OK, I know by now is early morning instead of yesterday night (as
promissed), but this are the hours that I can call 'mine'...:o)
As stated in the previous post, the handling with the 245/70R17
Pirelli Scorpion ATRs (on AT Italia S5 17" rims) is impressive. The
full 10.1" of tread width makes an even greater difference considering
that the rim pushes this width about 3/4 of an inch out on each side.
So, overall I widened my rubber print about 1.5" and I have a full 1"
wider grip on each tire.
On the mileage/speedo side the 682 RP1Mi (rotations per 1 mile) versus
the 709 RP1Mi that the OE Michelins (225/75R16) brings the speedometer
very close to the GPS readings for speed (less than 1MPH offset – on
the low side). Now, the other story is that the Odometer is about 4%
off – to be exact 3.9589% – for each 100 Miles clocked by the odometer
I really travel 103.96 Miles… This does not bother me a bit, if you
know what I mean...
To get this setup to work I had to trim the front plastic lower lip of
the bumper, the rubber mud flaps and some of the lower corner of the
joint between outer and inner fender metal sheets right behind the
front wheels. If you have the front mud flaps is the metal corner
sticking through the rubber of the mud flaps, if you don't the
pictures that I posted in the Photos under TVFlorin folder will make
it clear. Once the metal was removed, I treated the fresh cut and rust
proofed the steel, than some body filler (that auto body shops use)
filled the gap and tapered the edges. A can of primer and the Mopar
matching paint spray can finished the touch. With a rubber mallet, I
bent the bottom side of the fender edge, about 2.5 inches – exactly
where the screw facing the tire is – in order to change the angle of
the rubber mud flap – it was sticking to much towards the tire.
Once all I described above was done I was left with about 1/5 of an
inch ( about 5 mm) clearance from the front fender and the mud flap in
the worst case when the wheel is in turn at the edges of the `wide'
tire tread. Pictures show the little `fuzzies' that a new tire has
barely touching in both cases (`fuzzies' are about 7 mm long - for
reference)
This setup – with just the mods that I made - is not for driving in
the mud or thick snow tracks, but with some more work can be adapted
for aggressive off-roading . As for us – living in sunny So Cal these
tires will see the most `off-roading' when we hit the downtown LA pot
holes…
Just an observation: I used to have to slow down when cruising at 75
MPH and the wind was 20 MPH with gusts above 25 MPH… Not anymore.
Yesterday we had in the usually sunny LA area, rain and wind gusts up
to 25 MPH and I was `flying' at 80 MPH (real 80 on the GPS and
Speedometer!) with almost no sway due to the wind gusts. It felt as if
the van had double wheels on all four corners...
Now, enjoy the pictures that I posted and if interested I can give
more details on how I did it.
In the same folder I posted also the pics of the 16" rims and tires
that came off the van (all 5 including the spare). Since I do not need
them anymore, I offer them for sale, "on the first come first serve
basis", first to this group, and if nobody is interested I'll put them
on eBay (in about a week). The rims are in PRISTINE condition – no
scratches or dents. The tires have 90% thread left on them for the
ones on the aluminum rims (I had 9,850 miles on the ODO when I removed
them and these tires are known to last in excess of 90K miles if
properly rotated and balanced – I rotated and balanced mine at 5500
miles) and 100% on the spare – this was never used. I prefer to not
ship them – local pick up would be my first choice, but I will assist
with shipping if somebody outside the area is interested. The price
for all five would be $1200 - firm. Considering that only the
aluminum rims (4 only) are listed on eBay at over $700.00 and
tirerack.com sells the gums for $142.00 a tire, this set of five that
I have for sale is a bargain. All the lugs are included – the 20 long
ones for the aluminum and the 5 short for the spare (these will cost
you at the dealer some $$$). Interested parties can email me at "tudor
@ ieee . org" (skip the spaces please, I put them to get around yahoo
stripping the email tail of it)
Enjoy,
Florin
P.S. BTW tirerack.com is fresh out of AT Italia S5s … Boy, I almost
missed them – now that I'm thinking… THANK YOU MIKE H. for the heads
up on the clearance!