| Its interesting to see how terminology sometimes is the complete opposite by literal meaning from that which it is describing, and that's what crossed my mind last night while driving behind an old hotrod Nova with probably some 20" wide rear tires driving in front of me..... Tubbed out is what they call it, but its actually a modification INWARD of the body to allow a wider tire to be installed without broadening the stance. Whatever... So I got to thinking, widebodies are eh, cool and all, but they take away from the original lines of the body; something I think is just beautiful as it is. So, rather than going widebody to put more rubber to the pavement out back, lets go inward. Suspension geometry, specifically the lower trailing link, is the limiting factor. With 10" wide rear wheels fitting flush to the fender with proper clearance, there is only a small clearance between the inner lip of the wheel and the lower trailing link. The way the lower link it manufactured pretty much requires it to have this geometry - it needs enough strength to keep from buckling under hard/shocking accelerations. A straight line between the outer bushing of the lower arm where it meets the subframe and the connection to the hub carrier would interfere with the wheel so this part of the lower arm has a curved feature to go around the wheel. I know there are aftermarket lower trailing arms available but I've never personally installed a set nor measured if there is any additional clearance by using them. I dont get the impression that this was one of the engineering criteria for them either - from memory I dont recall them having really that much difference and if anything, what stood out the most was that they were edgy, with a lot of straight tubes making up the component... not to mention, in order to serve this purpose it would require modification of the shock/spring assembly as well... The lower trailing arm is the closest component to the inner lip of the wheel, about 3/4" to 7/8" away with a properly offset 10" wide wheel. Second most is the suspension/shock absorber spring, and on the driver's side, third-most being the plastic cover that houses the fuel tank fill tube. With 575RWHP and 540RWTQ to the wheels with a 4.08:1 diff, getting 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to comfortably grip is nearly impossible even with 285mm wide tires. Adding just an inch would take us comfortably up to a 305mm tire and an inch and a half, very easily a 315mm width; a 10.5% increase in contact patch width. You could almost just fit a 325mm tire in there too! Just think, 12.5" of rear wheel width.. :) Is anyone down for developing a set of lower arms and a set of springs/shocks that will provide the clearance to make this happen?
Enthusiasts soon understand each other. --W. Irving.
Are you an enthusiast? If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the
tailor.
Albert Einstein
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