TSW Bathurst on BA XR6T (F:20x9+30,R:20x10+40)

[k31th]

I actually did this months ago, a few weeks after the lowering here -> https://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/topic/96613-lowering-a-ba-xr6t-tastefully/), but I wanted to get some good photos after the suspension settled and ensure the setup was acceptable in terms of rubbing etc.

 

So reading about 20x9's and fitting them on B-series, they barely fit at all on the front and tyre sizes matter. Referring to this post (link)

Quote

They fit without spacers, BUT, you need to run 225/35 rubber on the front otherwise the tyre scrubbs on the top suspension knuckle. I've seen one BA running 20's with 235/30 front rubber, but this had more to do with the specific sidewall profile of the tyre brand he was running allowing it.

 

Here's the details of the wheels and tyres I acquired (my stock rims/tyres are 17x8+36.5 with 235/45/17's, for reference) --

 

Front:
- Rim: TSW Bathurst 20x9" 5x114.3 ET30 CB76.1 SILVER W/MIRROR CUT FACE (2090BAT305114S76)

- Tyre: 245/35ZR20 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 95Y 300TW

- Tyre + Rim Diameter Change: +36.2mm, 643.3mm-679.5mm (+5.33%)

- Tyre + Rim Circumference Change: +113.7mm, 2021mm-2134.7mm (+5.33%)

- Inner Clearance Change: 6.2mm closer to the front suspension upright.

- Outer Clearance Change: 19.1mm extra poke

 

Rear:
- Rim: TSW Bathurst 20x10" 5x114.3 ET40 CB76.1 SILVER W/MIRROR CUT FACE (2010BAT405114S76)

- Tyre: 275/30ZR20 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 97Y 300TW

- Tyre + Rim Diameter Change: +29.7mm, 643.3mm-673mm (+4.41% - this one affects speedometer, will read 4.41% lower)

- Tyre + Rim Circumference Change: +93.3mm, 2021mm-2114.3mm (+4.41%)

- Inner Clearance Change: 28.9mm closer to the trailing arm.

- Outer Clearance Change: 21.9mm extra poke

 

Measuring (reasonable approximations) the clearances on my car with the stock rims/tyres with maximum suspension travel (no shock/spring in place):

Front Inner: ~9mm (clears by ~2.8mm, woo!)

Front Outer: ~15mm (need to roll and pump guards with the +19.1mm poke as well as the extra variable of the front moving left/right not just up/down)

Front Upper (to control arm ball joint): ~35mm (won't fit with +36.2mm, UCA ball joint will ride on tyre)

Rear Inner: ~30mm (clears by ~1.1mm, perfect 😘)

Rear Outer: ~15mm to inner lip of guard (needs guard rolling only to fit the +21.9mm poke as the rear has a fat inner guard lip of ~10mm)

 

Onto the pics

 

As I acquired them 2nd hand - they needed a clean:

 

And cleaned (you can see the marks from where the brembo's on the previous car rubbed against the insides of the spokes   :

 

Piled up (how they were stored for 2 and half years in the garage):

 

Separate:

 

First fitment on the front passenger side (water stains from being stored visible here- should have dried them better when stacking them up... oh well):

 

First fitment on the drivers side

 

Surprisingly they both fit OK with just a tiny bit of resistance in turning (probably the bit of tyre catching on the UCA ball joint). Also not super-clean at this point as they'd been sitting in my garage for a couple of years! didn't have the funds to lower the car, get the suspension upgraded as well and also roll the guards etc which is needed for these rims).

 

Here's the flush-ness shot. Good fitment with 9inch +30 offset.

 

And the rears... first problem is the axle stubs poke the centre cap out... annoying

 

Nothing a grinder won't fix, though To get this done I put one of the old nuts from the front hubs I took off upgrading them and pushed it down as far as I could and then ground away as much material as I could with the grinder and then undid the nut again so the threads got "repaired" on the way out all fun and games when a grinder gets involved.

 

Much better now that the centre cap fits

 

And the other side looking good

 

Looks phat with 275's and 10 inch rims from behind/underneath

 

And the fitment flush-ness look. Pretty good result

 

 

And some overall pics:

 

 

I'm absolutely pumped as to how it turned out   bit of lowering and big rims makes any car look bloody fantastic, though

 

 

 

 

Downside is the car clearly needed some more modification to allow these rims to work well. Plenty of rubbing on bumps and rubbing on the upper control arm, rubbing on the inner guards etc etc... it goes on and on. on to the modifications...

