[David Jones]

My brother is searching for a set of wheels to fit his 72 Cutlass convertible. About 15 years ago he bought a set of Wheel Vintiques Magnum 500 type wheels in 15" for it and they broke out in rust pretty badly fairly quickly. His goal this time is set of the same, but in approx 17" and made of aluminum.
Year One?
Where else should he look?
What widths and back spacing?
Tire size?
He's not stuck on 17" but that seems to be a popular size.

[Verdoro 68]

American Racing makes an aluminum 17" Magnum style wheel but they aren't cheap.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...rder=Ascending

The Year One versions are more cost effective: https://www.yearone.com/Catalog/whee...-magnum-wheels

Holley offers some too that are even cheaper: https://www.holley.com/products/whee...arts/MW1785475

I'd imagine you could generally follow the same width and spacing for our cars. 17x8/4.5" backspacing or 17x9w/5" backspacing. I just went through the whole deal adding YearOne 17" RIIs to my car. Ended up with 255/50/17 in the rear and 245/45/17 in the front.

YearOne also has aluminum Super Stock II-style wheels that look pretty cool.

[David Jones]

Thanks Ken.

"17x8/4.5" backspacing or 17x9w/5" backspacing. I just went through the whole deal adding YearOne 17" RIIs to my car. Ended up with 255/50/17 in the rear and 245/45/17 in the front."

No issues on your 68? I'm assuming if they'll fit a GTO, they should fit a Cutlass also.

[JLMounce]

I don't know specifically about the Cutlass, but A-Bodies tend to have a good bit of room. A 0 offset 9.5" wheel with a 275 width tire fits very nicely out back, with plenty of room to spare. The front will take a 0 offset 8" wheel with a 245 width tire as long as the car isn't lowered extensively. If it's lowered more than 2" up front, the wheel will want another quarter to half inch of offset to avoid rubbing the outside wheel lip.

My wife's Chevelle is lowered 3" front and rear and uses 0 offset 18x8 and 18x9.5" wheels with 245/45/18 and 275/40/18 rubber respectively. The car has OEM type disc brakes front and rear and has no issues with fitment in the rear, but the front really wants a bit more offset to move the wheel inward. I rolled the inner fenders and that has made the clearance acceptable for 90% of driving situations.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by David Jones

Thanks Ken.

"17x8/4.5" backspacing or 17x9w/5" backspacing. I just went through the whole deal adding YearOne 17" RIIs to my car. Ended up with 255/50/17 in the rear and 245/45/17 in the front."

No issues on your 68? I'm assuming if they'll fit a GTO, they should fit a Cutlass also.

I haven't driven it much yet, but there's no glaring issues. I also went relatively conservative on my tire sizes. I have some 1" lowering springs on order. Pics are here: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...=841228&page=4

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

I don't know specifically about the Cutlass, but A-Bodies tend to have a good bit of room. A 0 offset 9.5" wheel with a 275 width tire fits very nicely out back, with plenty of room to spare. The front will take a 0 offset 8" wheel with a 245 width tire as long as the car isn't lowered extensively. If it's lowered more than 2" up front, the wheel will want another quarter to half inch of offset to avoid rubbing the outside wheel lip.

My wife's Chevelle is lowered 3" front and rear and uses 0 offset 18x8 and 18x9.5" wheels with 245/45/18 and 275/40/18 rubber respectively. The car has OEM type disc brakes front and rear and has no issues with fitment in the rear, but the front really wants a bit more offset to move the wheel inward. I rolled the inner fenders and that has made the clearance acceptable for 90% of driving situations.

Bear with me here, but I struggle with some of this terminology.



0 offset on the 8" wheel you mention for the front means 4" bs?
0 offset on the 9.5" wheel would be 4.75" bs?

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by David Jones

Bear with me here, but I struggle with some of this terminology.



0 offset on the 8" wheel you mention for the front means 4" bs?
0 offset on the 9.5" wheel would be 4.75" bs?

Yes that's correct. 0 offset means the mounting pad is centered in the wheel hoop.

The vast majority of cast wheels (American Racing, Year One, Holley, Crager et. al) are going to be purchased off the shelf with zero offset.

[b-man]

Backspace is measured from the wheel rim edge to the mounting surface where the wheel contacts the brake drum or disc.

Wheel width is measured to the outside edges of the beads. The rim edges are typically 1/2” or a little less from the outer edge of the beads.

A wheel that’s 8” wide (bead to bead) is in actuality close to 9” in total width, because of the rim edges adding about 1/2” on each side.

A zero offset 8” wheel (mounting surface centered) will have close to 4.5” of backspace, because of the way backspace is measured.