gpi]

spacers are illegal. get the offset of ur rims changed or use diferent rims

[bat53retro]

g,day i cant see aproblem i run 15"vt commodore on the wifes with the flattop ball joints no probs


cheers bat

[Harv]

GPI is right, spacers are illegal (at least in NSW) unless fitted as original equipment. Specifically mentioned in one of the Vehicle Standards Information Sheets:
"The fitment of wheel spacers (or adaptors for dual wheel conversions) between the wheel mounting face and the road wheel is not permitted unless fitted as original equipment by the vehicle manufacturer."
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... 9_rev4.pdf

I've chased a heap of standard Conformadore rims to suit my HR front end, and could not find any 15" that would not foul on the tierod ends. Bat - are your VT wheels the standard GMH steelies, or aftermarket mags?

One other solution I've seen (thanks Stinky) is to put spacers on the tierods to bring them inboard... makes the turning circle even worse though.

[bat53retro]

g,dag they are mags on hz brakes and stubs short plainarms commodore discs


cheers bat

[Harv]

Thanks Bat - appreciated.

For the HR frontend modified by CRS (bent steering arms) with Commodore brakes on the CRS spindles, the 15" standard Commodore steelies need about an additional 12mm (1/2") of offset to get them to miss the tierods. I dummied mine up with a pair of spacers on each wheel and extended studs... ugly, illegal and only on there to allow me to get a better feel for how much offset change I was chasing.

For anyone interested, attached below a picture I "borrowed" from Stinky of his tierod spacers:

These are not Commodore brakes (or wheels) but the principle would be the same. Not sure wether they would need an engineer's cert or not.

Tricky Dicky - your best bet is probably to hunt down some mag wheels that have better offset. Most good mag wheel shops have a rotating caliper/gauge they can bolt on to help measure your particular offset. I can't remember the legal requirements for clearance, but bear in mind that under load (e.g. cornering) there is quite a bit of tyre/wheel "squirm" that can make things move more than you would expect.

[bat53retro]

g,day when the car is completed on my part it leaves here 15" pursuits and i dont have a problem with rubbing except if the top ball joint is not a flattop


cheers bat