[lilredgto]

I see that Year One is offering 17" x 9" Honeycomb Wheels that were fitted with 275/40/17 tires all around with no issues. I was wondering would a 255/50/17 fit without issues on all 4 wheels, or are they too tall up front with the need to go to 235/50/17 tire ?

I have Torque Thrust 2's on the car with 17" x 9.5" with 5 1/2 backspacking Rear fitted with 275/40/17 and
17" x 8" with 4 1/2 backspacing up front fitted with 245/45/17 with no issues..but I would like to see more sidewall without giving up too much of the handling. Anyone with thoughts would be appreciated.

[Mr_GTO]

I saw those, they look nice. Not sure what size tire you'll need. Where in MA are you from? I can't recall ever seeing a '71 around here.

[lilredgto]

In Western Ma and member of Pioneer Valley GTO!

[lilredgto]

Spoke with a Technician at Driverz Inc. and he felt that a 17"x9" with 5" backspacing with B Body spindles could pose a rubbing problem. I did further research and was wondering if anyone had thoughts about 245/45/17 up front that have a section width of 9.6" and a height of 25.7" In the rear I was thinking of 255/45/17 with a section width of 10" and height 26.1. Both tires state they can be mounted on 9" rim. That being said can anyone advise. Thanks

[b-man]

Not the same year car or wheel diameter, but this may help give you some perspective.

I'm running an 18X9" wheel on the front of a '64 Tempest with a 245/40-18 tire (25.7" tall), the wheel backspacing is 5.5".

You will likely need a lot of backspacing to fit a 9" wide wheel in the front, I seriously doubt that 5" will be enough. If you take your current 17X8" wheels and carefully check/measure that you have an additional 1/2" of room both inside and out then a 17X9" wheel with 5" of backspacing could work.

The issue you will run across trying to fit a wide wheel on the front of an A-body car is the deep backspacing causes the inside of the rim to contact the rear side of the upper control arm on full steering lock. A 17" wheel provides a little less clearance than an 18" wheel in this area.

I was using Hotchkis upper control arms and '78 B-body spindles. The rear tube on the control arm is curved outward quite a bit and it contacted the inside of the rim at full-lock.

I decided to swap the Hotchkis upper arms for SPC adjustable arms, mainly to get the clearance I needed. The SPC arms have straight adjustable 'legs' so the outwardly curved upper rear control arm tube clearance issue was eliminated.

At the same time I also replaced the B-body spindles with forged aluminum ATS spindles, the stock lower control arms I was using were also replaced with SPC tubular lowers. The SPC tubular lowers have the spring pocket located so that they will lower the car by 1". The lower ball joint is located 1" further forward in the arm to allow you to dial in more caster for high-speed stability without it moving the wheel/tire rearward in the fender opening.

Text and pictures of the suspension work:http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=610357

[lilredgto]

Thanks for the information B Man. I will use the advice you gave me to check my clearance.
What you did to you car is some masterful work. That car is going to handle and stop like all Pontiac owners wish theirs would!

[lilredgto]

I took my rear 17"x9.5" rims 5 1/2 BS with 275/40/17 and bolted them on the front of my 71 GTO and at full turn there would only be enough space to slide a piece of paper between rim and upper Hotchkis A-Arm. Didn't detect any scrub but I didn't drive the car this way as I didn't want to damage the torque thrusts rims. The rims I want to put on are 17"x9" rims with 5" BS. Here is what I'm thinking and I'm asking because I'm no expert. The difference between the two rims is 1/2" and the difference in BS is 1/2". I'm thinking that difference with the new wheel will be 3/4 of an inch clearance on the backside to the upper A-Arm? Is my math correct. I did bolt the new rim on without Tire as I can't return to year one if I have a tire mounted and it did not hit, but is close to upper a-arm. I sent a email to tech support at Year One, and this is the reponse I received which I really didn't find very encouraging.

Hello



Thank you for purchasing from Year One.

The rear wheels you test fit on the front have 1/2 inch more backspace than the wheels with 5 inch backspace, so this doesn’t really tell you anything useful.

These wheels work on most stock cars which do not have chassis, suspension or sheet metal issues. When fitted with BFG G Force TA KDW tires most cars only scrub the tires at the extremes (again without the above issues). Note that some other models tires designated 275-40-17 are actually taller and/or wider than the KDW’s and will scrub more.

Since you have different spindles and aftermarket control arms we recommend you set a wheel in place on the car prior to mounting tires and installing lug nuts to check the fit.



