[Brian Baker]

Originally Posted by Roger Poirier

Ha,ha, no wonder why Detroit is sometimes called the murder capital of the world...

Your comments on suspensions are good ones. Upgraded changes need to be made to work properly on these old cars. However, no suspension problems here!



R.P.

Nice hardware, Roger...but the rear lower control arms aren't boxed?

[Roger Poirier]

Originally Posted by Brian Baker

Nice hardware, Roger...but the rear lower control arms aren't boxed?

Rear control arms are manufactured by Global West. Check out there web site.

There is now a ton of aftermarket suspension parts beyond the factory type items. My whole suspension is neg. camber, quick ratio steering, etc. A lot of upgraded parts to improve driveability. It handles like day and night from when it was all original.

Here is attached photo showing what I did to my headers so I would have proper clearence underneath the car once I lowered it.
R.P.

[INJUNTOM]

you have to realize that 14s is what these cars came with, and 15s are a step up in size already.

most people don't pay attention to proper proportions when picking these large wheels either.

personally i hate the rubber band tires that are associated with them.

[robbie9999]

anyone have pics of there GTO with COYSWHEELS C-5 on them ? it is a great looking wheel that I think I am leaning towards in 18 or 20 .... a little less rice rockety than my previous black and silver look

can you post a pic if you have them on your car please ....

[FLYNLOW]

MUCH better...

[FLYNLOW]

Originally Posted by FLYNLOW

MUCH better...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts/259740431.html

Just saw these, dont know if he wants to ship them or if you even want chrome ones... but hey.

[robbie9999]

thanks for that brother I shall look into asap .... lot people on this forum are really cool I have saved quite a bit from other peoples knowledge and looking out !!

[YVEYANT]

Roger,
Believe it or not I just saw the posts which proceeded mine. Thank you for the compliment. May I say your GTO is one of the nicest, most tastefull cars I have seen. The rims compliment and flow with the car. A Perfeclty balanced vehicle. FIERCE!!

[BVR421]

go ahead, do it
when you drive down the street and people point and laugh at least you will know they are not laughing at your girlfriend

[Roger Poirier]

Originally Posted by YVEYANT

Roger,
Believe it or not I just saw the posts which proceeded mine. Thank you for the compliment. May I say your GTO is one of the nicest, most tastefull cars I have seen. The rims compliment and flow with the car. A Perfeclty balanced vehicle. FIERCE!!

Thanks,

R.P.

[Viper12873]

Nothing like reviving an old thread... but I felt I needed to comment on some of the generalities being thrown around regarding large wheels.

First off, I'm on the fence about big wheels on old cars. In my book, it's alot more important to match the wheel style to the car with classics than with late model vehicles as you can get away with more there. (no idealized imagery of what newer cars "should" look like) Slapping any old 20" wheel on a muscle car will probably look pretty bad, but the right wheels can look phenomenal on a classic even if they're that big.

My 69 lemans is currently running the stock 14" Rally II's but eventually will get a new set of shoes. (Right now I'm thinking 17 or 18" Foose Legends)


My daily driver is a 2003 GMC Envoy XL and I run the stock 17's in the winter, and a clean set of 22's in the summer. (with 45 series tires)


(Yes that's a chrome mudflap girl in the grille... it was more of a social experiment than anything but that's a whole different conversation)

I've been running those 22's for 3 summers now and have put roughly 20,000 mi on them so I think I've got the experience to speak to this. (given, this is a truck and not a muscle car, but i'm here to contest some of the general assertions about big wheels) So far this has been my experience:

Weight: Yes, these do weigh more than my stock 17" set up. If I had to guess, I'd estimate an extra 10-15lbs/wheel. There are 3 drawbacks to this extra weight: physical hassle while changing the wheel, slightly longer breaking distance, slightly reduced acceleration. (it takes a little more power to speed up and slow down that extra rotating weight)

Ride Quality: Ride quality of this truck actually improves with the larger setup, although it is a "luxury" SUV suspension, so it's pretty comfortable no matter what you're riding around on. You do feel slightly more of the road texture (cracks/bumps) but the heavier wheels seem to stick to those features with less bounce than the standard setup. In a sense, you feel a little more of the road, but you also feel better connected to it.

Handling: Handling is GREATLY improved with the larger (and wider) wheel setup. This truck has a decent amount of body roll in the suspension so fast cornering is a big issue on the stock wheels due to the amount of "squish" in the tall sidewall tires. The short sidewalls eliminate a good deal of that roll and make the truck feel like it's riding on rails. I estimate that maximum comfortable cornering speed is increased by 15-20% with the shorter sidewall tires.

