What To Do With Ugly Wheels?

[pdub]

Don't laugh, this is ROUGH!!

Its all in the details
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Edit:I don't know why RED's color changed sorry bout that

Pony I'm studying that photo and I had to go out into the garage and look at Red. The back tires are what they are, but those front ones will eat the fender going into Turn 1 from 95 mph, hard HARD brakes and the wheel turned as sharp as it will go. What the....

Ohhhhh, to tell you how slow I am on the uptake....I see now. You LOWERED the car in the photo. You messed with my mind. There's no sport in that. That's too easy to do. No, I'm not lowering the car. I'm going to drive it as hard as it will go. In curves. That lowering stuff is backward hat guys who are trying to impress young chicks stuff. Need a massive subwoofer sound system to go with that to complete the effect.

[91CCFirebird]

I like the black wheels with the red pinstripe myself.

[Deaf Bob]

Pdub.... Lowered cars as a general rule ride harsher/stiffer... Not all.. But most do.. Thus being stiff, less/no body roll in the corners..
The GMC Syclone feels so stiff..in the corners it just plants and rides like rails.. If the bump hits both wheels on the axle, it is usually softer..
Also lowered cars have less room for tires in the wells..
My 57 Sedan Delivery rides pretty soft, i can get my palm in, wiping the tire between the fender lip and tire ... It can hit corners 2X the posted speed or better without rubbing.. It is considered lowered as it sits lower than stock..

It all depends on HOW you lower it.. Front can use stock springs and drop spindles.. Not sure what can be done in the rear as I don't know if you have IRS or an axle, coils or leaves.. Lowering drops the center of gravity, improving handling..

For now.. Leave it and see how it goes.. Do things bit by bit...
For shits and giggles, after you are used to Red's new shoes and brakes, go by a car lot with the pickup and "test drive" a mustang in Red's original configuration and see if you see the improvements.. Betcha do..

[JOES66FURY]

I'm going to drive it as hard as it will go. In curves. That lowering stuff is backward hat guys who are trying to impress young chicks stuff. Need a massive subwoofer sound system to go with that to complete the effect.

Not true...

Take a look at track cars, they sit low for a reason and the drivers are not trying to impress chicks and do not wear their helmets backwards.

if you dont want to lower the car thats fine but dont assume that lowering a car is only for the douchebags you see with huge rims and...as you put it...backwards hats.


I will use BTJ to illistrate the point....brian is not a douchebag, may or may not wear a backwards hat and is not picking up chicks, yet his car is lowered...ask him how much better the car handles in the turns

Our cars ride high, they dig into turns and really are not fantastic handlers....however, with the right set of springs and struts, these little buggers can take a corner very, very well and the ride quality will not suffer drastically. I can lower mine a good inch in the front and 2 in the back and with the right equipment they will not rub....


if you dont lower it, then look at new sway bars, upper and lower links...lots of good suspension parts out there for your car, tires are not going to be all you need if you want to continue running at the track.

[DanStokes]

Lowering is good stuff for performance - done correctly. Also improves fuel economy - that and a tonneau brought Truck up to 24-25 MPG on the highway. After you beat him around the track for a while you may get to the point that you'll want to lower Red as a next step. I'd call Max Motorsports again. They know the right way so nothing rubs, etc.

Interesting that you have come to equate a lowered car with the hats-on-backwards crowd. Must be what you see locally. Truly, if you decide to lower Red at some point in the future you can continue to wear your hat in the traditional manner. You may need to check Tennessee law but I'm pretty sure it's legal.

Dan

[TC]

Damn and I don't even wear a hat PW and I'm married I don't need to impress the chicks and don't you guys know that hats will make you bald.......

[JOES66FURY]

Damn and I don't even wear a hat PW and I'm married I don't need to impress the chicks and don't you guys know that hats will make you bald.......

Hats also make your head look bigger...I've seen your nugget...you dont need any help in that department lol!

[38P]

Thoughts on lowering for the backwards hat crowd

Lowering most certainly lowers the center of gravity and usually places it closer to the roll axis (assuming a conventional suspension design with the roll centers near ground level). The reduction in the moment arm (imaginary line between the center of gravity and the roll axis) tends to make the car feel like it's rolling less. It also reduces the amount of air under the car, which is necessary for certain types downforce generators (e.g. restricted diffuser/flat-bottom "ground effects.") and generally reduces lift at speed.

