Widened MM rear wheel and Drag radial

[Lidio]

I thought I’d share some thing Jerry and myself at Trilogy have been working on.

We’ve had a pair of stock MM wheels widened 1.5” and mounted a pair of the popular Nitto drag radials that fits the ’99 and newer Lightning’s. The tire is a 305/45-18. It’s about 3/8” taller than the stock rear MM tire and about 2” wider.

The rim widening moves all of the extra rubber inboard and just look tough and very fitting. It fits and looks perfect and bothers nothing on the inside. The closest thing it comes to is the shock and its about ¼“ away.

MI2QWk4U happened to stop by while I was marveling over the new rim and tire combo and I twisted his arm (yeha right) into letting me try them on his car which is pictured. We’re going to try to now install a 4.10 gear in the Trilogy MM and go to Norwalk with the car this coming Friday for a small but popular event called Smack-Down.


I also wanted to mention this past weekend the Trilogy MM was driven 9 hours each way to St Louis for the "World Ford Challenge"..... drag raced.... and then driven home.
It only went 13.23 because of the warmer weather and a "new" to drag-racing driver that thought trees with lights only existed during Christmas time:)


Thanks

[grzellmer]

Lidio, very nice rims but one must stay focused on the task at hand. Finish the S/C first!!

[MI2QWK4U]

Hey, you mean I have to bring them back?!

[mensrea]

Keeping the stock appearance is great, but that set up would be outrageously expensive... I have a set of 16 inch mustang rims (fit great) with MT E/T streets, and they hook great, entire set up only 400. they don't look stock, but they're cheap.

[ghost]

Would running a taller tire affect your speedometer readings and shift points?

It will on an SS if the PCM is not informed of the new dimensions.

Just curious, I'm not familiar with the MM ECM parameters.

Eric

[MI2QWK4U]

I am happy to report the tires and rims work well. Lidio mentioned that the shock bracket looked like it was close, but I drove it hard through some very curvy two lane blacktop roads and not a hint of a rub. The drag tires are very close in height, maybe 1/8 or 1/4 taller. On the car you don't notice if they are taller...only that they are wider and very aggressively meaty! As for Ghost's questions, very good ones that I thought of also. The shift points didn't appear to be affected at all, you know how it is when you drive a car and get to know how it runs and notice if it changes. As for the speedo issue....with the help of a co worker, we used a laser gun to check that out. We tried it at 20, 40, and 60 mph, I did my best to be right on those speeds when he clocked me...and the biggest variation was 2 mph. So as far as I am concerned, the speedo thing is a non issue as long as the tires are the same outer cir***frence. The price thing is not as bad as I would have thought, Trilogy or Lidio will have to correct me if I am off, but I thought I heard $150 a rim to have them widened. To make it easy, I want to check and see if they make the Gforce tire thats on there now in a wider size to fit the widened rim. Since I really don't intend to drag this car, I don't have a need for a drag tire, a wider replacement street tire will do just fine. The pictures posted above don't do it justice, it really sets the car apart when seen from the back, and when mine gets the blower, the rear end is the only view most will be getting! If people are intersted, maybe we can see if Trilogy can talk to the company that did the rims and get us a group price. Either way, this is another no brainer for me...
Dave

[darebren]

You widened all to the inside? Are the shock mounts placed the same in the newer 2003 models?

I'd be in on this.

[MI2QWK4U]

What is the stock width of our rims? Anyone know?

[MMpridenjoy]

"must stay focused"

[RCSignals]

darebren
on 2003s the shocks are on the outside of the frame rails, like on an ImpalaSS
From the posts, looks like the set up cleared fine

[robotek911]

We need a SC kit BAD.......

[Crown Vic]

What is the stock width of our rims? Anyone know?
Stock Marauder rims are 8" wide.

I got a few questions about those wider rims:
Did you take 2 Marauder rims to get one wide one?
If not, what did you use to widen them?
How much did that run ya?
I asked because now I'm interested in widening my stock 17" rims that came with my Vic. :D

[MI2QWK4U]

The company that did them for Trilogy cut the rim in half, then welded in an aluminum ring that added 1.5 inches to the width of the rim. As soon as I put my hands on 2 more rims, I am having the same company do mine. If you look real close at the closeup picture above, you can see the two weld scars, the 1.5 inches of metal in between them is the 2 in piece that they welded in. I didnt know you could do something like that, but I guess you can. I believe they cost 150 or 175 each to do, but am going to approach them about a better price for our members doing a group thing. This company is in Plymouth Michigan, just outside Detroit. Thanks for the info on the stock rims.....

[Logan]

I like it!

For the weekend warrior, I think just a knock off rim and ET street setup will work great, but for the boulevard bruiser's among us, that's a pretty slick setup. :)

[MI2QWK4U]

Logan, with the Eaton blower, you really need the wide rubber to hook up. When Lidio and I went to Milan Dragway here in Michigan, with a poorly prepared strip and the street rubber, he spun the tires on one run almost halfway! Killed the time, but sure was fun to watch! I think the drag radials they put on the Trilogy car are ok size wise, but the clearance with a bracket or shock tower just was a little to close for my liking, so I will go with one size smaller. To maintain the stock look, I am hoping that BFG makes a Gforce tire like the stock ones that is big enough for what I need....
As always, a work in progress.

[Pantherman]

Just a word of caution--if you see only a quarter inch clearance to the shock tower statically, that clearance has to pretty well go away when the car rolls under hard cornering.

[Menace]

Originally posted by robotek911
We need a SC kit BAD.......

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! BRING IT ON HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MI2QWK4U]

I put some hard cornering miles on the tires, and not a hint of rubbing when they were taken off and examined.

And the Supercharger is coming, I am excited about it but know how hard they are working on making this the best setup possible, so I dont mind the wait.