AMR 18x10 measuring closer to 18x11 - is this normal?

Bad281 said:

I ran AMR 18x10s all around with 285/40 Michelins and never had any clearance issues with my Koni struts (Oranges). You will be fine.

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...and I like reading that. I am running Koni yellows and for now will run a max of 285's (classing rules). If I have to run a small spacer that's not a problem; something as big a 1/4" then I expect I'll have to deal with sourcing ARP extended studs and getting them pressed in. If that is the case, it is what it is. I should have time to throw a wheel on the car tomorrow.

claudermilk said:

...and I like reading that. I am running Koni yellows and for now will run a max of 285's (classing rules). If I have to run a small spacer that's not a problem; something as big a 1/4" then I expect I'll have to deal with sourcing ARP extended studs and getting them pressed in. If that is the case, it is what it is. I should have time to throw a wheel on the car tomorrow.

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just get the hubs!!!! You could probably use new hubs anyway.

Sub'd, interested in the outcome. Here's my what I have in the works, gonna wrap them in some 275 PSS's.

csamsh said:

just get the hubs!!!! You could probably use new hubs anyway.

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It's got 44k on it. I doubt I've beat the hubs to the point of needed new yet.

Anyway, I did find time to throw a wheel on the front and took a few pictures. Ignore the rusty rotor--I did this immediately after washing the car.

Not very useful side shot. I compressed the suspension to approximately normal ride height for these.


Caliper to barrel clearance. It's tight, but it fits.


Wheel to strut clearance. It is about 7-8mm. Close. I suspect a small spacer might be needed.


Trying to get a sense of clearance to the endlink bolt. Again, looks close.


Wheel turned full lock. It's not a great shot, but looks like wheelwell clearance won't be a big issue.


Wheel studs. I am thinking there is enough room for a small spacer without having to go the extended stud route.


Finally, an attempt to get a sense of wheel poke. This is with the suspension loaded; it looks about flush with the body, and is at OEM camber. I'll have -2.75* set when using these, so anticipate no issue here; the stock wheels with 285 tires looks comically sunken-in with that camber setting while sitting on the ground.

claudermilk said:

It's got 44k on it. I doubt I've beat the hubs to the point of needed new yet.

Anyway, I did find time to throw a wheel on the front and took a few pictures. Ignore the rusty rotor--I did this immediately after washing the car.

Not very useful side shot. I compressed the suspension to approximately normal ride height for these.


Caliper to barrel clearance. It's tight, but it fits.


Wheel to strut clearance. It is about 7-8mm. Close. I suspect a small spacer might be needed.

Trying to get a sense of clearance to the endlink bolt. Again, looks close.
Wheel turned full lock. It's not a great shot, but looks like wheelwell clearance won't be a big issue.

Wheel studs. I am thinking there is enough room for a small spacer without having to go the extended stud route.

Finally, an attempt to get a sense of wheel poke. This is with the suspension loaded; it looks about flush with the body, and is at OEM camber. I'll have -2.75* set when using these, so anticipate no issue here; the stock wheels with 285 tires looks comically sunken-in with that camber setting while sitting on the ground.

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Looks great! Thank you for posting these pictures. It was very difficult to find pictures of these wheels on the later model S197 with Brembos and finally we have a nice data base in this forum. I have yet to see any clearance shots like you posted either, amazing help for me.

I agree we might need a small spacer up front to avoid interference with tire sidewall flex to strut. And it does appear there is enough thread left to do so without extended studs. I am going to start shopping immediately for some spacers. So you think ~1/8" or 3/16" will be enough? With the 3/16" spacer and your measurements, it should come to almost 1/2" (31/64") clearance between the wheel lip and strut housing. Also, I wonder if there will be room for wheel weights between the wheel barrel and the caliper or do you think static balancing with weights on the back would be a better option?




Edit:

These might be a pretty good option for a 3/16" spacer. Better than the elongated holes on the spacers AM sells...
http://www.amazon.com/Wheel-Spacer-Ford-Mustang-1979-2013/dp/B00O7YCYXG
or these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-WHEEL-H...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ad064f992&vxp=mtr


Paging Mr. Norm Peterson on the wheel to strut clearance and the use of spacers on not.

Mounted up the LF with my 285/40/18 Goodyears. Stock camber and Eibach Pro-kit springs. I may try a 5mm spacer but not until I get camber plates. As you can see they are very close to the fender as-is. Again, plenty of Brembo caliper clearance - actually more so than with the stock wheels when you look at the spokes.

Overall very happy with these so far, especially for the price.










Those last couple pics are with the other side jacked up to get some compression. Pretty tough to squeeze my phone back there and blindly snap these!



Love the concave look.

Nice! Looks good and I see a pretty fair amount of clearance between wheel/tire to strut. I think you might be good to go without a spacer, but those of us with Konis may want to consider a 3mm or 5mm spacer. (if they are indeed a smaller offset of the mounting point to strut body than the Bilsteins)

Take a side shot of your setup showing both wheels in the photo and better light if you get the chance.

SlowJim,

In this picture, do I see the wheel weights basically in the same line as the brake caliper? Meaning the weights stuck to the wheel barrel in that spot do clear the brake calipers? Or in this position are they in front of the calipers where the caliper would not interfere regardless?

SlowJim said:

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Those last couple pics are with the other side jacked up to get some compression. Pretty tough to squeeze my phone back there and blindly snap these!

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Those are the money shots right there. I noticed that when compressing the suspension as was mentioned (I think by Norm), the strut to wheel relationship does not change.

