I'm doing a fc suspension swap in the front end of my car and I have no idea know much the knuckles will effect my future wheel purchase.
I'm wanting to run the Enkei Compe wheels in maybe the 15x8 0 offset in the rear (roll and pull fenders) and then have the 15x8 25 offset in the front. Does anyone know how much if at all, the wheel will poke past the fender?

 

Width stays the same as FB. You end up with slightly positive camber just like an FB as well, if you do what I did and use ZX2/Escort strut tops for a nearly bolt-in fitment instead of camber plates.

Use whatever wheel would fit a GSL-SE in terms of offset, in other words.

 

Oh sweet. I'm actually having a shop make me a custom pair of coilovers for my front end so it's a direct drop into the car and to give me the overall height I want the car to sit at.
So overall my wheel choice will poke out but some fender massaging will fix that easy.

 

Yeah, I'm running FC wheels (40 offset) and no massaging was needed. If you're going with 25's you'll probably just need to roll the lip for it to fit.

 

my subframe (the way of mounting that increases caster) ran HKS coils up front, which you can use the tops with minor round filing of the FB to match the FCs ever so slightly large squared size. if that makes sense.

the front axle width is wider than the rear. My GSLSE (which is wider than a 12a axle already) axle was certainly inboard, not sure how much as i never measured. I can enkei compes to boot. used the 4 lug front stuff with the aaron cake method of using the large rotor / calipers.

really the downside is that the wheels want to hit the front of the fender and will rub at a 0 offset up front to the point that its not turnable / driveable, and the rear would just lightly rub at 0 offest as well.

So with that...

this is what 15x8 0 ET compes look like with a gslse with fc subframe on HKS front coilovers and 240z flares.

 

I'm wanting to run 15x8 25 offset enkie 92's.
I think what won't rub or cause any problems.

 

With the subframe can't you drill new holes to have the fc subframe line up to where the stock wheels sat?

 

^Yes, that's what I did. You can either put a new hole/stud through the FB rail or make a tab off the front of the FC subframe with a new hole to use the existing FB stud (which is what I chose to do) Lines up perfectly in the wheel well.

The front track width is definitely a bit wider than the stock FB (12a or SE) as Whizbang said, it becomes obvious once you look at where the wheels sit compared to the rear end. To solve it on mine I just got some spacers for the rear. It's not a huge difference.

 

I wonder if there's a year/model difference. My subframe came from an '88 base model. Track is the same.

I did (pioneered?) the shifted forward method for two reasons:

It was easier
I want to shift the weight bias rearwards, moving the axle centerlines forward accomplishes this

 

As far as I know all the FC subframes and control arms have the same dimensions.

The rear being narrower is true on both my FC swapped FB's. One has 5 lug front hubs, and the Re-speed moser axles (SE spec offset, at least that's what I had ordered years ago) for the rear. I initiall put 20mm spacers on the rear but it stuck out too far for my liking and rubbed the lip. I now have 10mm spacers on it and it looks pretty much dead on. This is on a set of FC vert wheels (40mm offset)

My other, more recent build (the red flared 85) uses 4 lug FC front hubs in the front and a GSL-SE rear end. Same wheels front and rear - an old set of Enkei 92's in what I believe is a 0 offset, or close to it. Same thing, the fronts fill out the flares nicely and the rears are sunken in. I haven't gotton spacers for the rear yet since the car has other issues, but it's definitely wider in the front.

What wheels are you running peejay?

Oh and i don't blame you for installing your subframe the way you did, certainly much easier. I'm more of a perfectionist about the look of my car though and the wheels sitting an inch too far forward in the fenders would drive me nuts lol

 

yea i liked how you did it, plus you get 6 degrees castor (woo). So that is how i have been doing it.

that said, my track width has always been wider front for all subframes regardless of FC source.

 

Thanks guys for the information and Whizbang for your pictures.
Just curious Looking from underneath the car does it look weird having the front wheels farther out that the rears? Is there another way to solve this without spacers?
I wish I had a subframe to look at currently to see if a small chunk on each side would pull the wheels in to match the rear.

 

different offset wheels front and rear

 

To clarify, the spacers I have are not the bolt on kind (those make me nervous, especially on the drive wheels). I have longer wheel studs from Moser (nice and strong) on there and the spacer goes over it, so I haven't compromised the strength - plus the spacers I got are hub-centric so everything is nice and centered.

In my opinion it looks silly without addressing the track width difference, the rears look too sunken in...

 

Numerous and various... right now it has 240SX 15" wheels on the front and Motegi 17" wheels on the back, because that is what I have for snow tires. (Still got wheelspin on cold dry pavement at 2000rpm in 4th gear, with 235/40s on the back ) Usually I have Lancer OZ wheels on the car, but those are going on my new VW this summer.

You'd hate my VW. Check out the rear axle centerline. An artifact of trying to cram an AWD system under a FWD floorpan:



(Not my car, but all syncros are like that. YOU CAN NEVER UNSEE IT)

 

Thanks guys for the info. Defently made me rethink my wheel choice.

 

Does anyone know which wheels are lighter between enkie 92s and the enkie compe like the dark grey ones above?

 

My $0.02 - I couldn't get 8" wheels to fit the front. I settled on 17x7 +40 offset with 205 series tires. No spacers. Stock bodywork. They barely clear the inner fender and have 5/8" on the inside between the spring and the tire. I don't see how 8" wide +25 will fit without big flares.

 

I'm not one to usually bring things back from the dead, but this is a great thread for us 1st Gen guys...

Now, I have 1.5" longer LCA/ball joints, so my camber is a bit unnecessary (but I'll try an OEM length soon, measure out what static camber I want, and add length accordingly).

These are 225/45-15s on a 15x7 +42 or +36 wheel (honestly, Black Racing did some weird redrilling/sketchy ****). No more than a 23" tire recommended.

The SAI is AMAZING compared to stock, as well as the ~+10 Degrees Caster (and resulting added wheelbase and effectively lower spring rate). My front end is exactly how I want it to be, and fits 72 Degrees of steering, lock to lock without rubbing (inside rubs with a taller tire).