[70FormulaCA]

My 70 Formula (standard 400) was painted black before I purchased it years ago and has remained black since it still looks great. The car has rallye wheels on it but it originally came with the standard steel wheel with cap and trim ring. I have always thought about installing the correct wheels on it.

A few weeks back I came across this Formula on FB. This car really got me wanting to do the steel wheels with hubcaps setup (without the trim rings though). The combo looks killer with the black paint.

My question is, where do I find correct steel wheels? Are they re-popped?
Would prefer 15" wheels. Correct tire size would be the next question in terms of what would look good.

[bird72]

That IMO is one of the best hub cap designs.

[poncho-mike]

The base 1973 -1976 Grand Prix and Monte Carlos that came with hub caps have 15x7 steel wheels that the poverty caps will work on.

Mike

[Ramairnacho]

Originally Posted by 70FormulaCA

My 70 Formula (standard 400) was painted black before I purchased it years ago and has remained black since it still looks great. The car has rallye wheels on it but it originally came with the standard steel wheel with cap and trim ring. I have always thought about installing the correct wheels on it.

A few weeks back I came across this Formula on FB. This car really got me wanting to do the steel wheels with hubcaps setup (without the trim rings though). The combo looks killer with the black paint.

My question is, where do I find correct steel wheels? Are they re-popped?
Would prefer 15" wheels. Correct tire size would be the next question in terms of what would look good.

My car came with 14 x 7 wheels and poverty caps. Tire sizes I learned are more limited.

[poncho-mike]

Here is an old photo of a 71 T/A with 15" Grand Prix steelies and early poverty caps.

[70FormulaCA]

Originally Posted by poncho-mike

Here is an old photo of a 71 T/A with 15" Grand Prix steelies and early poverty caps.

Thanks poncho-mike. Think the hard part is finding the wheels. I searched for new reproductions but no luck.

[Ramairnacho]

Originally Posted by poncho-mike

Here is an old photo of a 71 T/A with 15" Grand Prix steelies and early poverty caps.

Can or do they sell trim.firvthe 15 steel rims and what the stamp

[unruhjonny]

there are a couple different wheel codes that will pretty much all look the same;
The 1970 Formula came with 14x7" wheels;
The original code for 1970 wheels is CL.
The most common 14" wheels are going to be 14x6" - and were used on pretty much everything from the 1960's through to the 1980's;
F-bodies, G-bodies, X-bodies - with the odd exception, they all came with 14x6" wheels

The 1969 14x7" "IF" wheel seems to be the easiest to find that is the same size, but they do have a slight visual difference from 1970+ wheels;
They are only the easiest to find because they are most often the 14x7" GM steel wheels that people list on ebay and such - they are EXACTLY the same as the XT coded wheels;
The XT wheels demand big bucks, and are nicknamed "COPO wheels" because of how many '69 COPO Camaros that were built with them (and those cars drive up the values of those wheels).
I believe the XT was a Chev. wheel used on the Camaro, while IF was a Pontiac wheel used on the Firebird - some Camaros have been documented as recieving IF wheels from the factory.

If you want, you can use pretty much any 14" or 15" wheel as long as the offset accomidates the brake calipers.

There is another thread that I created years ago on this forum asking a very similar question to yours, and honestly in the wild, 14x7" GM 5x4.75" steel wheels are quite tough to find - regaurdless of manufacture date or wheel code.
I had a couple wreckers I would pop in to look for these, and it took several years for me to get four.
I had assembled a set of different code wheels, then came across a set (of four) CL wheels on another forum that I ended up buying.

Good luck!!

EDIT:

I will add this;
I have read that the new wheels you can buy from reputable vendors are terrible;
Nearly unbalanceable terrible.
If you do some digging even just on this forum, you will read time and again of problems with these new wheels.
I had considered buying new myself, but after several threads here and elsewhere touting problems with them, I decided to press on and get some nice used ones;
I would encourage you to find a nice used set of GM wheels so you don't have the headaches of so many others.

[gloryrestoparts]

good info unruhjonny.
I'll just add XT are also used on 70 Oldsmobile W-30 and W-31 cars. but the COPO camaro cars have driven the prices up.

[poncho-mike]

I'll agree with that. I parted out a couple of late build 1969 Grand Prixs over the years that had the XT wheels with hub caps. I was shocked when I looked up the prices. I sold a set of five very late production wheels for stupid money.

Originally Posted by gloryrestoparts

good info unruhjonny.
I'll just add XT are also used on 70 Oldsmobile W-30 and W-31 cars. but the COPO camaro cars have driven the prices up.

If you're looking for 15x7 steel wheels, you might also check 1975 -1976 Grand Prixs, the Chevelle Langunas, and even mid-size buick sedans. I think I pulled a set of 15x7 steelies off a 1974 Chevelle 4-dr.

Mike

[70FormulaCA]

Thanks all for the feedback.

Anyone have a close-up picture of a 15" steel wheel from the mid 70s without the hubcap installed? Would like to get an idea of what I'm looking for when I'm at a swap meet for example. And would they have any stampings?

Thanks.

[sport coupe]

Here are a couple pictures of old GM steel wheels. The codes look like:
G19 6 FL
K19 6 FL
These snow tires were studded and used on my 75 Lemans with rear drums. They probably came from chevy or chevy truck from what I could find.

[unruhjonny]

trucks use a different bolt pattern.

be sure to only get 5x4.75" lug pattern wheels

[70FormulaCA]

Thanks again guys. Very helpful.