Rim Widening Service...

[mmmmmmarauder]

A few quick questions about the rim widening service...

Can all four wheels be done?

I am interested in maintaining the rake from front to back
while keeping the same tire height or slightly taller...

Are there any all season radials that would fit on the
widened rims? Are the looks noticeably better?

Actually, I WISH I had traction problems, but I am
mostly doing this to make the MM look tougher...


Peter
greekchicago@hotmail.com

[mmmmmmarauder]

but since I am asking questions...
Did anyone successfully install a stainless steel
mesh grille and the four round blacked out headlights?

Ala, NBC shooters SEMA photos of about a year ago...

[Marauder]

Nitto makes the 555 in 255/45-18 and 295/45-18...same height as stock and you can keep stock rims up front and just the rears widenend.


A few quick questions about the rim widening service...

Can all four wheels be done?

I am interested in maintaining the rake from front to back
while keeping the same tire height or slightly taller...

Are there any all season radials that would fit on the
widened rims? Are the looks noticeably better?

Actually, I WISH I had traction problems, but I am
mostly doing this to make the MM look tougher...


Peter
greekchicago@hotmail.com

[TAF]

What he said ^^^

And a REAL nice setup is the 255/45/18 Nittos on the FRONT, with the 305/45/18 Drag Radials in the REAR on the widened wheels :burnout:

[CRUZTAKER]

I was recently enlightened by an Alcoa engineer that make our rims here locally that widening degrades the wheel bigtime. I was sold on widening as well until I met this guy. As George once said...."...not gonna do it"

[woaface]

So you going to go aftermarket Cruz? There are some nice aftermarket rims out there (only 5 million to choose from!)

[bigslim]

I know the Trilogy SEMA car had the rears widened to 9.5 inches and the fronts to 9 inches.

[Lidio]

Please don’t take offense to this but just because a person who represents a certain product or company says/recommends that their product shouldn’t be modified doesn’t mean they should be listened to. If we as automotive enthusiast looked at every warning that comes from manufactures that way, we would never mod any thing we own.

Widening the stock MM wheel and any other wheel for that matter may on paper or from conservative engineering stand point not be theoretically correct. But in the real world we’ve widened a lot of wheels in that last few years, not just the stock MM wheels, with no problems at all. When ever some one I know… some how or another manages to speak to some sort of a engineer/represantive from certain company’s… its always the same thing; Oh you cant do that, it wasn’t meant for that, you’ll push it to far, etc, etc etc…

I had my own stock MM wheels widened at about 4500miles and now its at about 16K miles. Most of that now has been with a Trilogy blower, driven to and from Florida for a race and countless local abuse on the street and drag strip with no trouble at all. This may not be how rims are tested… but its real world enough for me and several other MM owners local to me and on this forum.

Weather your looking to help traction or just make a Marauder look much tougher, widening the stock rear rim is unmistakably awesome looking from all angles with the Nitto 305s or a couple of other tires sizes that are out there too.

Thanks and I’m sure everyone expected a defensive reply from me so there you have it.

[Big Joe P]

I'm happy with the widened rims, just as I'm happy with a supercharger, just as I'm happy with Mac & Zack control arms.... You'll hear pro's and con's for every mod.....

[sailsmen]

I concur with what Lidio said. You have to keep what an engineer says in perspective.

An engineer might say a welded wheel can be subject to a greater possible failure than a forged or machined wheel assuming all have the same quality of material.

Having said that it does not mean the welded wheel will fail, just like it doesn't mean all the other welded ( as in those that are not forged or machined) parts on the MM will fail.

[Mongoose]

Lidio did mine 18,000 miles ago, No problems with the wheels themself. Note that I'm running the Goodyear Eagles instead of the Nittos. However, even though my wider tires in the rear cleared the shocks when the MM sat parked, I did have some rubbing problems (probably due to my doing 60mph around an interstate clover-leaf) until I upgraded the sway bar.

[68COUGAR]

Lido, Where can I get info on widening alum. wheels? What company does it? I've been looking for several years for a company that can do it.

Reply here, or my E-ddress is: cougar@QTM.net

Thanks!!!!!

68COUGAR

[MarauderMark]

Lidio did mine 18,000 miles ago, No problems with the wheels themself. Note that I'm running the Goodyear Eagles instead of the Nittos. However, even though my wider tires in the rear cleared the shocks when the MM sat parked, I did have some rubbing problems (probably due to my doing 60mph around an interstate clover-leaf) until I upgraded the sway bar.


Could you either show us a pic of your rims w/ tires or pm me a pic with the goodyears on them .i want to get the widened rims but dont want nitto's .i want something fat w/tread that i can use all year round

[jrzygrl]

[QUOTE=Big Joe P]I'm happy with the widened rims

I saw these first hand, they were AWESOME!!!!!

[jspradii]

I was recently enlightened by an Alcoa engineer that make our rims here locally that widening degrades the wheel bigtime. I was sold on widening as well until I met this guy. As George once said...."...not gonna do it"
I agree....I will only use the widened rims for drag radials. Not necessarily a failure problem that I can see, just a balance and round problem in a daily driver that would produce uneven tire wear, even at proper pressures. This is always a likelihood.:banana2:

[MikesMerc]

just a balance and round problem in a daily driver that would produce uneven tire wear, even at proper pressures. This is always a likelihood.:banana2:

Not if the procedure is done right by someone who knows how to do it. Would balance and round problems be possible?...sure. Would there always be a likelihood of problems...nope. There are just too many running around out there now without any problems whatsoever to say that problems are likely:)