[k31th]

Firstly and easiest to resolve:

 

The rear trailing arm suspension component was rubbing very slightly on the tyre! The rear 275 Michelin tyre appears to be quite a bit wider than 275mm, so it runs over the side of the rim a bit... no harm done, that bit of the tyre can wear off and not bother me. I guess that's the price you pay for just 1.1mm of space on the inside haha

 

Here's how close it really is A tiny bit of flexion obviously going around corners etc was making it rub. You can see the rubber sticky-outy-bits hitting the trailing arm but not the actual rubber

[k31th]

2nd up is the lack of clearance for the diameter increase at the front:

 

And the minor damage to the tyre:

 

Since there was such minor damage, I had another go with the grinder to clear it just enough

 

 

Now it doesn't rub on that anymore yay Not an ideal solution, but I'm OK with taking off a millimetre or so of metal on this knuckle rather than getting new tyres/rims haha

[k31th]

3rd up is the guard rolling required for the rear.

 

Bought a guard roller to do it myself after watching this video and getting some confidence to do it myself:

 

 

You can see the damage on the tyre, only very minor/cosmetic from not driving very far without rolled guards

 

Out comes the springs/shocks again... getting bloody good at it by now haha.

 

Compressed the suspension right into the previously cut bump-stop like so:

 

How it looks completely compressed with the guard rolled:

 

And here's a shot of how much room there was left with it fully compressed about 1-2mm haha

 

And where the rolling ends Pretty amateur job, but I'm happy with it.  Bloody gutter rash haha; the price you pay with 2nd-hand stuff.

 

Goddamn that was hard work to roll the rear guards with that double-rolled metal lip. Worth the effort though as there's zero rubbing on the rear now

[k31th]

Onto the hardest one to sort out... need a fair bit of rolling/pumping to fit 20x9+30 on the fronts of a B-series.

 

Same sort of process for the "up/down" part of the rolling. Without the suspension in there it jacks up all the way until the top of the UCA is hitting the inside of the wheel well.

 

The front guards are piss easy to roll, only problem is they roll so quickly it's easy to crack the paint a bit like I did (only right on the lip, nothing on the outside, thankfully)... oh well, nothing some touch-up paint won't fix

 

Now as the video in the previous post states, the "turning left" for the driver's side needs the "rear" of the front-guard rolled more importantly. Managed to clear that on both sides at ALMOST full extension with full-lock on the steering wheel (just need to avoid full-travel suspension while turning hard unless I pump the guards even more):

 

 

Unfortunately, it's not so easy to clear for the front part of the arch while going over bumps, so off-steering-side bumps must be avoided where possible otherwise the guard is going to take a beating...

 

I'm happy with the rare circumstances it'll hit as is for normal steering situations.

 

You can see above that the lip is basically completely flattened then "pulled" out to clear the giant wheel/tyre combo.

 

The front of the inner guard on both sides also needed some "massaging" to prevent it from rubbing (I definitely cut away more than I needed to here, but I'd prefer not to hear that "rubber on plastic" rubbing sound ever again haha):

 

 

Now it basically only rubs a little on the "flattened/rolled" and "pumped/pulled" guards only when going over a bump on the passenger side while turning left and a little rub while going over bumps on the driver's side while turning right (rare-ish circumstances) and maximum suspension travel while turning wherever (even more rare, but happens occasionally on the pot-hole filled roads of Australia haha).

 

Overall, it was hard work but I'm very happy with the result. Might have to pump the guards some more going forward, but we'll see.

 

The first long-ish distance drive (85km) I did after the first rolling attempt. Hadn't done enough rolling on the front at this point.

 

 

And the final result:

 

 

[k31th]

and I got a speeding fine not long after this; turned out to be a very good photo of the car, ironically haha

Bloody unknown roads with fixed speed camera's going downhill... was set on cruise control and ended up 6km/h over just rolling down this hill. Oh well.

 

 

and some shots from my local gym carpark at night:

 

[k31th]

And finally to the same spot I took the comparison pictures in my lowering thread:

 

 

And the comparison with stock rims and lowered in both:

 

 

And the "start to finish" comparison - stock height & stock rims, compared to lowered with 20's

[Puffwagon]

It looks heaps better. Good job uncle bob

[k31th]

Cheers big ears I'm very happy with how it turned out. Will get a video of it running from the outside at some point...  

[biddie_fiddler]

Sits way nicer than before! Well done mate!