I recently bought a set of Skinnies . They are the Weld racing, 3.5 by 15s. the backspacing is dead center in the rim. I used a Phoenix 4.5 by 26 tubeless tire on them.

I thought for sure that I would have to use a spacer so before I bought lugs I stuck it on to see if I could grind something or if it truly needed a spacer, to my surprise they bolted on my stock braked 97 WS6 T/A with no interference !!!

Just thought I would pass this along.

 

Are you driving those on the street? I have been thinking about gettin some skinnies and some nice slicks in the back so I'll have an excuse to get a 12 bolt.

 

Just remember, the location of the brake pads/retainer springs is going to change with the thickness of the pads. What fits on one car might not fit on another. I know that combo (15x3.5 1.75BS Pro-Star w/ 26x4.5-15 Moroso DS-2) will not work on my 94 Formula without the spacer. A friend of mine mounted the Welds, and ripped the brake pad spring right out of the calipers when the spring caught on a spoke of the wheel. Mine also hits on the big horizontal bar that the caliper/pads slide on. That could be ground down. You need to check carefully.

The Weld skinnies are marked on the center section as being for drag use only. Might affect your liability in the event of an accident.

 

Yeah , I bolted them on tight then with it in the air I spun the wheel and carefully watched from the inside. I could see the tangs that the brake caliper rides on possibly rubbing with some wheels, my clearance is about a 1/16th of an inch there I may grind them down just for extra clearance. I'l lhave to pick up a set of new brake pads and install them to see if new pads would change things.

No these aren't for everyday driving, I got them to bolt on at the track only.

 

Take a picture of your pads for me please.
Mine hit the brake pads spring and also the short little tabs on the caliper. The ones just to the right and left of the pads springs.

Heck last night I even tried grinding on the caliper and the brake pad spring and still could not get it to clearance it correctly.

I have Welds 15x3.5 on mine and I have to use a 5/16 spacer.

 

I can't get some pictures online for ya, but I plan on going to Thunder Valley on the 15th of Oct. If youre headed down there I'll let ya look it all over.

 

Ok, went and bought a cheap set of pads to look at clearance with new pads, my old pads are about 1mm from the squealer. with new pads they are exactly a 1/4 inch wider on both pads therefore a 1/2 inch!!! I bolted it all up and turned..scraaaape !!! The tang that holds the pads to the caliper is dragging. Added a 5/16ths inch washer and clears so I'll be buying some 5/16s inch spacers to make this work with new pads.

Thanks guys for warning me about this and checking with new pads.

 

Cool deal know you know.
Hate to see you miss up a good wheel and brake pads

 

Thats what I thought afterwards, I could have replaced my brakes and not checked then went to the track and bolted it all together and ruined a rim (and maybe more)

 

I bolted on some skinnies the other day. One side cleared one side didn't, tore the spring off the brake pad.

My question is are you guys installing longer studs when you use the spacers?

I did the 5/16th spacer math, .600" lug nut engagement total (on car) - .312" spacer = .288" engagement. Seems unsafe.

With a 7/32 spacer you pick up another .100" engagement or about 9.5 mm, which is 6.33 threads with our stock 12 x 1.5mm thread studs.

Is that enough engagement? It's not even close to threading the hex portion of the nut. NHRA says studs must thread through hex portion of the nut.

 

I'm using the longer shanked nut. It actually has the length of the stud as engagement. (open end.)

 

The car will understeer horribly in street driving with skinnies and the braking distances will increase considerably. It can be done if you drive very carefully, but is generally a bad idea.

Rich

 

NHRA requires that the hex portion of the lug nut engage the threads of the stud by at least "one diameter" of the stud. On a 12mm stud, you need 0.472" engagement to pass NHRA tech. They will not give you any credit for the portion of the shank that engaged the stud threads. I've been called on that, and now run the 2.67" 12mm studs available from GMPP or Lingenfelter. Even those are marginal.

 

ARP also has some longer studs. That's what I use with my Bogart fronts.

 

Are our factory studs press in?