Weld Draglite long-term street usage
 

I have been running 15x7 rally 2 wheels with 275/60r15 tires on the back of my 65 GTO forever. Thinking about changing it up to an 8 inch aftermarket wheel, something lighter with a bright look, plus the tire shops won't give me grief about putting a 275 on a 7 inch wheel.

Curious how those lighter drag wheels hold up for long-term usage? The Weld warranty parameters sound pretty strict, as if they've optimized weight reduction at the cost of durability. I want to drive on the street a lot, so if a steel wheel or different aluminum wheel is the way to go, I will avoid them.

Also not sure what offset/backspacing to order if I want the new wheels to put the tires in the exact same spot as the Rally wheels.

My current Draglites have been on the car 20+ years. I use a 15×8 with 5.5" backspacing. BUT I have a '69 model 12 bolt rear. Measure carefully. I use a 15×5 front wheel. I think I'd be leary of the 3.5" for street use. FWIW

awesome thanks. does the finish hold up? did you notice any performance improvement over the heavy steel stockers?

I think my Centerline Auto Drag wheels aren't supposed to be for street duty. Been on the street since 1985. Lol! Engineering estimates. BAH! :)

The finish is as durable as the environment allows. They have to be polished periodically. I didn't keep steel wheels on this car long enough to know about performance difference.

Have had Draglites on the street and they were perfectly fine. I have a buddy who ran them for years on the street, and they're still perfectly straight and balanced.

If I had to guess, they didn't want to go through the hassle of getting them D.O.T approved, so saying track use only takes care of that.

Ok, it sounds like the wheels will be just fine. Just a question of whether I want to drop the coin or spend it on something else I guess.

Draglites were on everything in the 80's. I didn't run a set of those personally but many friends did and drove their cars everywhere for years, if you remember back when people actually drove their cars :D

Yes there is a performance advantage at the track with less rotational weight. I meant to do a back to back test last time I was there with 2 sets of wheels (Rally II's and much lighter Torque Thrusts) But I didn't have time that day.

I did however get to the scales and the car was 40 lbs. lighter with the aluminum wheels LOL Same size wheels all around and same size tires. Those rally II's are friggen heavy.

But being there on different days and running the wheels on different occasions I found the car consistently picks up a solid tenth with the aluminum wheels.

i have draglites on for decades as well
no issues
i do know some folks who had issues with them and other weld rims, but that was because of front ends slamming down, and narrows rims too

The set on my car is dated 2001 I’ve had them for about four years.

are the torque thrusts that much lighter? I'm not wedded to the draglites. I actually like the Outlaw 1 but as far as i can tell you can't get it with the correct backspacing.

I do remember back when everyone drove their cars and that is what I am trying to get back to with mine! I have a slight dent and nick in one quarter panel and I always look at it and remind myself that the imperfections are just proof that I actually drove my car, and that if I wind up 80 years old with more scratches and nicks and a worn-out engine and a noisy diff, well, that just means I enjoyed my car instead of looking at it in the shop every now and again!

Been running mine since 1994. No issues. They are a bit oxidised now.


They are light. I can throw the 275/60 tire and wheel assy with no problem.

Hang on. I've weighed the Torque Thrusts individually and compared them to Pontiac Rally and Chevy Rally wheels. I need to find some notes and I can tell you exactly what the difference is. I've done this on 3 different cars already LOL

A bare 15x7” Rally II wheel weighs 25 pounds.

I’d be willing to bet a 15x7” Torque Thrust is within a few pounds of that, they’re not a particularly light weight wheel.

Centerlines are pretty robust, thicker material and aircraft rivets fasten the two stamped halves together. They’re made of thicker material than Weld Draglites, pretty sure they’re .250” thick material. The off road racers ran Centerlines back in the day, they’d bend but didn’t break in off road racing and could be pounded back into shape and be used again.

I’d trust Centerline Auto Drag wheels for the long haul over Weld wheels.

As I already stated, the torque thrusts on the Firebird knocked 40 lbs. off the car. That's significant for just a wheel change.
That's the difference between a 15x7 Pontiac rally on the back, and 15x6's on the front. The Torque Thrusts are the same sizes, with the same tires on them. I literally changed them in the pits and drove the car back over to the scales.
The Pontiac rallys are just super heavy.

For comparison I looked at my notes on the Camaro and Chevelle.
Chevy rally wheels just aren't as heavy as the Pontiac wheel so the difference isn't as dramatic, but it's still noticeable. I have individual weights with and without tires but for simplicity I'll keep this at overall weight reduction

The Camaro had 15x7 Rallys all around. I installed 15x7 Torque Thrusts all around, with the same tires off the Rallys. It knocked exactly 30 lbs. off the car.

The Chevelle had 15x8 Rallys on the back and 15x6 Rallys on the front. Switching to the same size Torque Thrusts on this car knocked exactly 34 lbs. off the car. For what ever reason those 15x8 Chevy Rallys are pretty darn heavy compared to the 6's and 7's, so there was a 4 lbs. difference in the switch compared to the camaro.

Something else I experimented with when it came time for a brake job.

When it was time for new rotors I was comparing prices and found that I could replace the stock stuff for about the same price with drilled and slotted rotors. The added benefit I found was that they were 1.5 lbs. lighter too.

I recently put aluminum rear drums on the Chevelle that took 6 lbs. off.

I know people that work a hell of a lot harder than that to find a few lbs. here or there. Which is why wheels are such an easy one that takes off a good chunk.

The 15x7” Torque Thrust wheels weigh 17.5 pounds each, much lighter than I thought they’d be. :o

Lost that bet.....:)

15x8" draglite. 14.6# on my bathroom scale

I don't see a date on these wheels but the guy I bought the car from , I believe he bought the wheels around the late '80's.
I bought Weld pro Stars for my 65 GTO in 1991. They still take a good shine.

Been running Weld Prostars on my 64 for 10 years, No problems to this date. 15x7 up front and 15x8 in rear.
But they only come in 3.5- 4.5-5.5 etc backspace. No 5. I run a 255/70/15 on rear and if I have a load 2 people in rear they touch on
outside wheel well slightly. Finish still looks good. light polish once a year.

Good idea looking them up that way. I had in my notes they were 17 lbs. so my scale might be a little light. They are robust looking wheels that do give the appearance of being heavy.