Square Wheels!

Another weird aspect of Deloreans are the staggered wheels, i.e. 14" in the front and 15" in the rear. The initiated would tell you that the purpose for that is to supposedly provide more grip in the rear for an already rear-heavy car. While that may be true, finding a matched set for all four corners has become virtually impossible for good reason: 14" tires are all but extinct and look hopelessly dated and 15" aren't far behind. To alleviate this problem, I decided to purchase a set of rear rims and put them in the front. Going from the stock 6" wide front wheels to 8" is perfectly doable - with some modifications.

First of all, I selected a set of Toyo Proxes R1R SL 205/50R-15" ("Extreme Performance Summer" per Tire Rack) tires with a "V" speed rating. Of great significance here is that this tire dimension provides a virtual identical circumference with the stock 195/60-14" tire i.e. the speedometer is not affected. 

Stock front wheel on the left; new front wheel on the right

Same OD!

Secondly, I purchased a new set of Upper Control Arms  from DMC Houston and had them drop shipped to Reid Performance who modified the UCAs with a -3 deg camber angle. This should not only help turn-in but also provide some added fender clearance at the top of the wheel - and of course - it looks cool. In this picture you can see how four new holes for the Upper Ball Joint have been drilled further in to provide the added camber:

Modified UCA

Something I had not expected is that the new UCAs threw the toe-in out of spec but that was easily adjusted. 

Thirdly, the fender lips had to be rolled:

Fender rolling in progress

The front spoiler where it meets the front of the wheel arch also needed to be modified (basically, the plastic was shaved using a Dremel tool) for more clearance.

In the end my new 8" wheel fit like a glove - tight, yes - but no interference from tilt to tilt. And it looks pretty damn good too (at some point I need to re-spray all wheel for a uniform look):

To me it's striking how dated the rear wheels look... so now I'm thinking an identical but customer made rear rim with the diameter increased from 15 to 16" and another 25 mm negative offset ("poke"). I might out put out some feelers with some custom wheel machinists...