Mindgame

Ok, been looking at a set of 17" Kinesis wheels and I need to know if anyone has run a 335/35/17 tire out back? If so, what is/was the wheel backspacing? And... any modifications? I'm assuming the removal of the jounce bumpers but is there anything else?

Thanks!

edit: That's 335/35/17

-Mindgame

xxsaint69x

hmm..i am guessing they would fit on a 17x 11 rim, but i am sure they would rub....hmm..i wouldnt mind some 335 nitto Drs in da back.....

Mindgame

Does Nitto make a DR in that size? I think I've seen a 315/35/17 but not a 335.
For the track I'll probably just use a 15" Weld with slicks.

There aren't alot of choices in 335/35/17's. Dunlop, Pirelli, Michelin and BFG KDR's... at least that's what I've found so far. I'll probably go with the Pirellis..... if they'll fit anyways.

-Mindgame

chesee48

335 are hella big!

I remember my 315's and they were huge-o!

rskrause

Well, I doubt they will "fit", depending on your definition of the term. The cars I have seen with 315's, and to my eye, they look odd. But even if you consider them to look ok, consider that a 335/35 is nearly a full inch wider (both section width and tread width).

Even with really mangling the fender and fender well to avoid interference (and it would be major magling), I think it would look very odd. The tire would stick out nearly a full inch beyond the fender lip at the top. Even with stock ride height, I'll bet you could pretty easily contact the fender lip hitting a bump. I think the 285/17's I have look a bit too wide, let alone 335's. Just IMHO.

Rich Krause

Mindgame

Ok, opinions are always nice.

335 vs 315 is a little better than 3/4 of an inch in width which is neither here nor there... so it's gonna be wide. I'm not totally convinced to go with this size.... just seeing if anyone's done it. If you guys haven't figured it out yet, I'm not exactly building a car like everyone elses.
335/35/17's..... might just need to leave those to the Lamborghinis then. Personally I like the wide look but not unless I can get everything under the car.

Ok, the 315, some guys are using that size. Obviously I don't want the tire to rub on the inner fender, so I need a backspacing that will get it under there, maybe with a little edge-rolling on the wheel housing? Any opinions on that and what all is involved? Anyone using a 315... I'm thinking 11" wheel here but this is no hurry, just thinking out loud.

Thanks for the input gents.

-Mindgame

Injuneer

The 315/35's work on an 11" wide wheel with 7.93" backspace (50mm offset).... at least that's what my AFS ZR1 replicas are. The 315's fit with minor hammering, and cutting the corner off the jounce bumper bracket. In most brands, the 335 adds 0.8" to the section width, and based on my experience, you will want an adjustable panhard rod to exaclty center the body over the axle, and the tires are going to be extremely close to the inner fenders, unless you use a BF hammer.

I believe Ken Mook ran the 335's, and I believe a couple of others have too.

If you need pics of the mods, or even pics of the way the 315's fit in the wheel wells, with pics of the inner tire/inner fender clearance, I can post links. The tires in the pics are BFG DR's, and they are only 12.4" section width, compared to 13.4" for the typical 335, so you are going to see how little room you really have to work with.

I'm going to be using 28x10.5-15W ET Drags this year, but I still have to get them mounted up on the 15x10 Weld Pro-Stars to see how they fit in the wheel wells. I doubt they will be too big a problem, since they are a 13.1 section width, compared to the 12.4" DR's, and the Welds are only a 7.5" BS. Somehow, a little bit of ET Drag hanging out the side of the wheel wells doesn't look quite as "odd" as a regular tire might, at least in the environs of a drag strip.... .

EDIT: Added links:

Passenger side

Driver's side

Driver's side, looking straight "up"

Houdini

I have thought about doing the very same thing. How many people here have 335's or 345's on their f-body.......nobody! I want to do it just to set my car and myself apart from the rest of the crowd, not to mention it would look F'n awsome if done right.

I have not had a chance to jump under my car and take a look at how much room we have because my car is still in storage, but very soon I will. I think if some one was to take this project on, it would be very important to do this right. In order to do this the right way you must not let the tire stick out side of the wheel well. I agree with rskrause on this one, my car also has 285/40/17's and I think it would look pretty damn stupid to have the tires out any further than they already are. Wich brings us to what needs to be done?

You will need a 12+ inch wide rim in order for it to look right. To get that rim that far under the car I think mini tubbing would be the only option. Can the inside wheel wells be mini tubbed without any huge problems? Will a rim that wide and pushed back that far hit any of the suspension components? Anybody have the answers.

Just my thoughts, sorry if my opinions did not help.

Injuneer

"odd"...... "pretty damn stupid".......



http://cjcfo.fbody.com/members/injun...D/Frt34vwD.jpg

http://cjcfo.fbody.com/members/injun...C/Rr34Dr02.jpg

mineralwater

do you really need a tire that wide?

Mindgame

Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks Fred.

You're right, not much room left over there. I think the 315's look great though with the 50mm offset.... nothing "odd" or "stupid" bout that.

So a few guys have done the 335 thing? Curious.... so I hope someone will chime in, preferably with pics so I can see what's involved.
The 28x10.5-15W is my choice too so that kind of eases my mind on the fitment problems there.

Thanks for the info!

-Mindgame

Mindgame

560-575 rwhp going to the ground... I'd like to get the biggest contact patch I can to the road. Plus I think it looks cool, but that's just me.

darned flood control! Maybe we should fix that.... but that might lead to some trouble.

-Mindgame

Houdini

I did not mean any disrespect to the people who have their rear tires hanging out of the wheel wells. I was refering to the look of my car with the tires sticking out further. I failed to mention what rims I'm running, enkie winsome rims (44mm offset) very close to your 50mm offset.

Fred - My rear tire to fender clearance is essentially the same as yours on the outside. I think you misunderstood what I was getting at, next time I will try to be more clear.


Also, I do think that 335's were meant to be on a rim measuring at least 12" wide. Stuffing them on a 11" rim would be like running 315's on a 9.5" rim, sure they will fit, but it just doesn't look right. If you are going to go through the effort of clearancing your wheel wells, why not put the tires on rims that take advantage of their wide footprint. Just my opinion...... although I have been known to be wrong .

mineralwater

damn! ok, you do need those tires.

btw: they'll look good as long as they don't stick out, cholo-style.. hehe.

kmook

Ding Ding we have a winner I ran 335s... though other than looks i dont recomend them as i couldnt find a Drag Radial in that size and all street tires suck IMO. With a almost stock LT1 i could burn through 3rd off the line with the 335s Potenza RE-71s. I switched to 315 nittos and went up to 400rwhp and couldnt spin 1st at all, and this was with 4.10 gears.

In my case all that was needed was a lot of wheel well pounding to make them fit.

Cruddy Pics-
http://www.geocities.com/kmook123/335s