Measuring offset to get wheels sitting perfectly?

[gazmex]

just lookin at some of the pics and one thing i notice is how perfect the wheels on some cars fit in the arches,

question is,how do you guys measure up for offset etc to get your wheels sittin perfectly?

any help on this would be great,,,cheers

[AlexPfeiffer]

wheel spacers do wonders, best way to get it just right.

[CrazyHawaiian]

I use this formula from Andris Skulte (www.skulte.com):

Rim Width / 2 = Centerline
Centerline + Offset + Rim Lip = Backspacing

First I determine maximum backspacing for a given width, then play with different offset and lip numbers to find one I like. To find maximum backspacing, bolt a flat piece of metal or wood to your hub using 2 studs. Towards the end of the metal, drill a hole and screw a long bolt through it. This bolt should be 1 radius from the hubs centerline (If you will be putting on 26" dia tires, the bolt should be 13" from the hubs centerline). Spin the measuring tool around, and screw the bolt in untill it no longer touches anything. The length of the bolt is your max backspacing. If you have suspension pieces jutting in the wheelwell, try different bolt locations to make sure nothing is in the way. Do this with the wheels turned left and right as well.

This works good but from my experience you cant get it exactly perfect (considering the diameter of the tires themselves) unless you've ordered wheels before and know the exact specs you want. Like Alex said, a spacer or adapter is the easiest way to space them perfectly after the fact.

[mechaniac]

the problem with backspacing, is that sometimes it's not equal to offset. Backspacing is an American measurement that no one else uses. I have only found backspacing used when looking at wheels from eagle alloy, american racing, etc. Offset is measured in millimeters. Best way to find your proper offset is to look at your current setup. Check your camber, measure the distance between the rim and the outer most part of your fender, or inner part. (depends on how flush you want to be) Then take the rim off and look on the back side of it. It should give you some kind of numeric information. Something like 17x7 +38. I guarantee most of you guys are rocking wheels like this. So for example, say you were rocking a pizza cutter on your sunken ship, looking like a skinny girl with a big dress and you want to get that beefy look that only real men have learned how to do. So you measured 3 inches from rim lip to inner fender (I'll use inner fender because most of you will not want to be rolling your fenders and pulling out the fender linners) one inch equals twenty five millimeters, therefore three inches equals seventy six point two millimeters. So if you wanted to drift, and wanted to stretch your tires a wee bit, then I would suggest at least an eight inch wide rim in the back. So you go from seven inches to eight inches. Well, by just going to an eight inch wide rim, your are adding about twelve and a half millimeters to each side of the rim. So taking into acount the three inches you wanted to fill up, half an inch is gone. So you now have two and a half inches you want to fill up. That comes out to sixty three point five millimeters left. Now take into account the thirty eight millimeter offset of the rim, and sixty three point five millimeter you want to fill. Just subtract sixty three point five from thirty eight, and you end up with a negative twenty five millimeters. So you should order a rim with a eight inch wide setting with a negative twenty five millimeter offset to get super flush with your fender. Obviously this is just a played out scenario and doesn't mean you should go out and buy a negative twenty five millimeter wheel. Unless you own a Nissan two fourty z or something, then a wheel like that would definitely rock on that car. But for a hachiroku or a two fourty esex, something like a eight inch wide wheel with a plus ten offset will look very nice already. So now that you know how to measure offset, and are capable of flushy flushy type wheel buying, go out there and rock out with your c0ck out to your Honduh buddies who have no idea whatsoever about offset and show them how ultimately high skilled you are. Have fun, and I don't want to see anymore sunken battle ships, especially like that moderator pitabread. He has super duper sunken wheels. It looks like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. Driving around in a car like that would garner whistles and stares from the girly men who want to pack your fudge. If you're into that sort of thing, which I think he is. But we'll leave it up to him to come out of the closet. It's not up to us to say. Have fun guys, and wank off one because you can rock offsets now! Who likes ice cream and cake by the way. I just went to baskin robbins and man, they have some bomb diggity ice cream cake. I think next time my gerbil has a birthday, I'm going to baskin thirty one flavor robbins to get her an icecream cake. Then after she eats it, we'll get another one for her funeral, because we all know gerbils can't eat ice cream and cake. So it will be twice the ice cream and cake for me. And for you too if you come over. But you have to bring your own butt plugs because we don't have enough to go around.

[sdtouge]

lmfao

the last 3/4 of that post was so random

[CrazyHawaiian]

ROFL

[240drftr]

hahaha wtf lmao haha

[1973]

Originally posted by mechaniac
But you have to bring your own butt plugs because we don't have enough to go around.

There is some good info in this post.

[canuck]

if you know the offset of your current rims, this site could be very helpful.