i went to the wheel shop today. i asked them about the buick rims. they said they couldnt find them. i know that wheel vintiques makes them, does n e body else? also i am wanting to get some 15x7 in the front and 15x8 in the back.. i know the front will fit but will the 8 inch fit in the back without me having t do any modifications? its a stalk rear end... also how much backspace should i have for each? and what would the widest tire i could put in the back that would fit with no problem? ill probly save the p205's i have for the front to save me a few hundred bucks. thanks
Specialty Wheel on the west coast makes them cheaper than WV. Tire Size in 60 series: 245--front (255 if all your supension is in good shape) 275- rear
I used Specialty Wheel in OR and was very pleased. And they were ten times as quick as Wheel Vintiques, who couldn't seem to make anything because they "had no cores". I run 245/60's up front on factory wheels and 325/40's out back on 15x10's with 5-5/8" backspacing. I did have to trim about 1/4" from the top of the wheel well. But it sure looks great. Phil
well thghs rear tires u have would be alot wider than what i would get.. u trimed them that muh, would i have to do any trimming with some 15 x 8's?
No. I ran 15x8's before these with 275/60 DragRadials. There's tons of room inside and out with that combo. I believe backspacing was 4-1/2" on those.
cool. u wouldnt happen to have a pioc would u. also a pic of thoughs 15 x 10's? i bet thought look damn good. are they buick rims or american racing or something. if i dont go with the buick rims i will go with american racing breaker chrome. http://www.americanracing.com/wheel...4&desc=1-piece alloy, chrome plated§ion=N but if i did that than i would have to go with 8 inch all around which woiul mean i coulnt use the front tires i have now. but will see on how generous i am (money wise). thanks for the info.
Here's a pic of Phil's car, (hope he doesn't mind). Very aggressive looking. :TU: More pics in this thread .
ok, so u guys are sayin that i can go out and buy 15 x 8 inch rims for my stalk 71 skylark and they will fit with plenty of room without doing n e thing? if so is this way for the front incase i deside to go with the american racing rims? thanks
NO PROBLEM 15x8 will work in the back, easy (as long as the body/frame isn't tweaked one way or the other!!) I just received my 15x10 w/ 5 5/8 backspacing wheels from Specialty Wheel in Portland, OR---- (Thanks for being the guinea pig, Phil :grin: ) guy named Michael there was very helpful... I requested semi-gloss black on the inserts and they obliged!!! I may not need to trim the wheelwell lip as I will probably be using 275/50 Drag Radials for now, as I want to stay at 26" tall for the 3.42 rear I'm using currently.... Thanks again for the inspiration and the great pics, guys--- gotta love those ralleys........ :TU:
Did I say 5-5/8" backspacing???ou: I meant 3-5/8" backspacing!!!!!! Just kidding. 5-5/8" is correct.:grin: Hope I didn't scare anyone too much. When people see the wheels/tires on the back, they swear I must have mini-tubbed the car some how that they can't see. I tell 'em that's the way Buicks were built because the engines have so much power they knew large wheel wells would be needed.:grin: Phil
"ok, so u guys are sayin that i can go out and buy 15 x 8 inch rims for my stalk 71 skylark and they will fit with plenty of room without doing n e thing? if so is this way for the front incase i deside to go with the american racing rims? thanks" - - Patrick, I didn't see where anybody said that. What was said is that if you get 15x8's with 4.5" backspacing you can run a 275 width tire with no problem. Now if you go out and get a 15x8 with 3" of backspacing that same tire will rub. The backspacing is critical, don't assume any wheel will work.
Factory 15x7's have 3-1/2" (4" max) backspacing, I believe. I run on these with a 245/60R15 on the front with no problems. Others here have gone as big as 255, but make sure you have new springs and shocks on the front. That starts to get tight if the front end is sagging at all. My front end is actually lowered about 1" or so and I'm still OK, tight but OK. I have rubbed if I punch and go around a corner too fast. I am probably going to put the stock height springs back in. On the rear, a 15x8 with 4-1/2" backspacing, which is how Wheel Vintiques makes them and Specialty Wheel will do whatever you want, is perfect and will give you over one inch clearance inside and out with a 275/60R15 tire. I know as I ran this tire on my car before going to the BIGGER 325/50R15 with my 15x10's with the 5-5/8" backspacing. Clearance is about 3/8" to 1/2" on the inside and zero clearance before trimming the top of the wheel well about 1/4" or so so that if the car bounces the tire will not hit at all. The only rubbing issue I have had is over a BIG whoopp deedoo on a road and the tire rubbed on the tread where the factory inner fender is curved at the top (inside of the trunk section). Again, this only happened once when I was going kind of fast over this little "hill" on the road over a culvert pipe. You could get a 15x8 with 3" backspacing, but you would then be getting close to the outer wheel well opening. Before you get something like that, put on a wheel with known dimensions, get a level and do some careful measuring. You might get away with 3", but it would be close. I would stick with 3-1/2" as a minimum and 5-1/2" as a maximum. I know you'll be safe anywhere in those measurements. Lon Bauer has a set of 15x8's with 3-1/3" backspacing and they do fit, but it's getting close. Your tires are another consideration if you get wheels that will make things close. Tread width is not as important as section width. That's how wide the tire will be on the rim. And different rim widths will affect the section width. Jegs tire section is very good and lists all of a tire's dimensions with their prices and is a very good reference source for this. Things do vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but by very little. So take a look there to see and compare different tire sizes. If you go to the BFGoodrich radial T/A area, they have a lot of the popular tire sizes in that section, up to 295/50's I believe. DragRadials are also listed as well as M/H Muscle Car Drag tires. I'll be looking into a pair of those when my DragRadials start to go bald.......again. The nice thing about backspacing is if you do get too much, you can shim the wheel back out about 1/4" or so with factory wheel studs. Summit and Jegs sell wheel shims that go out to 1/2" and a set is only about $13 if I remember right. But at 1/2" you'd need different wheel studs. And that would be a pain to change over. Height is the other issue. Most factory sizes were between 25"-27" high. This isn't as big an issue, but some of these tires are as high as 29.6" (295/65 DragRadials). So it is something else to watch as to keep your speedo accurate, you need to keep the same height, or go to a tranny shop and get the proper speedo gear. You can still get them from a GM dealer and they're about $8 each. Probably only $2-3 from an old-timer tranny shop. Good luck. Phil
o yea i know about that. i was just making sure so i dont screw myself and buy rims that dont fit. ill go 4 1/2 in the rear.. should i just leave 3 1/2 in the front for the 15 x 7's?.. also what is the widest tire i can get back there.. ill probly just go with the 275.. should be plenty for me considering im not going to be doing to much racing. thanks for all the info guys.
Like I said, I have 325/50 (28" diameter) DragRadials on now. But I did have to trim the top of the fender well for good clearance. I know of others who are running the 295/65 DragRadials, but have never seen them on the car. You'll be fine with the 275's for sure. Just watch the diameter so you don't get too small. 275/50's only have a 26" diameter while 275/60's have a 28" diameter.
15x7 backspacing I measured the backspacing recently on a factory 15x7 ralley, it was 4 3/8---- specialty wheel considers it to be 4 1/4. I would go with that on the front, Patrick--- works for me :TU:
