15" wheels or upsizing?

[waygun]

Looks like David is having a hard time to decide since this is his second thread about this wheel and tire matter.
As I said before,wheels are such a personal choice and they should compliment the car--not over take the car's looks.
Ask three hundred people,get three hundred different opinions.
The OP and I were bouncing back and forth PM's regarding tire and wheel choices.
I work in the tire and wheel business.

I agree with Propwash..it's your money and your car.
YOU have to be happy with your choice.
I respect whatever choice you make..but you either have to drop your guns or pull the trigger.
All we can do here is share our opinions and pics to help you make your decision..
I think the Cragar Soft 8's in a 17 inch will look great.Even the 17 inch Cragar S/S would be a better looking wheel.
http://www.cragarwheel.com/wheels/?id=44&first=17&fid=all
Rear tire 27540zr17 front 23545R17 .
Not as much sidewall "look" but will be able to handle whatever you can muster out of the supercharged big block.
Finally,keep the fatty 15 inchers.
Good thing is you can bolt them on any time you feel like it for the old school look.
Jam on the Z rated rubber bands when you want to play high speed tag with the local po-po,LOL!!

 

[davidl13]

I have had a few cars in the last few years with the larger rims and I can't stand them, the way I look at it is if your driving an "old school" classic...keep it that way. If you have your ride all tricked out, then fine go big..
If you want the wheel wells full of rubber, then stick with the 15" rims and go with a larger tire like a 70 or 75. I just got a 73 Charger with 20" rears and 18" fronts...took me about a week to get them sold so I could go back to 15"s.
AL

i understand your perspective from a cosmetic look, but how did it ride and handle with the bigger wheels?

 

[66 Plumper Project]

Old School for me also

Maybe you can use the 15" street drag tires? How high are they rated? Old school car, old school rims. It just matches better!

 

[69redrunner]

15" all the way around and drop the a** end a couple of inches.
When I see a car with the rear jacked way up like that, I think of High School in the 80's! EVERYBODY threw in some air shocks and or truck springs.....


Nice car, don't ruin the look with "new" big wheels.

 

[ram250098]

i understand your perspective from a cosmetic look, but how did it ride and handle with the bigger wheels?

To be honest it road like CRAP, the rubber was a 255/35/20 rear and a 235/35/18 front.
Handled ok, not the way I like.
I now run with some new 15" Cragar D Window rims and Indy 500 rubber...what a killer look...now I have to wait for the bloody snow to melt LOL.
AL

 

[northerndave]

15's blackwalls, get the width and backspacing right and drop it a couple inches.

It's more about filling the wheel wells proportionately with O.D. and tire width and getting the backspacing correct, plus the stance.

IMO, rusty 15" cop wheels wrapped in good rubber with the above goals achieved (OD, width, backspacing, stance) wins out over shiny donk wheels tossed in without thought.

Wheels and tires are like a man's suit, you have to take some measurements to get it to look it's best.

 

[davidl13]

tires

i am going to stick with the 15's for now, since i own the wheels and have not heard from or met many who have upsized...and can discuss ride quality and handling of 17/18... obviously many have comments on the "looks"

i understand the old school looks...

the pic i have posted is old.. the car will be on the ground in the next week or so...

i currently have stock mopar HD leaf springs....

is it typical to have to lower it beyond a stock HD spring?

i'll post new picks as soon as the car is sitting on the ground....currently the rears have 295-50-15 in slicks, bit i will need a street tire....that is very good in water and all season... (florida can get very wet at times...lol!)

i don't want that jacked up look...just a good riding everyday driver...

 

[Sonny Black]

keep it period correct....
JMVHO

Sonny Black

 

[nomadci]

I am also putting a ProCharger on my 440 68 Charger. I opted for the larger 13" disc brakes. Of course now I have to go with a larger wheel. Have you looked at the Magnum 500 in an 18"...old school look with up to 10" in width. Also American Racing makes a lot of Old school style 17's and up. Beautiful car.

 

[brandon64]

anything bigger then 15's is sac-religious. looks sweet the way it is.

 

[Jonnyuma]

I think 17 or 18" rims would look damn fine on that 'Bee. You can still get 50 or 55 series rubber for 17" rims, not sure about 18s. The 94-96 Impala SSs used 255/55 17s from the factory. Since you already own the Welds why doncha mount your racing tires to those and just use em for racin'? A friend of mine runs 17" AR Torque Thrusts w 55 series tires on the street (looks killer) on his 70 Chevelle but bolts on his 15" drag radials and $50 Aero steelies when its time to get serious.

 

[tpodwdog]

looks like the "ghetto wheels" are getting voted down!

 

[Jonnyuma]

Things change. 17inch wheels aren't exactly big anymore. Just like a million dollars ain't exactly a fortune and 13 sec quarters ain't exactly fast.
The plus-sizing question has appeared here before and it ALWAYS runs about 70-80% against going big...no real surprise there. The surprise is that dudes keep asking.
Pre-71 cars have a hard time pulling off anything bigger that a 15" rim. Road Runners look especially bad. My personal opinion is that black steelies look good on EVERYTHING.

 

[waygun]

Upsizing and retaining an old school (classic rim and still have some sidewall) look AND still have excellent ride and handling is available.
Here is my example...2356016 H rated Goodyear Comfortreads on 16X8 wheels 27.1 inches tall

 

[davidl13]

wheels

i like your 16's...if i upsize, i will go to 17" probably, since there are many more hi performance tires in 17" and 18"

 

[goose69]

Well this is a timeless question kind of like "should I paint it red or blue, go big block or small block", etc. It all comes down to personal preferance. My good friend has many chevelles (some of the most beautiful I've seen in fact) and they're restored to a complete original state. He bought some of them with bigger tires/wheels and lots of chrome and aluminum, well that stuff was the first to come off. I personally like a little aluminum or chrome on my cars but that's what keeps mulitple company's in business, our different oppinions. I like the look of 15" wheels/tires if done right but I also like the look of bigger (17"-18") combos if all done right too. But once again that's me, definatly NOT my buddy. Look at many pics, try some of those computor programs that'll do a mock up of different wheels/tires on a pic of your car. Better yet, I've worked at a place that would test fit combos on cars for free to help people out. Might be worth a try. Good luck with your project!

 

[goose69]

But I do understand you wanting to know how a car will ride with different or larger wheels/ lower profile tires. With your suspension uprades it would be interesting to find out or test both against each other. Once again good luck, sorry don't have any good advice for ya.

 

[goose69]

Have you seen the pic of this guy's car? I like the looks of it. Bigger size wheels but an older style with a twist. There's a u-tube video labeled "satellite resto-mod" I believe. process of doing this car. Looks sweet in the end.

 

[70X Driver]

Have you seen the pic of this guy's car? I like the looks of it. Bigger size wheels but an older style with a twist. There's a u-tube video labeled "satellite resto-mod" I believe. process of doing this car. Looks sweet in the end.

I agree that this car looks great! The u-tube video I saw was of a 68/69 car, but the same wheel/ color combo.

 

[67 coronet]

read through the post pretty fast but,dont let speed rating cloud your judgement.speed rating is survival of the tire at that speed for 8 hrs,not 2 seconds.i have had s speed rated tires at 190 mph plus many times with no problems at all.
larger wheels alow for lower profile tires at the same overall size.they give improved handling but at the expence of a smoother ride.i think your own personal opinion on looks is all that truely matters here.the only time to switch to larger wheels is for looks or extreem performance.