1984 245T mLPT B274FT Project

275/40/17 or 265/35/18 are the type of sizes I'd be looking to use on 9.5-10.5. 285/30/18 would be good too, but I'd opt for a slightly taller sidewall. 275/40 Toyo RA1 would be plenty.

towerymt said:

275/40/17 or 265/35/18 are the type of sizes I'd be looking to use on 9.5-10.5. 285/30/18 would be good too, but I'd opt for a slightly taller sidewall. 275/40 Toyo RA1 would be plenty.

Click to expand...

Not planning to use 18" wheels. Guessing 17 x 9.5 or 17 x 10 without having measured yet.

I changed my mind, 255/40/17 Hankook RS3 on 17x9.5. That's what I'm getting when I convert my BBS 3pc to 17"

needs better compound on the rear. the g-force T/a's I had on the old car would hook up reasonably well on the street even at ludacris power levels (til we sprayed it.. then it would spin all the way through first, most of the way through second, and part of the way through 3rd) and they were only 225's.

I did a track day recently. I almost had enough power/torque to spin the 265/45/16 Kumho V710 (30 wear rating r-comps) exiting corners. They're a little old, but not dead. Maybe 250lb-ft torque. The rear would start to slide/spin slightly if I tossed it in, but I could drive through it w/o lifting and they'd hook up. Perfect tire size for the weight/size of my car it seems.

If you're going to really widen the fenders, then you're right about fitting 305s (except not 305s because 305s don't seem to come in 17") Maybe don't need that much tire, but at least build for it. The Kumho XS comes in 295/35/17, but really needs an 11", and I don't know of any other street tires in a size like that. Lots of 275/40/17 options that would fit well on a 10" wheel. Toyo R888 would be a good choice, or the Toyo RA-1 that lasts forever.

towerymt said:

I did a track day recently. I almost had enough power/torque to spin the 265/45/16 Kumho V710 (30 wear rating r-comps) exiting corners. They're a little old, but not dead. Maybe 250lb-ft torque. The rear would start to slide/spin slightly if I tossed it in, but I could drive through it w/o lifting and they'd hook up. Perfect tire size for the weight/size of my car it seems.

If you're going to really widen the fenders, then you're right about fitting 305s (except not 305s because 305s don't seem to come in 17") Maybe don't need that much tire, but at least build for it. The Kumho XS comes in 295/35/17, but really needs an 11", and I don't know of any other street tires in a size like that. Lots of 275/40/17 options that would fit well on a 10" wheel. Toyo R888 would be a good choice, or the Toyo RA-1 that lasts forever.

Click to expand...

17's are definitely a better choice for a traction limited 240 IMO. In a 285+ width 18, you pretty much have to stay with a 30 series tire or they get awkwardly tall. 30 series is stiff. Having such a short sidewall tends to negate the extra width when talking strictly from a torque holding perspective.

What Bne and towery need in a tire is likely different to what you need.

On a balls to the wall 240 I'd recommend just being done with it. Get an 11" or 12" wheel and run 315/35/17. Not a super common size, but common relative to it's size range. You don't buy 315's at walmart.

You could even go down to a 15 or 16" but hanlding will start to suffer.

IMO though at 500+whp it will always be iffy on street tires, period.
The bimmer is getting traction control for street use and slicks for anything else.

Captain Bondo said:

You could even go down to a 15 or 16" but hanlding will start to suffer.

Click to expand...

Can't go smaller than 17" or won't clear brakes.

Captain Bondo said:

IMO though at 500+whp it will always be iffy on street tires, period.

Click to expand...

Agreed and once I convert to stronger axle/larger wheels, this car probably won't see street tires again.

Captain Bondo said:

What Bne and towery need in a tire is likely different to what you need.

Click to expand...

Yep, hence why I referenced the track use. But actually, I feel like my "huge" 275/45/16 tires for autocross really aren't THAT big. They're only a little bigger than what would have been used on a grpA car. Using a similar size on a road course, they seemed just right. They got hot, I could overdrive them and make them slide a little more, but they weren't overkill by any means.

I see 315/35/17 on big Camaros at the autocross, and fitting that to a 240 seems crazy. But that probably is the final solution. This car sees so few miles that I wouldn't even bother with a street tire. A treaded r-compound in 315/35/17 should be all the traction control that is needed.

17x9, 245/40 or 255/40 front, 17x11+, 315/35 rear...

http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/proxes-r888-high-performance-competition-tires

Not like it will ever see rain...right?

towerymt said:

This car sees so few miles that I wouldn't even bother with a street tire. A treaded r-compound in 315/35/17 should be all the traction control that is needed.

17x9, 245/40 or 255/40 front, 17x11+, 315/35 rear...

http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/proxes-r888-high-performance-competition-tires

Click to expand...

Let's call that the plan for now. We'll see how long it takes me to get the fenders flared what tires are on the market then.

towerymt said:

Not like it will ever see rain...right?

Click to expand...

Correct.

MikeSr. said:

Dude-drive that biatch down to SE, and run it down the dragstrip.

Click to expand...

So- another way to put this would be: Q. Would you consider this a race car, a street car or a show car?

pwschuh said:

Let's call that the plan for now. We'll see how long it takes me to get the fenders flared what tires are on the market then.

