Meaty Tires Thread

[RAAMaudio]

Cool to admit when you make a mistake, I have made plenty in my day and have admitted to some but maybe not all of them

You should have room to get them out, I was able to even with a 4x100 conversion but had to trim a tiny bit of not critical material on the front knuckles, a very tiny bit, 4x108 should be pretty easy.

A machine shop is likely to want the tires off the wheels, mounting and dismounting tires is a bit hard on the beads, I would try to clean up the hubs and bores a bit first but that is how I do things, not what I expect others to do, just making a recommendation based on quite a bit of experience.

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No worries expected with PCA, Chalon is a stand up guy for sure

 

[SeanBonham]

These things happen. I think you will still end up with a great setup! I am looking to get some TD 15x8s when they are back in stock.

 

[IrishST]

Popped the center caps off to spray some PB Blaster in there and let it soak and I realized that just inside the rim where the center caps mount is a flat lip that doesn't contact anything. In my collection of "not often used" tools I have a puller that I kind of forgot about in my frustrations and it can grab both inside and out and the center of the axle spindle is a perfect push point that is obscenely strong (used to push them out with an air hammer back in the day and never had one get messed up).

I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow afternoon and see what happens. Can't make anything worse and it could save me a trip to the shop on Thursday. Constant pulling pressure might do the trick where hammering is failing me. Doing this one quick like though - if I don't make any progress in a few minutes I'm calling it a day and just taking it in.

 

[IrishST]

Called like 6 local machine shops today. 2 told me outright they don't do wheel hub bores, 4 told me they might but I need to bring it in. Got irritated and then calmed down and started thinking about the problem as a former mechanic and said ef it, I'm doing this myself. Used an old trick of loosening the lugs about one turn then turning the wheel left and right while backing up and moving forward in the driveway at idle. Spent the next two or three hours sanding the hub bore. Thankfully forcing the wheel on helped me see where they were not right and I was able to smooth it out. Took persistence and I'm tired as shit, but I was able to put the wheel back on, by hand, and have it sit up flush on the hub/rotor with no fuss or added pressure. Was able to finger tight the lugs and have no play in the rotor and the hub bore is in contact with the hub ring/lip evenly all the way around.

Have tomorrow and Friday off from work so I'm going to do the same with the next two over these coming days. The front right should be about the same effort as the front left I did today, but the left rear is probably going to be worse since that was the hardest to get on.

No pressure cracks or other visible fatigue on the wheel I got off today so hopefully the rest are the same. I also took the rotor off and inspected the wheel studs and they looked solid, will do the same on the other two.

This is a pain in the ass but hopefully I come out the other side in good order.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Great idea on the puller, I did not think of it and I have a few different ones though almost all my tools are in storage, I love RVing but miss all my tools, lift, etc....

Not sure how clear I was when I posted so adding a bit more info.

When using the hammer rotate the wheel 180 degrees between blows as it will have to come off a little at a time and not bind, if that does not work try 120 degree or so rotations.

No luck, use the puller and if not working then use the hammer as well, once it starts moving you will have to adjust the puller but by then it might do the job.

Good luck

 

[IrishST]

Great idea on the puller, I did not think of it and I have a few different ones though almost all my tools are in storage, I love RVing but miss all my tools, lift, etc....

Not sure how clear I was when I posted so adding a bit more info.

When using the hammer rotate the wheel 180 degrees between blows as it will have to come off a little at a time and not bind, if that does not work try 120 degree or so rotations.

No luck, use the puller and if not working then use the hammer as well, once it starts moving you will have to adjust the puller but by then it might do the job.

Good luck

Yeah man, no worries, I'm familiar with the process. I got fed up with it yesterday and stopped thinking clearly about all the things... Anyway, it looks like you were typing up that post while I made an update of my own so you might have missed it. I ended up getting one wheel off and did the sanding and it fits now. Detailed stuff is the post above yours .

 

[Plainrt]

I guess one day I should try mine as we got wheels around same time

 

[IrishST]

I guess one day I should try mine as we got wheels around same time

I'd be curious to hear how it goes. I have a strong feeling that I just have one of those victims of manufacturing situations though, especially considering it wasn't all 4 wheels. I still think TD makes a good product and you should be fine I would imagine.

