[gtohurstjudge]

As everyone knows, there is a trend in the hobby right now
towards installing larger diameter wheels coupled with low profile
tires. I'm not a big fan of 17 inch wheels, but a slightly larger correct looking wheel that is hard to see what the difference is without a tape measure intrigues me . What got me to thinking about this was looking at 69 Z-28 Camaros that came with 15 inch Chevy Ralley wheels with E-70 15 Polyglas white lettered tires from the factory. The overall diameter of the setup was the same, but there was a little more rim and a little less tire than the 14 inch wheels that came on the Camaro SS. I always have felt that this made the Z-28 look better
than the SS and probably improved handling as well as shorter sidewalls are stiffer in the corners. Recently, a customer at my car repair shop gave me a set of Ralley 2 wheels measuring 15 x 6 inches
wide that he took off a 79 Firebird that he no longer owned. I held
them up next to my stock 14 x 6 JA wheels and discovered that the
outer rim dimensions and offsets were identical to the Firebird wheels,
and the only difference was the !5 inch wheels had spokes just a little bit longer. You really can't tell the difference between them without a measuring tape. I'm going to restore these wheels and buy some 69
Z-28 repro E-70 15 white lettered Goodyear Polyglas tires for them.
The letters say Goodyear Wide Tread GT, with no size on them to give
away the mod to the casual observer. Now here is the really unbelievable part.......The code on these 15x6 wheels is JA, and the
date code has a 9 in it for 79 instead of 69! When I get these wheels and tires on the car in a few months I'll take some pics and post them. One more thing....the stock 14x6 wheels have a splice line
in the outer rim which shows when you don't have trim rings. These
15x 6 '79 wheels have no splice line in the outer rim!

[wytnyt]

dont it make ya tingle inside when the numbers come together

[UPC-WU2]

That's awesome. I wanna see that.

[69lm69gp]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

but a slightly larger correct looking wheel that is hard to see what the difference is without a tape measure intrigues me.

A lot of guys are already doing this. So a search of this forum will be helpfull when you start looking at tire sizes.

[motorcitymusclecar]

If the stock wheel is 14 inch and the new wheel is 15 inch and the tire for the 14 inch is a g-70 and the tire for the 15 inch is the E-70 - do both come out to be the same height tire. One just has more rim and the other has more tire side wall but they should be the same over all height of i think 26 inches and look about the same. The stock tires are cool looking.

Some guys say they ride like crap - but i have several cars with the BELTED wied oval tires and i think they are great. Maybe the difference is the originals never had belts.

With you 15 inch rim idea the side walls will be less so it is all good.

[goathead68]

I'm trying a set of 15 x 7, 4.5" offset rally IIs with 235/60/15 Radial TAs (tire height is 26.1") on the front of my GTO. In static turn testing, it looks like the tire will just clear the lower wheel molding, and I have some room to fudge the fender back a bit.



They look a lot like the 14 x 6 Rally IIs that were on the car originally. I got these wheels for free; the only expense I have in 'em is sandblasting and paint.

I have 15 x 7 repop Rally IIs on the rear with 245/60/15 RTAs. Those rims are 4" offset and the little deeper dish looks good back there.

The plan is to not run trim rings. I like the look.

[marauder]

I had 235/60x15s on 15 x 8 x 4.5 repro Rally IIs on the front of mine without a problem.