14's or 15's
 

I just bought a '70 Lemans Sport. I want to put Rally II's on it but not sure which ones to go with. The car has drum brake all the way around right now, but I am going to put discs on it, soo will 14's or 15's work the best??? Also what about codes, will any particular code be more valuable?? Where is the place to find this out, (books)??

My '72 has 14" ralley II wheels and factory disc brakes, so the 14" wheels need not preclude you from having discs.

However, a lot of modern upgrade disc brakes call for minimums of 15" and even 16" wheels. I would think you would have more opportunities for bigger and better brakes with the 15's, and still keep a 'stock' look.

I have 14" wheels and I like the look. But the trend for the last few years has been 'bigger is better'. I like the 15" wheels too, but you can get ralley II style wheels in various bigger sizes now (16,17,18?).

Thanks for the info, LuxLeMans.

Gman,

If you look in my avatar pic that's my 71 Lemans with 14" Rallys. I didn't like the way it sat so I installed new coil springs front and rear. That brought my ride height up signifigantly at all 4 corners. With the car sitting higher I didn't like the 14's anymore.

I went with 15" Rally II's and larger tires and now I really like the way my car looks.

Personally I'm not into the 17" low profile tire scene. But I definitely like the 15's better than the 14's.

Another thing to consider is the relatively slim tire selection in 14" sizes. It seems that all of the manufacturers have started dropping their 14" sizes, and finding ones with decent width (235 or 245 at least) is becoming very difficult.
With 15", you will have a lot more options.
As far as rare wheels- don't worry about it. You are putting non-stock wheels on a car, because you want better looks and better handling. Scrounging for desirable codes would only greatly increase your expenses, without ever providing any benefit.
Plus, if you want a lot of tire contact patch in back, you'll want the 15X8 reproduction rally's, as GM never made them any wider than 7".

Thanks for the help guys!!!

I switched my 70 to 15 from 14s. Gives it a more manly look with bigger tires than you can get in 14s

Will the 15X8 fit in the front without rubbing?

Depends on tire size. I had 245-50-15's on Trans Am WS6 15X8 snowflakes on a 1970 GTO when I bought it, and with that tire size, and with the backspacing of those wheels, nothing rubbed.
I would think you would have problems with 275-60-15's, however...

Thanks, I'm still in the thinking stage the I have 14" Ralley II's and I'm thinking on how to get the car to stand out a little more. I have BF Goodrich TA radials. My Le Mans is 2 Palamino copper with a black vinyl top. I am thinking about after market wheels. Any suggestions.

I checked on a minor detail last night, as I was unsure of the exact dimensions when I posted above.
The factory 15X8 snowflakes have a 4 1/2-inch backspace, as compared to a stock 15X7 Rally II's 4-inch. Basically, the wheel grows both inward and outward by a half inch, instead of moving entirely one way or the other. This helps in the clearance department.
Aftermarket wheel selection is really a very personal choice. I've seen the Centerline 5-spoke wheels (look kinda like drag stars) work really well on A-bodies, and I'm running 15X7 American Racing Torque Thrust II's on my 1970 GTO convertible. I went with the TTII's only because of bang-for-the-buck. The deal couldn't be beat. If it hadn't been such a great deal, I would have gone with the American Racing 200S "daisy" wheels, with the argent gray centers. They look simply incredible on these cars, IMO, but they need to be special (custom) ordered. That translates into much more $$ (like almost twice the cost, in my case).

Go with the RII's with 255/60R15 for the rear and 234/60R15 for the front. All you would need is a 15x7 rim.

I upgraded my suspension earlier this year with this kit:

http://www.p-s-t.com/gm/gmfdbkconv.html

Note - "will fit most 14X7" - didn't work for my original 14" Rally IIs so I had to upgrade to these:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

The colors are off a bit but I'll take care of this over the winter. I have the 245X60X15s and have not had any problems but then again, I do have new springs all around and the car is sitting higher than what it was prior to the upgrades. I've attached a few pictures for your reference - hope they help.

Thanks for the input I'll probably go with the Rally II 15X7.

Hey, I just want to put this out there, this was my first question on this forum and I can't believe the response!! This is awesome!!!! I can't wait to start restoring this old girl!!! Thanks for all the help!!!!

G

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't happy with the colors that come with the wheels from "Wheels Vintique" so I started painting them today. Most of the work was in taping the wheel but I think it came out to be pretty close to the original colors. Here are some shots comparing before and after. Comments welcomed.

I didn't realize that the original color was supposed to be that dark. What type of paint/color did you use?

I'm not sure which method you used, but for those tuning in, there are pre-cut paint stencils available out there for ralley II wheel resto.

Also, out of curiosity, which if any, GTO's got beauty rings?

To me, it looks like the correct color would be a shade somewhere between those two. The original looks a little too light, the new a little too dark. Until you enlarge the picture, the new paint looks almost black.
As for trim rings, they could be had on everything. The only cars that didn't get them as standard on the rally wheels were the Judge's.

I agree with you guys about the color but this could also be from the lighting in my garage. What I'll do is when I finish the wheels I'll take a picture of it in the daylight, no camera flash and you should see a difference. The pictures do make it look darker than what it really is. Last month I went to the swap meets at Englishtown NJ and purchased the paint from Ames Performance - they said that this was the color they used for the Rally II's. It is Dupli-Color DSGM318 (Charcoal Metallic):

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...number=DSGM318

FYI - good info on the different color variations:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...ally+II+Wheels