I am thinking along the lines of possibly a 5mm spacer if needed, but from Jim's shots it does not appear one will be. I will be sticking with around the same size tires--most likely 275/40-18 RE-11's at this juncture.

claudermilk said:

Those are the money shots right there. I noticed that when compressing the suspension as was mentioned (I think by Norm), the strut to wheel relationship does not change.

I am thinking along the lines of possibly a 5mm spacer if needed, but from Jim's shots it does not appear one will be. I will be sticking with around the same size tires--most likely 275/40-18 RE-11's at this juncture.

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Same thing I thought once I saw those pictures. I went ahead and purchased a pair of 3mm (1/8") hub centric spacers in hopes that it will be enough additional clearance, if needed at all. BTW, the spacers were only $19 shipped from ebay and are fully CNC machined aluminum. The same seller offers a 5mm spacer as well for the same price.

I have a set of Toyo Proxes T1 sports 275/40R18 loaded up in my shopping cart and about to pull the trigger...

Lateral tire flex up around the strut probably depends on how wide your wheels are relative to the tire.


No discernable rubbing - not even at track days (though I did need an 0.025" spacer for exactly one wheel and wheel position even for my occasional street driving). Clearances to both tires and wheels are all around 1 mm.

Heh . . . if I had the clearances that I'm seeing people above have, I'd be looking at wheels at least another half inch wider. Or checking mine again to make sure they're what I thought I bought.







Norm

Well that puts things into perspective. Looks like I wasted $19 on some wheel spacers. Oh, well... Thanks for posting Norm. Looks like you finally put this one to bed.

Holy crap! That is gnat's ass clearance there! They almost look like they are touching the strut.

The AMR wheels were definitely not my first choice, but at the price I couldn't pass them up. That gets me 18x10 race wheels right now instead of sometime next year. These will get replaced by something else later.

I found this YT video posted a while ago. It is very enlightening on what goes on with the S197 front suspension in motion. Basically it shows that if we clear up to at all, we should be fine. While the bottom of the tire in contact with the ground flexes a bunch, the top doesn't really move from static dimensions at all.


So with everything preceding in this thread, I think I am comfortable with my top 3 tire choices on these AMR wheels for now. Those being 275/40R18 RE-11, 285-35R18 RS-3, or 275-35R18 Rivals. All keep me legal in the various events I plan to use them (285 max width, 200 treadwear); the RE-11 is my #1 choice right now as it keeps close to stock OD and my gearing is already an issue with 3.73's. It's also ~$200 cheaper for the set.

claudermilk said:

Holy crap! That is gnat's ass clearance there! They almost look like they are touching the strut.

The AMR wheels were definitely not my first choice, but at the price I couldn't pass them up. That gets me 18x10 race wheels right now instead of sometime next year. These will get replaced by something else later.

I found this YT video posted a while ago. It is very enlightening on what goes on with the S197 front suspension in motion. Basically it shows that if we clear up to at all, we should be fine. While the bottom of the tire in contact with the ground flexes a bunch, the top doesn't really move from static dimensions at all.


So with everything preceding in this thread, I think I am comfortable with my top 3 tire choices on these AMR wheels for now. Those being 275/40R18 RE-11, 285-35R18 RS-3, or 275-35R18 Rivals. All keep me legal in the various events I plan to use them (285 max width, 200 treadwear); the RE-11 is my #1 choice right now as it keeps close to stock OD and my gearing is already an issue with 3.73's. It's also ~$200 cheaper for the set.

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Yeah the picture Norm posted was very eye opening for me and my concerns with clearance to the strut body. Looks like those of us with the 18x10 AMR's should be more than good to go with tire widths in the 275mm-285mm range. (and probably a lot bigger)

I believe that video was filmed by Whiskey11 on the forums too. I have watched it a couple of times.

I was about ready to purchase a set of toyo proxes T1 sports in 275/40R18, but after reading a couple of reviews, a lot of people complain about them having soft sidewalls and as a result not very responsive. So that puts me back to my two other options of the RE-11's in 275/40 or the conti DW in 285/40.

claudermilk said:

Holy crap! That is gnat's ass clearance there! They almost look like they are touching the strut.

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IIRC, if I stack an 0.021" feeler gauge blade plus its 0.022" neighbor, they slide through the wheel and tire gaps with only a little drag from the tire. That's more clearance than I had between the inner flanges of the wheels and the outer tierod ends on a 1979 Chevy Malibu (under 1/32").

I suspect that wider tires will also deflect further laterally, IOW a tire that measures 0.4" wider as installed may need half of that and then some for clearance. That's what I'd plan on, anyway. But the tires in those pictures are 285/35 PSS, so I can't even think about 295/35's.


Norm

So are you willing to share the specs on those wheels, Norm? That will give us a good datapoint of maxing out that spacing.

From the sticky on this forum... I think it's pretty accurate.

9" - +24 to +45
9.5" - +30 to +45
10" - +36 to +51
10.5" - +42 to +57
11" - +59 or greater

SlowJim said:

From the sticky on this forum... I think it's pretty accurate.

9" - +24 to +45
9.5" - +30 to +45
10" - +36 to +51
10.5" - +42 to +57
11" - +59 or greater

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Accurate for what purpose, and at which end of the car?

There is no way in hell that an 18 x11 with +59 offset is going to fit up front. Nor without fat spacers, anyway.

The 18 x 10.5" Enkei PF01's for the S197 Mustang are +38, and 5mm spacers are apparently needed if you want to run 315/30 tires on them up front (effectively making the wheel offset +33).


Norm

My 20x10 in the front is a +33