 

[IrishST]

All done. Lots of sanding, lots of patience, but now the wheels fit. I left them a tiny bit on the tight side on the inner portion of the hub bores, but as I described in my previous post I was able to get them flush by hand with no crazy tricks and with finger tight on the lugs they were solid on the rotors. Anyway, tragedy averted, the hub's are good, the studs are good, no visible damage to the wheel and I bought new lugnuts for good measure because the caps on the old ones were loosening from my pressing the other day. Now, some pics because that's what this thread is all about.

 

[SeanBonham]

Those look, so so so so good! Perfect!

 

[IrishST]

Thanks man, appreciate it. I'm happy with it too, makes it feel like the effort was worth it.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Looks damn fine indeed, great job making this work as well

Next time you buy lug nuts look into the Gorilla spline drive open end ones, I have used them in many cars including full race for years, saves quite a bit of weight, far less costly than aluminum lug nuts and last far longer, a bit of security, look cool.....

 

[IrishST]

Thanks bud.

Gorilla lugs are actually on my short list but I have to order them and I absolutely didn't want to reuse the stock ones when I noticed the caps moving so I picked up some stop gap lugs at AutoZone.

 

[RAAMaudio]

COOL,
As mentioned I have used them for years including all out race cars with no problems ever, I use the short version to save more weight.

 

[NJBooST]

Eibach prokit with 205/50/16 Falken Ziex ZE950 A/S.

What offset are your wheels, and have you been rubbing with the Pro-Kit springs?

 

[stuntdoogie]

What offset are your wheels, and have you been rubbing with the Pro-Kit springs?

42 offset... Never rubbed.

 

[ericr]

I have some TD 1.2's on order in 15x8 et35. I was thinking of a couple Toyo tires that are real meaty. I think they'll fit. The overall diameter is 23.7 which is identical to the AD08R's that I have now on 17x8 et48. The Toyos are about a half inch wider in section which should be handled by the lower offset. Does anyone have any experience with these tires in this size?

Here's a couple Honda's with 225/50's on 15x8. I know 205's would perform better on the track, but I love this look. I think it's the ulti-meat.

R888

RA1

 

[RAAMaudio]

Just to be sure you know those are both DOT race tires, not street tires, you can drive to the track and back, etc but not meant for full time street use and neither tire is good in the rain, better than full race slicks but not that great and you get a lot of rain up there, I am from E but lived several times in W WA and W OR and used such tires in the weather there.

If I had to pick one and might get into rain at times it would be the RA1, not the R888.

That Honda looks like it has 7" or 7.5" wide wheels not 8's.

I have 6 of the RA1 in 225/45/15 on 15x9's and they are stretched a bit as have an 8.7 tread width.

Either of those tires weighs 2lbs more per tire than the 205, a bit wide for an 8" wheel, taller than stock gearing. I feel you would be giving up to much performance going to the 225 but if you are more into the look than the effect I understand, either size is going to be a very fast tire when used properly anyway

If you have not done so take a look at the actual specs on Tirerack.com, consider the wheel width, tread width, weight, diameter, etc.....all important info is there for you

Any more questions just ask or PM,
Rick

 

[ericr]

I like using full DOT R tires as summer tires. I've done so many times over the years. If I can get 5k miles, I'm happy. I use other wheels and tires during the rainy season here. I've carefully reviewed the sizing of these and other tires on Tirerack and I think they're going to work for me. I think I will go for the R888's because of the minimal negative camber suggested by Toyo compared to the RA1's. The overall weight will still be considerably less than stock and I won't have to worry so much about potholes this summer.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I like your attitude, a lot

I have also ran R888 full time on cars I did not drive much or expect much life from the tires.

You might want to take a look at the Rival S though, super sticky, does not take as long to warm up as the R888 or RA1, which I have considerable experience with and should last longer.

They would be great for autocross, time trail, canyon runs, just not 20-30 all out HPDE as would get to hot. I am running around 300WHP right now and if above 50 degrees and a decent surface they do not spin in 2nd gear, just dig in and go, quite impressive.

The R888 or RA1 take more time to come to optimal operating temp so not ready to go on a moments notice, still dang sticky and last far longer on the track I am sure.

It would be cool to do a mod for mod comparison on two cars with the different tires, all three even better, real world use, track, autocross, canyon runs, etc.....