measuring for wheels- what am I doing wrong?

[Tuske427]

Hi everyone:

OK, this is what I have:

1967 Firebird
DSE stage 3 kit
stock spindles
Kore 3 C5 brakes (stock hubs at the moment)

The rims I "want" to use are the following:

front: 17x9.5" American Racing 200S

It is available in the following offsets: +19mm, +25mm, +32mm, +38mm.

Here's where I'm at:

A- from searching around it seems I need to use a .25" spacer for these rims to clear the C5 calipers.

B- From making a mock up and measuring all day today it seems the +25mm offset is the most I can go (including spacer measurement) before the wheel sticks out past the body side. Anything less and it hits the upper control arm, not to mention the wheel would be more inboard.

However, this still isn't fitting. With the wheels straight the wheel contacts the steering arm/ tie rod all the way through the suspension travel. (It also hits various points of my outer fender, inner fender and frame rails, too)

My questions are this:

1- Am I measuring incorrectly? Does anyone out there have 17" rims that fit over the steering arms/ tie rods?

2- Considering a different spindle- do the ATS (stock height) spindles move the tie rod location up/ in? reading on their site they mention it's a revised location to reduce bump steer, however, the spindle height itself is also dropped 1". With the two areas revised, what is the new distance from the spindle to the tie rod? Do 17" rims clear these?

3- I see Ride Tech offers their Tru Turn, but they have a 2" drop. With my DSE kit already, I'm concerned this will make my car too low. So I'm thinking this might not be the solution for me.

I really don't want to go larger than 17" wheels if at all possible. Even 18" wheels, from my measurements, would still hit the steering arm/ tie rod.

Again, am I measuring wrong?

I am trying to get as much meat as possible up front and ideally retain full steering and suspension travel. using a skinny rim up front defeats the purpose.

Any help/ suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!