Fitting 15" rims

MightyBoy tech questions and answers.
mot
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brayden, i was just wondering what mods you had to do and how difficult it was when fitting your 15/6.5 rims. and also, would you be able to lower the ute around 40mm with your wheels.

thanks
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Brayden
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To fit the 15's I needed the following:

- Rolled wheel arches front and rear
- Trimmed rear bumpstops
- I haven't got around to it yet, but I need to make some stoppers for the front wheels too, because the rims are fouling on the inner wheel arch and lower swaybar at full lock. Very nasty and obviously dangerous.

Could I drop the ute by 40mm? Its pretty much that low already.

Just a few other notes on my experiences with 15" rims while I'm at it:

- The cost of the tyres (being a rare size) means that you need to make sure the suspension is well set up (eps. on the front), otherwise you'll be buying tyres every other month because of edge feathering.
- 15" rims might look good, but christ they are rough! With bugger all rubber wrapped around them, there is no give, and you certainly feel the bumps. Great if you have nice smooth roads and don't drive it very often, but murder on rough roads or long trips!
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gremlin
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I thought yours were only 15x5.5 or 15x6?
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fritz
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I pretty much agree with what Brayden has said.
With some rims you may get away with not rolling your rear gaurds. My yellow boy has it's gaurds rolled, but it was running 36offset rims. On my white mighty (with standard suspension) I am running 46 offset rims and they clip slightly on the inside only. I'm not sure if that will change much if you lower it? - I might do that soon...

Brayden, what offset are you running? With my 46 offset rims I have only the slightes scuff on the front plastic cover on the drivers side. Do yours scuff anywhere else? eg back part of wheel arch?
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Brayden
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gremlin wrote:I thought yours were only 15x5.5 or 15x6?
Good point. I failed to see the bit in the OP about 6.5 width. Mine are indeed 5.5 inches wide. ;)

Fritz, the offset of mine are +42mm. With the mods listed above mine do scrub quite heavily on that plastic spat on the chassis rail, but that will be solved with the addition of a bumper to prevent the wheel going to full lock by a few mm. 8)

For the record, I tried a set of 15x6.5" rims with an offset of 40 and they never looked like going close to fitting under the arches on the front, and the rear was a bloody tight squeeze! If the 5.5" wide rims I settled had an offset of +38 they would have been perfect, but as it was +42mm was all I could get, but still they seemed much more practical than a 6.5" rim considering the lateral loading I put on them.
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mot
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ok thanks for the info, in regards to me assuming your rims were 6.5 wide. i was on tempetyres and they say that your rims were that width. so sorry for the confusion. so in regards to having the ute sit around 40mm lower than standard, what would be the biggest rim you would recommend and what offset would be optimum. sorry for the Q's.

tom
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Brayden
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Yeah apparently Tempe only stock the 6.5 wide rims now. Mind you I can only assume mine came from there originally as I bought them second hand.

No need to apologise for the questions though, that's what a forum is for! :P
Asking what rims size is optimum is a tricky question, because there a few things you need to consider yourself:

- How much you want to spend
- How many mods you want to make
- How smooth you want the ute to ride

The answer to those Q's will help you decide what rims and tyres you should be using. ;)
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fritz
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My mags on the yellow mighty were 6.5" wide. They were a very close fit on the rear (with lots of gaurd rolling) http://www.tamon.org/gallery/v/members/ ... 5.JPG.html

I'm guessing with standard MB hubs I'd be in trouble up front with the same 6.5" The 6.5" rims were fine on the front with the swift hubs.

A note here though: I'm using 165/45's, not the 50 profile tyres. Small difference, but we're talking small tolerances here... :wink:
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Brayden
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fritz wrote:we're talking small tolerances here... :wink:
Couldn't agree more, and that goes for modifying MB's in general - everything has a small tolerance! :D
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mot
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what is involved in and could someone explain what guard rolling is? is it just another word for flaring? and fritz, what offset were your RJR rims?
thanks for the help guys
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Brayden
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Flaring is "pumping" the guards outwards, rolling is pressing the lip flat.
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fritz
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A good panelbeater should have a special machine set up to roll gaurds. I'd say it's likely to damage the outer paintwork though, so it's probably something you'd do prior to a paint job.
You could also trim the inside flange with a dremel or something, but keep in mind that it greatly reduces the overall strength of the arch. Rolling the gaurd will too, but not as much. :)
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Brayden
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Fritz, a good panel beater wouldn't touch a guard roller with a ten-foot pole! They are guaranteed to break the paint on any car more than 5 years old.

You are right though, best to get a panel beater to attack them with a dolly before you respray. :)
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mot
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Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: gold coast

last question to fritz, i asked it before, but you prob didn't see it. what offset were your 15/6.5 rodney jane racing rims. its just you said they didnt scrub and them being 6.5 wide would be ideal for what i want.

thanks
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fritz
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My 6.5" rims were good in all but the most extreme circumstances - like a tray full of sand and going up curbs at fast speeds (remember my car is lowered)

_BUT_ I have got to mention that a) both front and back gaurds were rolled as much as possible & b) The fronts had the SA gti hubs/strut combo. I haven't tried my mags on the boy with standard mb hubs/struts, but I strongly suspect that I'd be in trouble with offset (think the rjr's are 36 or 38???). I dont have my tyres mounted on the mags at the mo, so I wont be able to find out for you in the short term either. :-(

Just a quick note. - I dont think the width of a rim is such a big problem as the tyre is likely to be the widest part of the whole package anyhoo (within reason - remember that offset is measured from the centreline of a rim). My 6.5 rims were flush with the tyres, which gives you no protection from curb rash, but it also means that if I had my tyres on 5" rims they'd still be the same o/a width.
Offset will be your biggest issue I think.
Hope that helps. :?
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