shamby

I'm getting ready to order wheels for my 77. The car will have flares all the way around and I'm running Van Steel Offset trailing arms. I'm trying to decide on whether to go with 17's or 18's, or may 17's in front and 18's in back. Which size has the best tire selection and is there a car running 18's on the forum? Thanks for the input.

SuprJames

My guess would be 18's. I've seen pics of C3's with 18's on them, and it dosen't look bad IMO. I think I like 17's better. I know someone on here is running 20's.

Have any links/pics of the wheels you are thinking about?

shamby

Boyd Smoothie II. Here is the link. http://www.skperformance.com/WHEELS/...ngton_cast.htm

20's would be a little two much for me.

StingrayDK

Nice choice!

Go with the 18"

gkull

I have 17X9 and 17X11. I'm going to go to 18's because 17's have a limited selection of high speed rated tires in the diameters I require.

My advice to anybody buying wheels is look for the tire type and diameter they want and then decide on what wheel width and diameter they need.

My next rears will be 18X12 with 6 inch BS to fit 325mm - 345mm widths.


If you can't smoke 315 tires - You need more motor!:)

PatsLs1vette

hey george whats your backspacing on your 11's and do you have offset trailing arms

EricU

It's a 69 with 18x10 rears 5.25" BS and 17x8 fronts 4" BS.

Go with the 18s! With flares on a 77, you should be able to go with bigger wheels (wider) and tires.

Eric.

EricU

Here is another shot (Actually I just like looking at my car

!)

Eric.

shamby

Gkull, How do you determine the tires size for the wheel?

shamby

ThatÂ’s the car I was thinking of. Thanks for posting it. it looks like IÂ’ll go 18Â’s all the way around.

Thanks for the info everyone.



[Modified by shamby, 12:06 PM 4/7/2004]

SuprJames

EricU,
What size tires you got there?

70 LS1

I'd say 17 fronts and 18 rears. 18's just look too big on the fronts.

gkull

Patsnitrovette- I use HD trailing arms with 2 inch spacers for 6.5 BS 11X17

EricU - NICE! :yesnod: Do you really have to watch the bumps to keep those tires from touching?

Shamby - Every tire manufacturer lists or suggests wheel rim width for a specific tire. They also list all the other info like tire diameter, speed, ware..........

For example. I want high speed Z rated, wide tires, with a ware rating of over 180 UTAG so they last @5000 miles.

IN MY CASE: The Dunlop p8000 315/35/17 - The rim width required is 10-12 inch. So my 11 inch fits right in the middle. The only problem is they are only @26 inches in diameter.

Some people don't like the open wheel well look. The speedo is a few % off, and taller diameter tires have a larger contact patch.

In your case 10 inch wheels really work best with 285 width tires. So they would have to be 285/40 or 45 series 17 or 18's to be 27 inches in diameter. So you need to go to manufactures and see if such a tire is made in your price and usage range.


[Modified by gkull, 1:38 PM 4/7/2004]

norvalwilhelm

Patsnitrovette- I use HD trailing arms with 2 inch spacers for 6.5 BS 11X17

George you can only use 4 1/2 inches of backspacing. What is the advantage of bolting a 2 inch thick piece of aluminum to the axle then bolting the rim to this block of alumimum?
It is 2 inch by 6 inch diameter chunk of alumimum that is unsprung weight ?
You can buy the proper offset and forget the adaptors.
To me that makes more sense.

shamby

Thanks for the info

gkull

Norval - My billet aluminum wheel adapters and tires are filled with helium so they don't weigh anything? They almost float up in the air. So I never concerned myself with unsprung weight! :rolleyes:


What do you think? I really did have some sound logical reasons. #1 being safety. Reputable manufactures of lighter billet or forged aluminum wheels won't manufacture back spacing greater than 1/2 the rims width (for strength)

Look at the terrific amount of TQ bending this rear wheel under while smoking the rear tires at 65-70 mph coming out of a turn!

norvalwilhelm

Reputable manufactures of lighter billet or forged aluminum wheels won't manufacture back spacing greater than 1/2 the rims width (for strength)

I can see that. With offset trailing arms you could only use slight more offset, say 5.5 with 18 inch tires, less with 15. Might even get away with 6 inch offset.
One of these days I will spring the $4000CDN or so it will cost to upgrade to 18 inch wheels and tires.
Have a nice day George
Love the picture.

gkull

Norval, I was just giving you poopie about the helium!:)

If there was a way to do no spacer. I would do it. Without redesigning the wheel well frame rail or some kind of longer half shaft/outboard trailing arm were locked into a max of @ 4.5 BS.

With all the heavy duty rear suspension and everything modified it still bends my tire under like that. I've never used a "G-Tech" meter to see if it is exceeding one "G" lateral. More rear camber on the drivers side wheels would help some.

EricU

The rears are 285/40-18s
Fronts: 275/45-17s (I think!)

No, haven't had any problems with the new suspension and tire/rim combo --- though I am down to a svelte 225 lbs :cheers: ( I just look fat!)

Eric.

Markm10431

not meaning to hijack, but does anyone know if there is a company making 17" rallys or the aluminum slot mags found on the later vettes?