Traction: Given, this category is related to the tire choice more than the wheel setup itself, but most "plus size" wheel options offer only sport tires in the appropriate sizes. These sport tires have significantly higher speed ratings than most traditional tires, but aren't as versatile. The larger diameter wheels are typically wider as well, so the larger setup has a bigger "footprint" on the road. This footprint combined with the sport tires give it a very solid grip, both for turning and accelerating. (I can do a brake stand with the 17's with no problem, the 22's on the other hand are incredibly hard to get spinning with the same drivetrain) The one downside to the sport tire is that it does not grip as well as my stock all terrains on wet pavement. (turning isn't effected much, but acceleration is) This particular truck has 2WD/AWD/4WD/4WD-Low at the flip of a switch so it doesn't matter much in this application, but the wet traction could be an issue on a rear drive only vehicle.

Durability: This aspect is heavily related to the height of the sidewall on the tire. Personally I've unintentionally hit a dozen or two potholes (some as deep as 6" and up to 18" in diameter) at speed and have never had any wheel or tire damage. I'm running a RELATIVELY tall sidewall for the wheels I have, and that probably contributes to the lack of carnage. If you were to run large wheels with a 1" sidewall, you're probably asking for trouble, but with a proper sidewall you shouldn't have too much to worry about. The point here is that having big wheels doesn't make them susceptible to damage, using the wrong tire in that application does. Depending upon the wheel lip style and tire width, you may have a chrome lip that is close to the edge of the tire. This attribute makes your wheels more susceptible to curb rash, but if you can't drive/park a car without hitting the curbs, maybe you have bigger problems. (this isn't bumper bowling, and you shouldn't be parking by feel)

Like I said before, I'm not sure exactly where I stand on the issue of putting big wheels on classic muscle (and by big I mean >18") but I wanted to speak to the issues of using those wheels. If you haven't had the personal experience of driving on them, it's absurd to make assertions about ride quality and the related attributes. I'm not saying I have that experience with them on a muscle car, but I have experience with them for my particular application and it's related. Aesthetically, everyone has their own opinion and they're entitled to it, but performance characteristics are a matter of fact, not opinion.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone!

[performerrpm]

now that its been revived, that black paint job on the 66 gto is just good looking, but those wheels are so dam ugly

[GT182]

Big wheels/skinny sidewall tires equals a sh*tty ride. They will pound you to death. And as said, potholes love to eat em up.

And the best thing of all, you can have a flat tire and not evn know it when the car is parked. I've seen that more than once. LOL

[Viper12873]

Originally Posted by GT182

Big wheels/skinny sidewall tires equals a sh*tty ride. They will pound you to death. And as said, potholes love to eat em up.

And the best thing of all, you can have a flat tire and not evn know it when the car is parked. I've seen that more than once. LOL

Is any of that based on experience, or was that pure speculation? I think you may have missed the entire point of my post...

[Steve C.]

Stated- "15" rims will not work with the new aftermarket, Baer, Willwood, disk brakes. You will have to go with 18" wheels."

Giant brakes no, but Willwood has Dynalite Pro Series brake kits to fit 12.11" rotors front and rear. Got them on my T/A with Vintage Wheel Works 15-inch Vintage 45 wheels.

[66Post]

Nasty.........like running Jap and Korean tires on American muscle, just doesn't compute.

[Tom McQueen]

I went to 18" rims on my 70 GTO project. I think they look just fine. Flame away if you must. Wont hurt my feelings.

[Steve C.]

"...like running Jap and Korean tires on American muscle, just doesn't compute."


Hard to find a tire these days that's not made overseas. Most of Cooper tires are american made but not all, I believe the same with Kelly Springfield. Even Goodyear doesn't make all their tires in America. BF Goodrich.... some from France. Firestone.... all Japan I think.

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires that all tires sold in the United States carry a code which shows, among other things, the company and plant that made the tire. The code would look like this: DOT BE XX XXX XXX (where the X’s stand in for numbers and/or letters that are not part of the plant ID code)

The two symbols (either two letters or a letter and a number) which follow “DOT” indicate the company and the plant where a tire was manufactured. For example, the above code indicates a tire made by B. F. Goodrich in Tuscaloosa, AL. The following is a listing of U.S. unionized tire DOT codes. By comparing this list to the code on the tire you are buying, you can be certain you are getting a USW-made tire.

Look for the following codes for union-made tires made in the United States: AN, BE, BF, CC. DA, DY, D2, E3, JJ, JE, JF, JN, JT, JP, MP, PL, MC, MD, MJ, MK, MM, PJ, PY, PT, PU, TA, UP, UT, VE, W1, YE, YU, Y7, 2C, 2M, 3M, 4D, 5D, and 8B.

[66Post]

Thanks for the education. Two things I won't buy, foreign tires and Chinese furniture.
Rich

[marauder]

Originally Posted by Tom McQueen

I went to 18" rims on my 70 GTO project. I think they look just fine. Flame away if you must. Wont hurt my feelings.

I like it Tom. I've got 17's all around but kinda wish I opted for the 18s in the rear.