[Captainofiron]

I cant get over how great these look

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by carsmymistress

That car pretty much seals up a decision I have thought about, essentially painting the rear inset of my T/A to Lucy blue, ala 1969 T/A to raise the ass visually (shooped):

[Will]

Resurrecting this thread to ask a couple of questions:

Who has these in 18x9" on the front of a 2nd gen 'bird? Is there enough backspacing for that? I'd really like to see 5-1/2" or even 5-5/8" backspacing on a wheel that wide. It would fit better and allow a wider tire up front. Ideally I'd like to be able to run a 275/40-18 on all 4 corners.

Also, how much do they weigh? I can't find any weight specs anywhere... I saw a couple posts in this thread about ~30 lb shipping weight but I'd really like to know actual wheel weight.

I think these would look stellar on my '72 Formula.

I have some other 17x9 with 285/40-17 on all four corners of my '73 with 5.5" backspacing and they fit great. The fronts only rub a little on the sway bar with the wheel fully cranked over and that's no problem since the sway bar is smooth and round and the only time the steering wheel is cranked to full lock is during low speed parking maneuvers.

[72blackbird]

Hi Will,
I've had a set of 18 x 9 Bandits on my 72 Esprit for almost a year now- tires are Nitto NT 555 275/40R18s all around. Backspacing is 5 1/8", and it does fit up front and only rubs the sway bar at full lock. No rubbing at stock ride height, but anything over a 1" drop up front will require spacers to fine tune the height. The least expensive 18 x 9 Bandits are 1-piece cast aluminum design, and weigh around 28 lbs.- racers wanting a lighter version can order a 2-pc. forged version.

Geno

[Overkillphil]

Scarebird, are those stock PMD centers? I'm liking the look of those wheels!

[70455HOVert]

If you buy the adapters from Restore a Musclecar, you can mount stock PMD centers. The info is a few pages back. That's what I did.

[Overkillphil]

Thanks!

[Will]

Geno - that looks great! Don't know how I missed your car earlier in the thread. I think these will be the wheels for my '72 Formula. It will only be lowered a little from stock so should be no problems with fit.

My '73 will pretty much be a twin of your car. I even put a '72 Endura and grills on it, it came with the TA hood but I think I'm going to skip the TA fenders. I'll probably stick with the 17s on it too because I want to lower it as much as possible and they'll fit better. They're off of a 2000 WS6 TA and I used 1.5" adapters to get the backspacing where I wanted it. They only weigh 22 lbs each.

28 lbs is a bit on the heavy side though but no way I can afford the forged versions. I wonder how much they weigh?

[72blackbird]

Originally Posted by Will

Geno - that looks great! Don't know how I missed your car earlier in the thread. I think these will be the wheels for my '72 Formula. It will only be lowered a little from stock so should be no problems with fit.

My '73 will pretty much be a twin of your car. I even put a '72 Endura and grills on it, it came with the TA hood but I think I'm going to skip the TA fenders. I'll probably stick with the 17s on it too because I want to lower it as much as possible and they'll fit better. They're off of a 2000 WS6 TA and I used 1.5" adapters to get the backspacing where I wanted it. They only weigh 22 lbs each.

28 lbs is a bit on the heavy side though but no way I can afford the forged versions. I wonder how much they weigh?

Will,
I went with 18's because I plan to put the biggest brakes possible (14" Wilwoods and 6p Superlite calipers)- building the car to run at Willow Springs. I bought these wheels so I could drive the car while upgrading to bigger brakes- my race wheels will be a different brand/style. But the 1-piece cast Bandits are more than strong enough for the street and canyon driving.

I wouldn't be surprised if 17's were lighter, since they are smaller. I've never seen Bandits on a 4th gen TA- both the 17 x 9 and 18 x 9 Bandits have a 5 1/4" backspace, so they should bolt on with no spacers- you must have another style of wheel.

Geno

[Will]

Geno - the wheels on my '73 are 2000 WS6 TA wheels. Those have almost 7" backspacing (17x9 with +50mm offset). That's why I had to use the adapters on them. I should have no problem fitting C5/C6 brakes inside them.