Regards,

[b-man]

The 1/2" difference in backspacing will determine the rim clearance to the control arm, so if 5-1/2" of BS is just barely fitting you should have 1/2" of clearance with the 5" BS wheel.

Keep in mind that the 9-1/2" wheel will pull the sidewall in from the rim edge just a bit compared to the 9" wheel if using the same tire size on both, probably a matter of 1/8" more sidewall bulge past the rim edge with the 9" wheel on each side at the most.

The rule of thumb is for every 1" change in rim width you'll see the sidewall width (section width) change by .4" with the same size tire. Even though the section width will be a bit narrower with the 9" wheel as compared to the 9-1/2" wheel, the sidewall itself will stick out further past the rim edge with the narrower wheel.

[lilredgto]

Thanks B-man, I pulled the trigger and ordered up 245/45/17 tires for front, 275/40/17 out back. If they 'scrub' as year one stated, I will change the upper a-arms to the SPC's you spoke of. Again, thanks for all the information.

[fast72lemans]

Post some pictures when you get them, I'd really like to see what they look like on the car!

[erikgto]

Love to see pics of these wheels on a GTO.

Thinking about a set for my '71.
What worries me is the fact that mine has the Eibach Proline lowering springs which have lowered the front somewhere between 1.5 and 2". I'm afraid they'll hit the upper fenderlips...

[b-man]

Originally Posted by lilredgto

Thanks B-man, I pulled the trigger and ordered up 245/45/17 tires for front, 275/40/17 out back. If they 'scrub' as year one stated, I will change the upper a-arms to the SPC's you spoke of. Again, thanks for all the information.

Here's a comparison photo of the SPC adjustable arm resting on top of the Hotchkis arm. You can clearly see the extra rim clearance afforded by the SPC arm.

[lilredgto]

Honeycomb Update...After checking fitment and finding that wheels would fit fine I opted for 255/50/17 out back (wanted a bit more height for a slight rake) and 245/45/17 up front. Before putting tires on rim I tried the center caps that I purchased from year one. I hate to say that this was a HUGE problem. The Prongs that hold the cap to the wheel were impossible to lock all three prongs in place. I tried adjusting the prongs and then using needle long needle nose pliers, tried to lock in place. What happened next was surprising, I pulled and the rivets that hold the clip on the center cap pulled through and seperated from the center cap. I knew the caps were inferior to originals, but still I was surprised. I thought, well maybe it was defective and tried another cap and to my surprise the same thing occured. Spoke with tech at Year One and they told me to do exactly what I had already done and acted as if I was the first one to have this problem. I decided to try an original cap that is all pitted, but still intact. Could not get that to lock on to any of the 4 wheels and spent quite a long time. After assessing the situation the only cure I could come up with was to have a stud tacked on the back of the center cap and have them rechromed and use a fender washer to hold them in place. Opted out at this point and sent them back to Year One. Really a shame as they did such a beautiful job on the rims. Guess I'll wait for someone to make a fix!

[bonneville Joe]

I had trouble with both my cast snowflakes and my billet snowflakes with center caps. Eventually got them on but it wasn't that easy "click" and they are on scenario you are used to with original stuff.

[LeighP]

Hi,
A couple of people have had the same issue with the centre caps.
I was very careful fitting mine. Trick seems to be pulling the tabs from the rear using long nose pliers. Hook one over the lip first, then lay the wheel/tyre face down.
Carefully pull the other tabs up while bending slightly inwards and ease the hook over the lip.
Even being as careful as I could, I popped one retainer off the cap.
When I examined the cap and retainer I noticed that they are not a seperate rivet holding the retainer int othe cap...they are actually small studs of diecast material that are molded with the cap itself. I pressed the retainer back onto the cap and, while holding the retainer tight to the cap, I used a pin punch to again flatten out the diecast pins. To further ensure they retained the spring metal pice, I used a centre punch in the middle of the flatten diecast pins to spread the pins tightly in the holes of the spring metal retainer. This worked for me OK.
I think YO need to make the small diecast pins a little longer, to ensure there is plenty of retaining material squashed down to hold the spring metal retainer in position while pulling the tabs up and over the inner lip.



Fitted with 255/50ZR17 NITTO Invo tyres

[lilredgto]

Hi Leigh,
You sure have more patience then I had, and I wish you the best of luck with the wheels as they sure do look great!

[LeighP]

Thanks, yep those wheels are a winner...everyone who've seen them in person is really impressed.
A bit on the heavy side, but what can you expect for cast 17" wheels...they're all heavier than 15" wheels and tyres.