widest tires possible on a stock rear end

[heavychevy1979]

I got a 79 el camino with 18x8 inch iroc replica rims. right now I have 225/40r18 pirelli tires all the way around. I am saving to replace the rear gears with .410 and i am wanting to put mickey thompson street radials on the back. the motor is a crate 350 with rhs pro torker heads and I have a comp cams extreme energy cam with a 4 barrel carb, I'm running duel flowmaster exhaust with headers and the engine is hooked up to a TCI drag transmission with a 2500 rpm stall. currently the rear end has .270 gears and i'm wanting to replace it with a lower gear because it is a little sluggish. but i want to make sure that i will be able to hook up.

 

[79loserbluebu]

Are you wanting to keep the 18's with the drag radials or are you going to get some drag wheels in like a 15x8, 15x10 size?

For what it's worth I've got a stock 8.5", stock frame rails and I've got 15x8 Weld Prostars with 4.5" backspacing. They've got 275/60 MT drag radials and I used a 1/2" spacer to clear the frame the way I want and used longer wheel studs to be NHRA compliant.

 

[khan0165]

here's what I posted on the subject of a similar topic,
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34628

 

[78MC-BBC]

i am running a pair of 17x9.5 rims out back with a set of 275/40-17 Nitto drag radials.

honestly the backspacing issues really depend on the car, a lot of people say i can not possible fit a 17x9.5 rim with 5" backspace with that tire and have no issues with clearance, but i have no problems.

it all depends on the car each g-body model has different amount of space in the wheel well

 

[heavychevy1979]

yes, I am wanting to keep my 18" rims for the drag radials. I'm just not sure how to tell what sizes will fit and what won't and I don't have the money to just guess and check. How would you go about figuring the sizes? And thanks khan0165 that helped me get an idea of around what size I could fit.

 

[dogsht]

http://www.mandhtires.com/store.php?crn ... how_detail

This tire specs at the exact same height and section width as their 275/60/15 that I ran on my Cutlass with 15x8 widened factory rims. 275/60/15s are snug but generally fit the gbodys with an air bag and minor inner fender lip roll. But I notice they show it on a 10" rim as opposed to the 8" they showed with the specs for the 15" wheel.

BTW M&H and Nitto drag radials were great on the street even when you hit minor rain when the tires were newer and fair for wear. BFGs & M&Ts DRs not so much.

 

[heavychevy1979]

alright i'll have to look into those tires thanks.

 

[dogsht]

BTW I think that picture while cool is a little deceiving. It is a low 45 series profile tire and IMO would look less drag race and more pro touring on the car. I saw where http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/sho ... hp?t=17178 is for a limited time getting a 16% discount buying direct from the (USA made & owned) factory. Bringing that tire down to $239. Pfff Jegs has it listed for $296!

 

[79loserbluebu]

BTW M&H and Nitto drag radials were great on the street even when you hit minor rain when the tires were newer and fair for wear. BFGs & M&Ts DRs not so much.

I second the Nitto's. I drove on them from August until December last year. We didn't get any snow until January, but the Nittos work very very well in the rain.

 

[heavychevy1979]

alright i'll look into those instead of the mickey thompson tires. Thanks for all yalls input