The Bandit wheels will go on my '72 Formula. I understand I won't need adapters for those. In fact, I wish they had just a bit more backspacing as I feel 5.5" would fit better than the 5.25" they come with.

[72blackbird]

Originally Posted by Will

Geno - the wheels on my '73 are 2000 WS6 TA wheels. Those have almost 7" backspacing (17x9 with +50mm offset). That's why I had to use the adapters on them. I should have no problem fitting C5/C6 brakes inside them.

The Bandit wheels will go on my '72 Formula. I understand I won't need adapters for those. In fact, I wish they had just a bit more backspacing as I feel 5.5" would fit better than the 5.25" they comenoe with.

Will,
I'd love to see a pic of your 73' Bird w/ those 4th gen TA wheels- not something you see everyday.

I think US Mags went with the 5.25" backspacing on the 9" wide Bandits to let them work with later (74-on F-bodies). The seat belt hump on these cars has to be beaten down to get them to not make contact with the sidewalls- not a problem for 70-73 F-bodies though.

Geno

[Will]

Geno,

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply - kind of forgot about this thread.

Here's the '73 with the '00 WS6 wheels on it:





It no longer has the Formula hood - I junked it as it was trashed (broken in a couple of places), it has a TA hood on it now but it's in storage so no pics.

[72blackbird]

Will,
That looks good- I see why you're running those WS6 T/A wheels.

Geno

[rcread]

I just put on my US Mags Bandits on my '72 LeMans this morning.

I went with 18x9 on the rear and 18x8 on the front. Tires are BFG g-Force Comp 2, 275/40R18 in the back and 245/45R18 in the front. This gives me the same tire diameter in the front and rear. I've since realized I need to buy another 18x8 to put in the trunk as a spare. After this driving season (Novemberish), I plan to put in a Ridetech suspension with coilovers so I can bring it down a little. I'm also going with 14" Wilwoods in the front and 12" in the back, when I replace the 8.2 open rear end.

I'm very happy with the purchase and surprised at how much better it brakes with these tires. The old tires, BFG Comp TAs were date coded from before 2000. They had such poor traction that they locked up real easily.







And the before picture...

[erikgto]

RCRead, What backspaces are you running on your LeMans?

I plan on ordering a set of 18x8 & 18x9 for my 71 LeMans, but mine has Eibach springs which lower it quite a bit compared to yours...
I don't like the backspace on my rear Boss 338 wheels. They rub the rear fender lips when I have a rear passenger (and I need to lower my rear a bit more)

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by erikgto

RCRead, What backspaces are you running on your LeMans?

I plan on ordering a set of 18x8 & 18x9 for my 71 LeMans, but mine has Eibach springs which lower it quite a bit compared to yours...
I don't like the backspace on my rear Boss 338 wheels. They rub the rear fender lips when I have a rear passenger (and I need to lower my rear a bit more)

The 18x9 wheels have a better backspacing, and they will fit better than the 18x8s. Go 18x9 all around, and if you need to, stagger the tire sizes.

.

[shedgpeth4]

RC read-

are those the cast or the vintaged forged line?

im weighing both, forged being like $3800 for a set of rims vs 12 to 1500 for a set of the cast.

[rcread]

Originally Posted by erikgto

RCRead, What backspaces are you running on your LeMans?

I plan on ordering a set of 18x8 & 18x9 for my 71 LeMans, but mine has Eibach springs which lower it quite a bit compared to yours...
I don't like the backspace on my rear Boss 338 wheels. They rub the rear fender lips when I have a rear passenger (and I need to lower my rear a bit more)

4.5 backspace on the front, 5.25 on the rear. I am pretty confident I will have adequate clearance when I bring it down.

[rcread]

Originally Posted by shedgpeth4

RC read-

are those the cast or the vintaged forged line?

im weighing both, forged being like $3800 for a set of rims vs 12 to 1500 for a set of the cast.

I went with the cast. If you plan on any competition involving cornering and serious braking, forged would be the way to go. My LeMans is just a performance street car. I have a Corvette to finish and a Firebird to start, so these wheels meet my needs just fine.

[Will]

Are there any appearance differences between the forged & cast versions? Are all these pics of the cast wheels? They look so good it would be a shame if the forged ones were much different.