Did you try the wheels on with the old, worn springs and shocks? That would be why your wheels would be touching the body. Also, what is the offset/backspacing of the wheels that you have? That is a major factor.
need help!!!
- Thread starter moeman.kj5
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Whatever you do don't get gas shocks since you're going w 24's. A gas shock will work fine w/ 24's at first but its not a matter of if but when is it going to literally 'let you down' since they drop real low when they blow out unlike a traditional shock which slowly fails giving you plenty of warning time when it's time to replace.
I forgot to mention you could also adapt air-ride w/ compressor from a Cadillac that is how the suspension on my 79MC came and it's not uncommon w/ the Northstar caddy's at the junkyard if you tear the trunk bottom up the compressor is still sitting there in VGC and the air-ride shocks in good shape holding the back up perfectly fine too. So many caddy's get smashed w/ perfectly good air-ride underneath b/c nobody is buying that stuff new anymore. Huge waste of money to buy air ride new though. I tried that too and it only lasted like 2.5 years before the shocks failed. If you do adapt an air-ride system be sure to have a stiff rear sway bar or it won't work very well at holding up.
( 24X9.0 / 5x115 & 5x120 / +13 OFFSET... && yea I did try them on with the old springs and shocks.. but I do have the 255/30/24 tires tho... Could that be a problem??
moeman.kj5 said:
They should fit the front just fine with only new springs and shocks. However, the rear may require spacers because of the offset. Do the inside of the rear wheels touch the rear frame rails? If so, you''ll have to use spacers.
It's really about what you have to spend left. Worst case scenario go to a more low profile tire and take a loss on those other tires but you should just correct your suspension geometry. 24 is the max size you can fit w/o doing mods to the suspension but if everything is 100% fresh the 24's should be slapping on w/ no problem but putting them on w/o spacers was obviously not going to work they will rub when you are trying to parallel park w/o spacers... And you need them up front too in most cases. A low miles car you could go w/o spacers but any high mileage car could have suspension geometry thats slightly off so do front / back w/ the spacing or you could encounter power steering issues up front too. A lot of 78-80 monte carlo guys swear their car rides very well w/o spacer but for Cutlass its a must have.
Yeah I only have 50 thousand original miles on it.. but I'm going to grab the spacers anyway just in case I do need them. Thanks you guys been a lot of help I really appreciate it. Saved me money already lol
Make sure you have the correct lug nuts in the first time before you get far from the shop and don't use the ones that came with your kit if they're shiny cheap fake chrome some rims come w/ very bad lug nuts so beware. If your rims feel like they're biting days down the road reinstall the rims w/ test fitting the lug nuts and spacing over again. Sometimes it takes a few trys to get them on there right but its no good to drive around w/ a rim that size even the slightest bit off will fk everything else up very fast its not like a 15 where if something is a little off on the suspension you can keep driving around for weeks. Everything has to be spot on. W/o a rear sway bar a car on 24's will look like its going to ride normal but if you hit a bad spot on the highway it will bottom out hard w/o a sway bar to keep it in check
As I suspected, the wheels' offset is too high for the rear (too much backspacing). You'll need adapters for the rear unless you get the frame notched.
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