I was looking through some older pictures of my T-type and noticed how subtle changes can dramatically change the look/performance of the car.
I bought My T-type in 1995 and drove until about 2002, but the original paint had all fallen off, and the motor/trans had over 100K miles and could use a rebuild, and my dad was bored and needed a project so I trailered it up to him to get painted and reassembled.
When I got the car back, it looked like this:
It looked, good, but could look better. I immediately noticed dad put "Front" (Zero Offset) GTA's in Front. I hadn't noticed that he'd swapped on smaller 225/50's. I noticed with the smaller tires in front the car had a lot more understeer than I remembered. Later, dad admitted it was "because the 255/50's rubbed too bad" and when he drove it so one day he got PO'd and drove to discount tire and swapped out the fronts tires.
I did notice the Rear of the car had "Rear" GTA's with 1" hubcentric wheel adapters. I did like the look of that vs. the more sucked in look of "Front" GTA's in back, so that was a "win".
The Power of the words "Front" or "Rear" cast into a wheel is very strong with some people. My dad apparently is one of those people. Its as if God had meant these wheels to go anywhere else, he would have cast that into the wheel. The ONLY real reason there is a "Front" or "Rear" GTA wheel is the Mcpherson Front Shocks on a 3rd Gen F-body will rub the tires on any wheel with more than about 1/4" offset. It means absolutely nothing on ANY OTHER CAR. 4 "Fronts" fit fine on a 3rd gen F-body, too (probably better than they do a G-body)
The problem is that with a Zero offset, 8" wide in front on a lowered car with "big brakes" (12" or larger), tires that are 235 or wider will likely rub the inner fender lips. Stock ball joints/Drop spindles make this rubbing worse because the top of the tire tilts out when it goes up, towards the inner fender.
So, the solution was a 1) Tall lower ball joint and 2) GTA "Rear" wheels in front, that have a 17mm positive offset:
This not only lowered the front of the car, but allowed 255/50's in front, without rubbing.
With the corrected camber curve from the tall ball joints, when the tire goes up into the fender, the top of the tire now leans away from the inner fender lip, reducing the chance of contact.
Supposedly, nobody wants "Rear" offset GTA's, because without adapters, they will rub the frame in back and if you run stock brakes in front, the tires are more likely to bottom on the swaybar or frame when parking.
But I run four of these "undesirable" Rear GTA's and like them.
I bought My T-type in 1995 and drove until about 2002, but the original paint had all fallen off, and the motor/trans had over 100K miles and could use a rebuild, and my dad was bored and needed a project so I trailered it up to him to get painted and reassembled.
When I got the car back, it looked like this:
It looked, good, but could look better. I immediately noticed dad put "Front" (Zero Offset) GTA's in Front. I hadn't noticed that he'd swapped on smaller 225/50's. I noticed with the smaller tires in front the car had a lot more understeer than I remembered. Later, dad admitted it was "because the 255/50's rubbed too bad" and when he drove it so one day he got PO'd and drove to discount tire and swapped out the fronts tires.
I did notice the Rear of the car had "Rear" GTA's with 1" hubcentric wheel adapters. I did like the look of that vs. the more sucked in look of "Front" GTA's in back, so that was a "win".
The Power of the words "Front" or "Rear" cast into a wheel is very strong with some people. My dad apparently is one of those people. Its as if God had meant these wheels to go anywhere else, he would have cast that into the wheel. The ONLY real reason there is a "Front" or "Rear" GTA wheel is the Mcpherson Front Shocks on a 3rd Gen F-body will rub the tires on any wheel with more than about 1/4" offset. It means absolutely nothing on ANY OTHER CAR. 4 "Fronts" fit fine on a 3rd gen F-body, too (probably better than they do a G-body)
The problem is that with a Zero offset, 8" wide in front on a lowered car with "big brakes" (12" or larger), tires that are 235 or wider will likely rub the inner fender lips. Stock ball joints/Drop spindles make this rubbing worse because the top of the tire tilts out when it goes up, towards the inner fender.
So, the solution was a 1) Tall lower ball joint and 2) GTA "Rear" wheels in front, that have a 17mm positive offset:
This not only lowered the front of the car, but allowed 255/50's in front, without rubbing.
With the corrected camber curve from the tall ball joints, when the tire goes up into the fender, the top of the tire now leans away from the inner fender lip, reducing the chance of contact.
Supposedly, nobody wants "Rear" offset GTA's, because without adapters, they will rub the frame in back and if you run stock brakes in front, the tires are more likely to bottom on the swaybar or frame when parking.
But I run four of these "undesirable" Rear GTA's and like them.
