Those with a 66 GTO with aftermarket wheels.....
 

I'm getting close to buying a set of aftermarket wheels for my 66.
From what I've been able to understand from the threads I've seen, I'm guessing 15 x 7 wheels will be safe all the way around on my car (stock ride height, supposedly).
Is this the size most of you guys are going with, or are you going bigger?

What backspacing are you using?

I'm having nightmares about shelling out a bunch of cash for wheels and tires, and I hope I only have to make the leap once, and do it correctly...

I appreciate the help-

Just bought a set of Cragars for my 66. 15 x 7 inch front wheels with a 4 1/2 inch backspace. Tires are 235 x 15. Back wheels are 15 x 8 with 5 inch backspace. Tires are 255 x 15. It looks good and drives nice
John

tire size
 

do the 15x8s rub on the wheel wells?

I think what needs to be determined is the tire size that you want to run. If you look at the tire specs you will see the the rim size required for the tires. The rim size will vary with the tire you want. Generally, if you want a 255, 235, 225 you can use a 7 inch rim. Larger requires 8 inch plus for example....
The largest rear tire I've seen on a 66/67 w/o a tub is 275/60/16 and from what I understand it's very tight.

Brad

66 Wheels
 

I too am looking into a set of rims for my 66. My concern is the off-set folks are running with. My car is about 1 1/2 lower then stock with all new hardware, so everything is nice and tight. I am looking to keep the overall tire height at or just below 26 inches. Since I want to keep the same size of tire on all 4 corners, I have been looking into 16" possibly 17" rims, I keep reading that 4.5 inch back spacing will work for the front (disk brakes) and back. What do you guys feel is doable? I really dont want to take my car to the local rim shops to see what will fit, since the shops in my area are lets just say, my car would not fit in since I dont want to go with 20's+.

No, no rubbing or even close. With a 5" backspace on the rear wheels - you could run 275 x 15 tires. I'm using 255 x 15 on the back with stock suspension and have plenty of room left. I think the backspacing is the key here.
John

66 gto tires and wheels
 

just finished my 66 resto project in july
running 275-15 tires in the rear with crager 8" 4" offset wheels
running 215 -15 tires on the front with crager 7" 4" offset wheels
problem-- had 225-15 on the front and had a real slight nick on the rear of the front wheel well when turning and in a twist.so i went to the 215's
with 275 15 on the rear had a constant rub on the fender well.liked the stance so installed a set of gabriel air shocks that solved the problem
check out the stance on my website-freds gto.com
good luck
fred
still spendin money havin fun got er done

You know, I've talked to both Summit and Jeg's today about Cragars and getting a custom backspace. Both told me that Cragar no longer does that, and that the max backspace that I could get on a 15 in wheel was 4 3/8.

I was told that Cragar has been sold about 8 times in the past decade, and they just don't do that stuff anymore.?????

I don't get it...

Anyway, Wheel Vintiques would give me a custom backspace, and they were my second choice anyway. Thats who I went with-

Whats the story there?

I have 4 7/8 on the front and 5 on the back with my Radir wheels.I talked to Scott at Summit several months ago and he said Weld,Cragers and T2s are about the only wheels with close to 5" backspacing.I wanted something different so when the Radirs came available I jumped on them.Good luck,I looked a long time until I bought.

The max I have found with Cragars is I think was somewhere in the 4.25 to 4.5 range. 4.375 is right in the middle, maybe that is it. At one time a few years ago, Cragar sold the rights to a company that tried to go with all aluminum, rather than al centers welded to steel rims. They offered custom backspacing. Cost was a lot higher also. They went belly up. I have 15X7's all around on both my 66 Chevelle, and 67 GTO. 255 60 on the rear, and 225 70 on the fronts. Because of the shape of the 67 front fender, the tires rub the very bottom corner of the wheel well molding on the 67. I was able to fix it with a few taps of a hammer on the very bottom corner. The next time I buy tires, I'll go one size smaller on the front.
Gary

I received my Cragars in April, 2006. They were special ordered by Summit and were drop shipped from Carlisle Tire and Wheel Co. I assume they own Cragar. I still have the boxes and invoice- it says special order 15 x 7 w/ 4-1/2" BS and 15 x 8 w/5" BS. Numbers were 61715 and 61815. I received them about 2 weeks after ordering through Summit. I did have a hard time convincing Summit to look into the special order. I had to talk to 3 customer service people as I recall. Maybe they stopped doing special orders this summer or try to contact Carlisle direct. They did a nice job on them and the chrome was perfect
John

Thanks John-
I did not mean to question that you did get yours custom ordered, only that those I spoke with seemed unwilling or unable to help me do that.
You are lucky to have gotten yours that way!

I would give Lewis a call at Summit customer service on Monday. They have to make a call to Cragar and get back to you, but I do believe you can still special order. They were worth the hassle! Good luck
John

Correct....
 

Carlisle Tire and Wheel owns all previous Cragers made with steel....Weld owns all previous aluminum wheels. Weld now undergoing takeover by American Racing. Ron

nice stance fred - i like the pictures

i'm gonna try just a bit higher for my rear end - i like the aggressive style

rims and tires
 

hey guys i am thinking about going 18's all around

this pic has a 20 inch rim on it which I believe will make the car sit really too high

any suggestions when i put the 18's on ?


ROBBIE

In the photos provided I prefere the Rally II's on there, car looks very sharp.

Tim john---

max size tire and rims for a 67 gto
 

Im looking to buy new rims and tires. I was at summit today looking. I was thinking about Ridler rims 18" and having nitro tires 18x 8 245-45-18 for the front and 18x9.5 275-40-18 for the rear. Does anyone know if these will fit my 67 gto the salesman at Summit said it will but I'm not sure

Can't tell you if they fit but I can tell you that going straight to Summit is not a good move.

Shop around, find the lowest "advertised" or "listed" price, then hit up Summit with that price.

Summit will beat any "verifiable" price by 10%

It will somewhat depend on how low your car is, but in my experience....for the rear, you will need to get the back spacing perfect to fit a 9.5 wide wheel in the rear with a 275 tire, I also had slight rubbing in the front with 245 tire and had to go to a 235-40-18.

What was Summit suggesting for back spacing?