[Firebird_Istanbul]

Hello Everyone. I am Hakan from Istanbul Turkey. I have got a 1974 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400
Here my wheels and tires.
Front 15X7 Centerline wheels with 245/60-15 tires
Rear 15X10 Centerline wheels with 345/50-15 tires

[Alvin]

Stock suspension, with 15 X 8" 78 Trans Am Snowflake Wheels.

Stock wheel backspacing.

Tires are 245/60/15 BFG's. I have also used 255/60/15's without issues.

Original wheels are 15x7 Rally II's

[deric]

My 67 GTO is under construction. I have BFG's g-force KDWS's 255/50 x 17 on the rear and 245/45 x 17 up front mounted on American RacingTorq Thrust Original 17/8 4.5 BS and 0 offset. It appears that the fronts will work fine but the rears hit on the outer wheel well. If I want to use the rear set up I will have to narrow the rear end by about 1 inch on each side. I do like the looks of the combination.

[Rafe LORHO]

Hi from France,
Here's how to wear down those "hard as nails" Cooper Cobras before fitting something better!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x43...urnouts-8_auto

The trouble with living in Europe is that it's rather hard getting hold of decent tires for 15 inch rims. The only older cars to use 15 inch rims were the bigger BMWs, and they didn't use much wider than 225.

I'm now using Mickey Thompson Street Radials (that I had to get imported - thanks Summit) on my vintage 8 inch American Racing rims:
235/60 R15 on the front and 255/60 R15 on the rear.

The car now sits right - slightly tail up! The only disadvantage compaired to stock size is that the rear fender extensions get hit by loads of stones thrown up by the slightly sticking out front tires (rather like the red Firebird further up on this thread).

Otherwise, the M/Ts grip like nothing on Earth! (Except when it's raining heavily - hello aquaplaning, hello crash....!!)

Best regards,
Rafe

[Rafe LORHO]

Hi again,
I forgot to describe the chassis setup of my car. Here goes:
Poly bushes everywhere
Edelbrock shocks at the front, combi coil overs at the rear (don't know what brand - bought from old stock on e-bay)
Stock axel with 3.08:1 gears
Disc brakes all round
Stock front springs
Stock 4-leaf rear springs with the second leaf doubled by reusing another old leaf - so that makes a kind of home grown 5-leaf spring.
Lakewood traction bars

All this makes the car handle quite well for not too much expense and absolutly no bodywork modification. However, a bit brutal on the rear according to back seat passengers!

Regards,
Rafe

[johnsma22]

76 T/A lowered 1.5" front and rear with the Competition Spring Kit from Pro-Touring F-Body. Wheels are American Racing's Torque Thrust II's at 17x8 and 4.75" back spacing all the way around. Tires are BFG g-force KDWS's at 255/50/17's all the way around. Nothing rubs anywhere under any circumstances. No modifications were required.

[deric]

I must have let this go too long as I can't figure out how to modify my orginial post. I have 17x8 Troq-Thrusts with 4.5" backspacing and 0" offset front and rear. I have 245/45/17s in the front and 255/50/17 in the rear. To get the 255/50/17's to fit in the rear I narrowed the rear 1" on each side. The car in the pricture has the original rear springs installed. I want the front 1 to 2 inches lower, then I'll lower the rear end. The car has disks front and rear along with 2" dropped spindles and 1" dropped springs up front I think that the dropped springs are too stiff as it doesn't appear that the front dropped much at all and I don't like the way the wheeling tire fit in the wheel well.

[BubbleTops]

Front:15X6 3.25"BS 205/75/15
Rear: 15X8 4.75"BS 275/60/15

Stock Suspension.

[dutch injun]

Street Lites and Rodlites

[LawnJockey]

66 Tempest custom
front wheels 15x7 w/ 195/60/15
rear wheels 15x8 w/ 255/60/15
Too much rake?

[Baz]

79 Firebird Esprit.
301ci engine.
Front springs : Eibach (-1.5").
Rear springs : stock
The wheels are Torq trust M chinese reproduction from Custom Wheels Market.
17 X 8 (BS :4.5" / offset : 0 mm) on the front and 17 X 9 (BS : 5" / offset : 0 mm) on the rear.
Front tires : Goodyear Eagle F1 235/50 R17
Rear tires : Hankook Ventus Sport 255/50 R17

[Formulafr]

i had cragar soft8 397 series. 17x8 4.5"BS and 245/45/17 on the front, 17x9 5"BS with 275/40/17 at the rear. no tire rubbing even with 2 and 1.5 lower car.

i actually run 18x8 4.5"BS american racing torqlite with 245/45 and 255/45 tires, no problem.

it's always better with picture

[Zyman]

I am running Nitto 555, 245-45-17 front and 285-40-17 rear. The rims are KMZ 68's "Hot Wheels" 17x9 with zero offset (5" back space). I mounted a PMD center cap to the rear and will do the same to the front after I modify the locking device to clear the greese cap. The car is going to have the Pro-Touring F-Body racing front end kit and suspension kit installed at the end of June.