Click to expand...

I would not recommend this aproach. Settle on a tire size and buy them and then modify the car. It would be wise to modify the car with the actual tires present for test fitting/mock up. I've never done it, but my relatively educated guess would be that fitting a 315 should involve a mini tub and mods to the inside ofthe wheel well, not just the outer. Otherwise it risks starting to look like a dually Pickup truck out back, and feel weird to drive due the the really wide rear track

^ or get a race tire in the size you want, or a size wider/taller. you definitely need something on the car to build to, but it doesn't have to be new tires you plan to use.

If you want a junk 315/35/17, you can probably pick one up from paul at radial tire in silver spring. If you want to do a visual test fit sometime, I can probably borrow a 17x11 with 315/35/17 mounted on it and we could bolt it up using my 5x4.75" adapters. Or just do the math and figure out how much wheel will be on the front side and space out a narrower wheel/tire with stacked adapters.

I don't think it will look bad with mostly widening on the front side, but it may need to be similar to that green/teal 244 in Sweden where the door and quarter are widened together for it to look the best it can.

My 275s would almost slide under the vertical part of the quarter panel above the lip. I had to bump it out maybe 1/2" to 3/4" with a support above the tire, but I ended up taking one of those supports out. They were bulging the quarter panel out at approximately the belt line trim directly above the tire. I don't think the quarter panel pulling I'd done in the past had affected that area very much.

Section width of my 275/45/16 hoosier is 11.2". 315/35/17 is 12.6". Both are 25.6" height. May need to cut and square up the inside of the wheel well near the front. That's where mine rub now because the wheel well narrows near the front. Longer torque rods should fix this. You wouldn't want any more tire inboard than mine else it will rub on articulation. So at least 2"-2.5" wider on the vertical flat part of the quarter panel to get a 315 to tuck tire and really fit up into the wheel well. I'd build for clearance at the bump stops and then set ride height where you want it, knowing it will clear. But if it will never be that low, then maybe not worth it.

Ben fit 305/30/18 on 10.5 ET1, but that was mostly just fender lip work and the car could not go low with those tires. No where near tucking the tire sidewall like I can on my car now. Extensive panel modifications needed to really fit that much tire under the quarter, as opposed to the fender lip sitting above the tire.

Paul, what style of widening were you thinking, from a cosmetic standpoint?

Still waiting for a phone call to come photograph this car.

MikeSr. said:

So- another way to put this would be: Q. Would you consider this a race car, a street car or a show car?

Click to expand...

Yes / not really, but it will be street-driven / not really, but it will be shown.

Captain Bondo said:

I would not recommend this aproach. Settle on a tire size and buy them and then modify the car. It would be wise to modify the car with the actual tires present for test fitting/mock up. I've never done it, but my relatively educated guess would be that fitting a 315 should involve a mini tub and mods to the inside ofthe wheel well, not just the outer. Otherwise it risks starting to look like a dually Pickup truck out back, and feel weird to drive due the the really wide rear track

Click to expand...

I agree that the work would not be done without a sample present, I was just saying I don't know if they will still be making 888's by the time I'm ready to buy a set. I'm not interested in doing any tubbing, even a mini-tub. My preference is to go wide-body, but just enough to make it work.

towerymt said:

what style of widening were you thinking, from a cosmetic standpoint?

Click to expand...

Whatever looks right. I was assuming that it would have to start in the rear doors, but I'm open to other options that don't spoil the 80's glory that is the 245T.

gdogg16 said:

Still waiting for a phone call to come photograph this car.

Click to expand...

I know you're good Greg but even you can't get the best out of it sitting under a car cover in my garage.

awesome put i have to ask one question where did you get the head light covers

244gltturbo said:

awesome put i have to ask one question where did you get the head light covers

Click to expand...

ipd.

About 20 years ago.

I guess your best bet is to try to get a couple junk tires for mock up like towery suggests. Maybe you've looked into it, but fwiw, "just enough to make it work" will still be a pretty major wide body if your goal does end up being 315's. Especially if you want it to look clean and be able to have a decent ride height.

If you just want to do "minor" surgery a la my car or towery or Bne, and dont plan on playing in the rain (ie if you did get stuck in bad weather you'd literally just limp home)I would aim to use a very sticky 265-295 and run a "streetable" drag radial. Nitto nt05r, m&h, or similar.

Or turn the boost down or get traction control for street driving. Not to sound like a real Debbie downer, but you can only use so much power safely and legally on the street.

If you plan to use it illegally to try to run down liter bikes an supras, drag radials are still your best bet anyways.

Captain Bondo said:

I would aim to use a very sticky 265-295 and run a "streetable" drag radial. Nitto nt05r, m&h, or similar.

Click to expand...

I don't really intend to do any drag racing with this car. Just track/club trials and hillclimb type events (i.e. solo racing). Not sure drag radials would be the ticket there.

Finally picked up the remainder of my order from BNE, combined with my adapters from Dale and the brake parts from earlier this summer. Just waiting on one more component to have everything ready to begin the next round of modifications.

Paul, if you click an image from the gallery, then just add ".jpg" to the end, it should become an image link that you can post. The ones above didn't load, but if I copy/paste the links, then they display.