Yes you can run them on any rim including 8in rims. They will not work right on any of them but for all you low budget teams like me sorry.

Run smaller left rears? Wheels are expensive and that's why I said you could run them on the wider wheels. The little guys are always going to be at a disadvantage and that's just the way it will always be but everyone will find a way to race. Tires are not cheap but I can't see someone having a whole stock pile of ht2's or dt3's that they can't sell and this would be the reason they can't race. Good news is though if this tire rule is true and some tracks still allow the ht2 the local teams should be able to get a discount on new ones now.

I would prefer a durometer rule, other wise tire must be round & black. Buddy I crewed for used to get his tires for a season for what 1 "Spec" tire cost now, so he no longer races. Got tired of rules changing every yr it seemed. Keep it up & racings gonna be as exciting as walking into a room & flip'n a switch. To me tires are killing this sport. Need one that last, 1 tire per race on RR from qualifying to feature. What's your thoughts

Sorry in my opinion if you have 18 inch wheels and they make you run 16 inch tires you need to buy wheels. Sidewalls play a factor and you change that putting a 16 on an 18

For what it's worth they switched us from 18" Goodyears to the 16" Hoosiers with our wing car last year. I had the same concerns and was pissed I had to buy wheels. I went to FL last year with 3 18" wheels a 17" and an 16". I tryed both the 18" and 17" and never even had to try the 16". We use the 18" 90% of the times, it just didn't seem to much difference. Also they measured up about the same. A 109" chalk mark came up at 106" with the old 18" wide Sc12 and now a 109" chalk mark with the new 16" tire is still 106". I guess what trying to say is don't go buy a bunch of wheels or get discouraged till you run a few races.

Ding,Ding,Ding we have a winner now I have to buy smaller left rears.

Jerry

If guys find that they don't work as well on an 18" wheel, there are solutions besides buying all new wheels. Swap the outer third from a 4 off onto your 3 off and now you have a 17x3. 5 off onto the 4 off and 6 off onto your 5. Sorry but you would have to buy a new outer third, or complete 6 off wheel. Good thing the wing guys run a lot of 6 off RR's and they are available used.

I see a lot of teams running wheels that should probably be replaced or at least have new centers. I had three cracked centers over the course of last year and our wheels were not that old. Fortunate to catch them during my weekly inspection and not after they had caused a crash.

Like any other change, this will take some experimenting and a little creativity to get the most out of what we have to work with.

Gary has a good point as I see many more than usual wheel centers breaking last year. Im not a mechanic or even on a team but I know stress fractures don't get any better. Check em close and check em often.

As a fan who pays $$$ to watch our sport, I have been following this thread. Let me see if I have this right:

If USAC goes to a spec 16" RR tire in 2014, why are they doing that? To cut costs for their competitors? The spec tire, bought in abundance, will lower the price for all? And, in theory, it will level the playing field and probably be easier to police in the tech inspection. Sounds like a good idea. Especially if you only ran USAC events.

BUT, the tracks in and around the area with a weekly sprint show have a more lenient RR tire rule, wherein a 17" or 18" RR tire would be a better ticket than a smaller 16" RR tire. So, all teams with 16" RR tires would use them only in the USAC sanctioned races.

If most teams have been running the larger tires, if USAC changes their tire rule for 2014, to run USAC races they would now need to stock up on 16" wheels. The subject of the debate is the cost of the wheels moreso than the cost of the 16" spec tires?

What is the average price of a top shelf wheel and just for my own notes, how many RR wheels did you guys go through this past season, Jerry? You guys ran weekly this past year. Anyone else who also runs weekly, please chime in for that matter. I am just trying to get my head around how much you guys spend on that one specific item annually - RR wheels.