Now that pictures can be downloaded, here they are (since the photos I have attached the PMD center caps to the front rims as well):

[Steve C.]

http://www.vintagewheelworks.com/vie...ir=0&img_id=56

Not a very good picture, because of the shade I should of used "fill in" flash for better details on thw wheels and tires.
1970 Trans Am with Vintage Wheel Works V45 15x7" 3-7/8" backspace in the front, and 15x8" 3-7/8" backspace in the rear.
Tires are 275/60R-15 rear and 245/60R-15 front.

[Gasman]

1969 Gto The Judge
14"x7" 245/60-14 Front
15"x11" 295/50-15 Rear

[ramairthreegto]

No big surprise here.

My 69 GTO has the standard 14x6 Rally IIs all the way around.

No problems with P225/70s on them.

Rarely, with 5 people in the car and hitting a decent bump at higher speeds, a quick bottom out has occured. (I plan to stuff drag bags in to maintain more height and correct this- it spends its time taking the kids out for ice cream, etc. and not at car shows or the drag strip)

I think they are a great tire up front.

I want a little more height and width in back.

I am refurbishing a pair a HM code 15x7s for the rear.
Plan to 255/70,
275/60,
or, if can find, 265/65 and see how it works.
(Goal- slightly increased diameter to decrease rpms while crusing, and a touch more raise to the rear end, and a little wider tire than the 225s.)

Here are the
225/70 14s all the way around.

[Danimal]

I am refurbishing a pair a HM code 15x7s for the rear.
Plan to 255/70,
275/60,
or, if can find, 265/65 and see how it works.
(Goal- slightly increased diameter to decrease rpms while crusing, and a touch more raise to the rear end, and a little wider tire than the 225s.)

If that the end goal, you might just want to go with 255/60r-15s which are 27" tall(slightly taller that 26.8 of the 225/70/14) and would work great on the 7" wheel.

a 275/60/15 is pretty big.

If the tire shop has both, see if they will test fit them on the car to see if it's the look/profile you desire and go that route.

-Dan

[Gasman]

Originally Posted by Gasman

1969 Gto The Judge
14"x7" 245/60-14 Front
15"x11" 295/50-15 Rear

[1966goat]

Tire: Firestone Firehawk Indy 500
225/70r15 back
215/65r15 front
Wheel: American Racing Ansen Sprint 15x7

The front tires rub a little on the outer fender lip during turns, with stock suspension. Soon I should be upgrading suspension and I'll see how it goes.

[ramairthreegto]

Ok, I went from 14x6 Rally IIs all the way around with p22570s.
I kept those up front.
I restored a pair of 15x7 Rally IIs (take that green party and cash for clunkers, how many of them have keep 4000 or so pounds of vehicle and parts out of the scrap yard. We are the damn environmentalists, not them. There batteries filling land fills will be the end of the environment some day.)

the PMD caps are not fitting the 15x7s tight, so the arrowhead caps they came with are on for now.

I went with R15 p275/60s. A classic look for muscle in my opinion is taller, wider, and a little more sidewall in the rear compared to the front. You gain about 1.5 inches in diameter/ .75 in height, 1.8 inches in width, and .25 inches of sidewall in the rear compared to the front in this combo on these rim sizes.

Just the look I was going for, plus a couple hundred less rpms at cruising speed.
Have not had the wife, spare, and all the kids in the trunk, and hit bumps at speed, but think I am going to be OK.

My "Day Two" look I was going for is complete.
You can compare to my sig for the tire size appearance comparsion.

I know the hood scoops, hood tach, and spoiler are suppossed to be body color.
I know it is supposed to be 14 inch rims all around, no trim rings, and PMD caps in back (which if I get them to fit tight will put on),

I know it is not supposed to have "GTO 400 CID" gloss black stickers and gloss black The Judge stickers on the spoiler, extra stickers on the rear window, the split exhaust tips, etc.
should be a blacked out front grill, etc.
Not going for a factory correct show appearance. Going for the look you had in the 70s and 80s when you got your hands on one.















these are not balloons, these are how old school muscle looks







ok, maybe I do need hood pins,
but that will be the last thing for appearance. I swear.