tire confusion
 

I won wheels like these from ebay. These were use on old yeller.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/18-Po...mZ330098530709
These are from oemstyles4less. Sorry, I couldn't figure how to post the image.
I know these wheels go against Porsche protocol (they are cheap and heavy)!
They are 18x8.5 and 18x10's. Off set 52 for the front and 58 for the rear. I have a 97 NB cab and would like to run 285 30's on the rear. My question is which size to run in the front. From what I read on these forums, I can run 235's. As far as the aspect ratio, should I use 40's or 35's. I have looked at tire rack's spec sheets for tires and got confused as what to look for. The tire I am considering is the BFG KDW (it's cheap and lasts long). Also, should I even consider the 245 35 18's?
My car is lowered to fender heights in the rear 25 1/4" and 25 3/8". The fronts alittle higher.
Thanks in advance for any input.

For an 8.5" the minimum you'd want to have is 225; 235 and 245 will fit and you should be able to go as wide at 255 if you are so inclined (rolling fenders may be required depending on tire brand). The ET52 offset is pretty much the factory offset so with any of the above tires widths, you're probably only losing about 1/2-3/4" of clearance on the inboard and outboard sides...take a look under your car and you should see that there is ample room. As a point of reference, I previously ran 225/40 on 8.5" ET46 in the front (in the pic below and now Father of 3's setup), then switched tires to 245/35 which was a better fit on 8.5" rims IMHO...neither of these combinations required fender rolling. My current set up is 245/35 on 9" ET40...I rolled the fenders slightly although I'm not sure if I would have rubbed otherwise...perhaps slightly at most.

I posted this last night and couldn't find the post. Will re-post

Thanks for the info David in LA
Now I'm thinking about 245 35's

just keep in mind that 245/35 will lower your car a little less than a 1/4" vs. 225/40...and if you have a 4wd this size is about 1.5% smaller so you need to think about what size rears to use to match the circumference..

David in LA,
OK. Here is what I am currently thinking of doing.
Front 8.5 x 10 245 35's
Rear 10 x 18 285 30's
BFG G-Force KDW
My car is a 2wd NB cab.
My current front 205's looks pretty anemic.

i run 245/35/18 and 285/30/18's on my nb 993 cab. works great.

while it will lower the front of your car the 285/30 will lower the front as well. so they are a very good match.

Boris

Nice looking wheels you got hooked up with. You can run the larger tires but you may have to roll your fender lips and dial in lots of negative camber. If you want to play it safe stick with 225x40x18 and 265x35x18 on a narrow body car. I have Kenisis K28 8" and 10"s with ROW M030 springs with no rubbing at all. I went through a few different tire and wheel combos to find this out the expensive trial and error way.

Thanks Boris.
Thanks Duane.

David in LA,
Just curious, which brand tires have you tried that worked?
Wheel Works says that the 235 35 18 BFG KDW-2's will not work because it runs wide. They recommended 225 40's.

y have to install the same wheels on my 993 , front tire 225 and rear 275

I previously ran 225/40 SO3 on 8.5" ET46, no rubbing. Then ran 245/35 PS2 on 8.5" ET46 and also no rubbing. Now running 245/35 PS2 on 9" ET40 with slight rolling and also no rubbing...I think I actually did not need to roll the fenders but did so to be on the safe side.

I don't mean to Hijack, but If anybody else wants a set of these wheels, I have a new set, never mounted, in the boxes that I would sell for $700 plus actual shipping. I ran across a set of Sport Classic II's at a good price that I am going to use instead. PM me if you are interested.