Thus, nearly all smooth pavement competition cars (i.e. cars that don't have to deal with the "slings and arrows" of highway operation) have minimal ground clearance and sit very low. Current "ride on the bump stops" NASCAR practice actually has the front splitter come in contact with the ground on the corners at some tracks.

All of this is arguably irrelevant to a road car.

To be useful and comfortable to drive, a road car should be set up more like a rally car:

--Adequate ground clearance for the terrain to be encountered,

--Tires that don't rub anything and which have the proper voids, sipes and compound for the surfaces, temperatures, and moisture levels to be encountered;

--Suspension (shocks, springs, bars, bump stops) that manages weight transfer and balances responsiveness (keeping the tire planted) with "driver feel."

Of course, a dedicated "track dog" can "cheat" from roadworthy specifications with soft compound slicks, low ground clearance, ride-punishing shock settings, etc. But it will generally be miserable to drive at anything other than pushing hard on a dry, smooth track.

Building a road car otherwise is an exercise in either serving style over function (which covers plenty of current practices, such as "Dubs" and excessive "slamming") or misguided self-abuse.

[fast Ed]

Pony I'm studying that photo and I had to go out into the garage and look at Red. The back tires are what they are, but those front ones will eat the fender going into Turn 1 from 95 mph, hard HARD brakes and the wheel turned as sharp as it will go. What the....

Peewee, you will only have the steering wheel turned 1/2 a turn on the high speed stuff, the only time you will be close to full lock is an autocross or a parking lot. That's one of the things to keep in your head when you are on track ... slow corner, fast hands (on the wheel), fast corner, slow hands.


cheers
Ed

[JohnnyG]

Gets some cheapo tires and use um as burnout wheels

[pdub]

Matt told me a long time ago to never post another poll, and did I heed his "advice?" Of course not.

The choices were not even right. There should have been a fifth (and the only correct) choice: "Send the warped one back."

Got the new tire from Tire Rack yesterday after I had rednecked them about how I couldn't track the replacement order and I was waiting on it when is it going to get here?

Got the new tire on this morning, and guess what - not a lick of difference in the vibration. Went back and asked, "You DID replace the right front one, didn't you?" Yep.

The dude never checked the wheel the first time because he had never before seen a brand new wheel out of round up-and=down. It's always sideways, never up and down on a new wheel. Until today. He showed me, the naked wheel on the machine saying it needed 1.25 ounces here and 4.25 ounces over there, when it should show all zeroes on a naked wheel.

So the guy at the tire place apologized all he could and then I apologized to Tire Rack for making them send me a new tire that I didn't need and I'll be sending their brand new tire back, sans 23 miles of wear.

DadBLAME wheels. Doggone those dadblame wheels and the boxes they came in, which the garbage guys hauled away while I was at the tire store this morning.

EDIT: Oh, and Red is particularly insulted when viewed from the passenger's side now, being as to how he has the butt-ugly black hulking 18x10 on the back and the pissy and equally black and ugly 17-inch spare on the front.

[JOES66FURY]

welcome to the wonderful world of mail order automobile modification....like most things, youre gonna have to be patient....it happens, not often...but it happens...what happens? $h!t, thats what.

[Deaf Bob]

Man! Pdub.. Seems if not for bad luck, you'd not have any at all!
The local tire place blames bent rims for every out of balance tire they have...
I have yet to see bent rims.. Except derby rims!

[pdub]

Man! Pdub.. Seems if not for bad luck, you'd not have any at all!
The local tire place blames bent rims for every out of balance tire they have...
I have yet to see bent rims.. Except derby rims!

Just when I was sure that my nightmare about everybody being there on PowerShift but nobody was talking was bad....

This is...to tell y'all the truth, I can't tell any difference between the two wheels, other than one is smaller than the other. AND it's raining, AND Red's got mud on his butt and everywhere else.

[Deaf Bob]

Wow! You put a derby rim on your mustang!
Yes we use those on the cars.. Hard to pop with gorilla glue!