47-55.1 C4 Vette sub frame & running 4 of the same wheel?

[JDarby]

All of you C4 corvette subframe guys attention:

Is it possible to run the same rims on all 4 corners?

I am being told NO and before I lay down the $ I want to make damn sure that is the case.

1955 GMC-100 1st series and I am using Wheel Smith for my step by step wheel measurements. I increased my front cylinders to C5-6 calipers.

running 17" x 7" wide wheel my front will need 1" spacer with a 5.5" Backspace

running 17" x 7 wide wheel my rear will need 1/2" spacer with a 3.5" Backspace

All you FlatOut suspension guys if you have any wisdom you can share with me please do

I am wanting to run smoothies on all 4 with a spare,
Thanks for your advice,
Jeff

[dsraven]

if you want the steering and front suspension geometry to work properly for alignment purposes you can't really change too much from the stock outside diameter of tire and offset. this is because the steering is set up so the steering axis (a line drawn between the upper and lower ball joints and terminating at the ground undere the tire) is supposed to end up in the middle of the tire contact patch where it touches the pavement. if the wheels offset too much one way or the other, or the tire outside diameter changes too much, then the steering can be twitchy or will tend to follow every crack in the road.scrub radius is something that this affects and racers have been playing with these settings for years.
maybe this will help?

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

[fauXGT]

Was it Flatout that said staggered front to rear?
Odd, being the stock C4 use same wheel for front and rear. And my understanding is if Flatout suspension is welded in correctly to AD stock frame, it has the same footprint as a stock C4.
And I may have ordered slightly too wide a wheel (16 x 8 4.25" backspacing), but all the same. I checked several sites, including here that said 8" is the max that will fit on stock AD.

[fauXGT]

And spacers are usually a no-no... especially if you are ordering custom wheels that can be set to proper backspacing.

[dsraven]

yup, not a big fan of spacers either. just buy the correct wheel for the backspacing you need and go from there.
personally, i like all 4 wheels and tires to be the same size and offset. any wheel, any location. I realize that for some applications this is impossible due to how the vehicle was built. hopefully, when the project was being built, the rake angle desired was taken into account so that, at this stage, the tire diameters can be chosen to keep the rake angle, which affects the IFS steering geometry, can be kept within the limits of being correct. if you do a little research into the effects of changing wheel offsets on the steering end of the vehicle you will see that changing the scrub radius can really affect how the vehicle drives.

https://www.motor.com/magazine-summa...drive%20design.

[JDarby]

I wish now that I could buy all 4 corners the same but at the time when I was thinking about my stopping power I wasn't thinking about my wheels!

The bigger caliper up front is causing the wheel pain I am having at the moment.

Bigger calipers means spacers if I want to run smoothies and I do!

Dsraven your motor.com/ magazine article did help clear the air about scrub radius .

I wish I had a simulator where I could feel how my truck would ride under certain situations ie, Tire size, wheel size , off set size's (wheel) etc!

I want the function and the fit and the looks to all be spot on!!!

[dsraven]

How does your desired tire outside diameter compare to the original tire diameter that came on the IFS you are using. Keeping that diameter along with an original donor IFS offset would keep alignment as intended. Changes to that will, of course, change how the alignment will need to be set up to keep it driving straight down the road. An alignment tech who knows his stuff would be an asset. The normal corner garage alignment shop would possibly not have a clue what to do for specs because it wouldnt come up in thedata base.

[fauXGT]

Changing the front to rear footprint of the tires can cause odd steering issues such as over/under steer. The geometry of the front a-arm lengths and wheel offsets and turning all work together. It would be a big disappointment to put in all this effort of the entire build to try to make it better than 1950's stock only to have it be worse and hate the way it drives.
Now up/down suspension travel can be adjusted with quality coilovers, but turning is in the hands of the geometry gods.

[leegreen]

if you can figure out how to use it there are suspension modeling tools online

this is a very long link:

https://vsusp.com/#0.8%26project_nam...ll_center.y%7D

[JDarby]

That is one doozie of a simulation!
Could take me years to understand that one

[JDarby]

Originally Posted by fauXGT

Changing the front to rear footprint of the tires can cause odd steering issues such as over/under steer. The geometry of the front a-arm lengths and wheel offsets and turning all work together. It would be a big disappointment to put in all this effort of the entire build to try to make it better than 1950's stock only to have it be worse and hate the way it drives.
Now up/down suspension travel can be adjusted with quality coilovers, but turning is in the hands of the geometry gods.

Yes,I understand that forever moving forward my alignment will be C4 Corvette Please

[dsraven]

its only gonna be true c4 specs if the IFS is installed just like it would be in the c4 and has the same tire OD and wheel offset.

[JDarby]

With 17x 7 it's as close as I can get to corvette spec as I can, including spacers and backspacing all around!