Aftermarket a-arm wheel clearance

[Doober]

Can anyone say with a level of certainty that they've gained wheel clearance on the back side of the a-arms with aftermarket/tubular setups? I'm trying to figure out a way to fit wider wheels with more backspacing in the front, to match the back.

This is one of the major hurdles us wide-front-wheel guys are trying to overcome. I discovered this myself after trying to fit a set of 17x9.5 / 275/40/17 wheels. The wheel/tire setup stuck out exactly 1" from the fender lip with about 4.875" backspacing, while the same wheel/tire on the rear fit about perfect with only a minor roll/trim of the lip... meaning the front track width is probably close to 4-5" wider overall than the rear, unless the front fender lips are narrower than the rear.

I don't expect much (if any) clearance will be gained without a custom arm that clears in that area, but I'm just curious, thinking possibly someone will be able to make upper/lower arms that will clear wheels with more backspacing.

 

[kevind]

I don't think there is 4" or 5" in track width from front to rear. The fenders would have to be narrower. I don't know if you've thought about it or not but with that much back space the caliper is going to be close to the wheel it may not be a issue with a 17" wheel but a 15" it is.

 

[Doober]

I don't think there is that much of a difference either, but I still wouldn't be surprised if there was a minor difference. I've also wondered about how much trouble it would be to stretch the fenders outward about 2-2.25" to clear the same wheels up front, which is about all that would be needed for the wheel/tire setup I have.

I'm not worried about it brake clearance with the 17" for sure. That much backspacing with a narrower wheel doesn't make sense to me on a G-Body anyway, though the 4wd/AWD S-Series trucks use a positive (or negative??) offset. I think Any offset (from 0) would be minor in the scheme of things once into a 9-10" wide wheel. I don't think I have any pictures of the actual wheel/adapter setup I have, the Camaro wheels are a high offset though, and my initial test fitting up front used a 3" adapter. To fit them with the fenders in their current place I would need to move them at least 1.5" inward, which would cause the wheel to hit the steering knuckles with my current drop spindles, and they would also hit the a-arms by the time I hit full lock. So my dilemma before I even drive the car out here to AZ is either a)run narrower wheels that don't match the rear, or b)put a set of stock spindles on, run 1.5"-2" adapters and 'lose' (widen) turning radius.