quote:Originally posted by Joules5:quote:You start to measure backspacing by placing the wheel face down. Then you run a straight edge on the outermost part of the rim at the beadseat spanning the center of the back of the wheel. You then take a tape measure and measure the distance from the back face/pad where the wheel mounts to the car (where the lug nuts go through) to the bottom of the straight edge. On my wheels (for a 5-S, 13" wide at the rear), this distance is 5".
Be careful here as this is not the definition of backspacing to all wheel manufacturers. Often backspacing is from the hub center mounting surface to the tire bead flange i.e. minus the lip edge. Kodiak Motorsports has a worksheet that explains the various measurements pretty well here; Kodiak Worksheet I recommend to ask your supplier HIS definition of backspacing prior to ordering.
Julian,
I guess some still do it that way. It's funny that although Kodiak's worksheet says to measure to the beadseat, they made the outer rims for my front wheels and said they needed the measurement to the rear flange to get it correct. When I was shopping for my wheels in the past few years, they all said to measure to the outermost flange for backspacing.
There is an easy solution. Measure to both the outermost flange and the beadseat. The difference in most cases should be about 1/4" (however, on my Kodiak front outers, it's 1/8", which is inconseqential in my case because it's on the outside). Once you choose which wheel manufacturer you want to go with, ask them which method they use to calculate their backspacing. Since you've done it both ways, just give them the one they require.
Doug M,
Your welcome. I put a lot of time and effort into getting my wheel selection and placement just right. It's my opinion that wheels make the car. How many times have we seen a dramatic difference in a cars look (any car) with just a simple wheel change? Would either of Laslo's Panteras have the same impact with stock wheels on them?
Michael