DeadLurker
10-06-2003, 02:00 AM
Long story short I'm still on my quest for a 12 second pass due to the fact that my drag radials don't fit on my car. :curses:
As I mentioned in another thread I got 315 BFG Comp T/A Drag Radials from tirerack.com and 17x10.5 Bullitt Replicas from Wheelreplicas.com. I got the tires mounted and balanced and all ready to go in the past week and last thursday(the night before the track day) I decided to put them on the car.
Well I first put the back left tire on and it went on easily with no problems. Then I put the back right tire on and it went on with no problems. So far so good....UNTIL I lowered the car and start to hear a sweeking metal noise...I stop lowering the car and check under the rear only to see my Bassani catback tailpipe rubbing on the tire.
I guess it's my fault in a way because I never thought about checking the clearance of the stock tires from the tailpipe but I didn't think that would have ever been an issue. Well I wasn't even able to lower the car all the way due to the fact that even with the car semi in the air it was rubbing against the tire.
Now I'm disappointed...I just spent 800 dollars for these tires, rims, balancing and mounting only to find out the night before the track event that they are useless to me.
Now I've come up with three solutions to my problem:
1) Sell the rims and tires and get ones that fit my bassani catback(probably 275 but I might need to go even smaller than that)
2) Sell my bassani Catback and get a magnaflow catback(which I know works with these tires because SmithAtlanta has them on his car and has plenty of clearance even with the 315 drs)
3) Have a shop bent my tailpipe so that it passes by the tire further away(I'm unconfortable with this idea due to the fact that the pipe is Stainless steel and if they F it up im out 600 dollars on the catback)
So it's really only two options...now when I weight both of them together I choose option 1 of selling the tires and starting over with smaller ones...(hopefully some 17x9s with 275s on them...because that's the smallest size bfg tire they make in a 17 inch rim...but i'll have to test fit someone elses 275 tire first just to be sure this time. ) The reason why I picked selling my tires/rims is because even those these rims and tires do look bad ass they only will be on the car for probably 20-30 times of the car and that's when im only going drag racing as oppose to my bassani exahust which i'll be using every day of the year and have to live with the sound of it...I really like the way my car sounds and don't want to mess with it. I know Magnapacks are nice and all but i'm partial to my bassani and want to stick with what I got.
So here's what i've learned from my mistake that hopefully someone reading this will avoid in the future and won't be stuck with tires like mine that they can't use.
My first mistake was not checking the stock clearance of my tailpipes to my stock tires(17x8 245s). On my back left I have about two inches and on my back right I have only 1 inch from the bassani tailpipe to the stock tire. If I had known this in the beginning I would have never have bought these rims. Now some of you might be thinking that it's maybe just the way my car is...and is a isolated incident but I checked Kstrike's car(he has a bassani catback also) and he has the same clearance issues also on his back right side. So i'm not saying don't get a 315 but make sure you check both sides to see how much clearance you exhaust has with the stock tires before you go out and buy some 315s. If you have 2 inches on both sides you should be fine...the problem is I only have 1inch clearance on my back right side that's why only the back left tire fit perfectly and the back right rubbed.
Btw if anyone is interested in these rims and tires let me know by PM or email(DeadLurker@aol.com) I'd like to sell them local to avoid an extra shipping charge but I'll ship them if need be. I already have someone who is interested in them but if your interested let me know and i'll keep you in mind if he changes his mind.
I'm going to attach some pictures now for you guys to see both sides with the stock tires and drag radial to compare.
As I mentioned in another thread I got 315 BFG Comp T/A Drag Radials from tirerack.com and 17x10.5 Bullitt Replicas from Wheelreplicas.com. I got the tires mounted and balanced and all ready to go in the past week and last thursday(the night before the track day) I decided to put them on the car.
Well I first put the back left tire on and it went on easily with no problems. Then I put the back right tire on and it went on with no problems. So far so good....UNTIL I lowered the car and start to hear a sweeking metal noise...I stop lowering the car and check under the rear only to see my Bassani catback tailpipe rubbing on the tire.
I guess it's my fault in a way because I never thought about checking the clearance of the stock tires from the tailpipe but I didn't think that would have ever been an issue. Well I wasn't even able to lower the car all the way due to the fact that even with the car semi in the air it was rubbing against the tire.
Now I'm disappointed...I just spent 800 dollars for these tires, rims, balancing and mounting only to find out the night before the track event that they are useless to me.
Now I've come up with three solutions to my problem:
1) Sell the rims and tires and get ones that fit my bassani catback(probably 275 but I might need to go even smaller than that)
2) Sell my bassani Catback and get a magnaflow catback(which I know works with these tires because SmithAtlanta has them on his car and has plenty of clearance even with the 315 drs)
3) Have a shop bent my tailpipe so that it passes by the tire further away(I'm unconfortable with this idea due to the fact that the pipe is Stainless steel and if they F it up im out 600 dollars on the catback)
So it's really only two options...now when I weight both of them together I choose option 1 of selling the tires and starting over with smaller ones...(hopefully some 17x9s with 275s on them...because that's the smallest size bfg tire they make in a 17 inch rim...but i'll have to test fit someone elses 275 tire first just to be sure this time. ) The reason why I picked selling my tires/rims is because even those these rims and tires do look bad ass they only will be on the car for probably 20-30 times of the car and that's when im only going drag racing as oppose to my bassani exahust which i'll be using every day of the year and have to live with the sound of it...I really like the way my car sounds and don't want to mess with it. I know Magnapacks are nice and all but i'm partial to my bassani and want to stick with what I got.
So here's what i've learned from my mistake that hopefully someone reading this will avoid in the future and won't be stuck with tires like mine that they can't use.
My first mistake was not checking the stock clearance of my tailpipes to my stock tires(17x8 245s). On my back left I have about two inches and on my back right I have only 1 inch from the bassani tailpipe to the stock tire. If I had known this in the beginning I would have never have bought these rims. Now some of you might be thinking that it's maybe just the way my car is...and is a isolated incident but I checked Kstrike's car(he has a bassani catback also) and he has the same clearance issues also on his back right side. So i'm not saying don't get a 315 but make sure you check both sides to see how much clearance you exhaust has with the stock tires before you go out and buy some 315s. If you have 2 inches on both sides you should be fine...the problem is I only have 1inch clearance on my back right side that's why only the back left tire fit perfectly and the back right rubbed.
Btw if anyone is interested in these rims and tires let me know by PM or email(DeadLurker@aol.com) I'd like to sell them local to avoid an extra shipping charge but I'll ship them if need be. I already have someone who is interested in them but if your interested let me know and i'll keep you in mind if he changes his mind.
I'm going to attach some pictures now for you guys to see both sides with the stock tires and drag radial to compare.