wheels and tires on the cheap (early C3)

Yellow73SB said:
They weight like 50 pounds a piece, they are meant for trucks

I'm not sure how well these would work but these on a 15" wheel would be much lighter

http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/street.php?item=SportsmanSR
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I'm sure they're heavy as hell, but my stock rally's aren't real light either. I'm sure they'll add some rotating mass, but I expect the reduced sidewall and better tire selection would outweigh the extra mass (no pun intended :))
 
Find a set of 15's Maybe even some more rally's, then go to Hoosier or Nitto. Maybe get the wheels made into 15x10? There are several 15 tires out there that are pretty sticky. Those BFG tires are hard.

Those 17 Goodyears I have seem to be fairly sticky, but I'm not sure I'd trust a street tire for a full on Auto-X. I think I'd not even trust anything but a full-on race tire for any real serious stuff like that.
 
He said he wants to drive to the track. Are the Hoosiers ok to use "on road" ?

Tim, what size tires are you thinking about in 15"? I know about Goodyear, Dunlop, Firestone and Bfg in 255-60-15. These tires were designed in the 70's and just cannot compete with modern 17" tires, even the cheapest 17" performance tires. Since the 90's most vehicles come from the factory with 16" or 17" sizes so developing new 15" tires wasn't a high priority anymore.

Maybe you can find good performance tires in 275-50-15 but I would think that that could be more expensive than 17".... the fender gap would be huge too.... just like with the 255-40-17 I mentioned earlier.

The huge fender gap might not be all that bad: with the extreme body roll you can at least be sure the tire doesn't rub the fender.....
 
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When I was looking Hoosier had several sizes of 15" tires. Nothing said they were not to be used on highway, but I did see that the wear ratings were not all that great. I went with 17's because or exactly what you mentioned- they just don't make anything in 15" anymore that met what I was looking for, but I'm not doing any track stuff either. I had to really hunt for the 17's, I think I got the last pair of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS/D3's in the country at the time that were 285/40x17. Now after putting them on, I could have gotten 305/40's and still had lots of room. But i have those big flares too.
 
I like to keep the wheel/tire centerline the same as stock to keep loading on the hubs down to a minumum, I consider it unsafe to move that centerline over 1/4 inch or so.....drive it on the road with that hub bearing with no purchase on the load for a long distance, I can't see it.....asking a LOT of them bearings....

:shocking: SO, if you running the same centerline, I can see a 9.5 inch wide rim ok, it's what I have....but anything wider and you get into that tire rub on the sway bar or t-arm.....and at that you need move the ebrake bracket...

:search:
 
The wheels i have will probably interfere with the stock calipers. There is another 17" wheel that fits better....i think. A guy down on the cape restorod79 bought them.

here are mine.

507653_88_full.jpg


can't find a picture of his. Maybe someone can give a yell for him and find out.
 
turtlevette said:
The wheels i have will probably interfere with the stock calipers.
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damn, I was hoping that wasn't the case. What calipers are you running? Did you use a spacer with those Cragar's or did you just bolt them right up? Is Restorod79 a member on here I take it?
 
lsejlowe said:
turtlevette said:
The wheels i have will probably interfere with the stock calipers.
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damn, I was hoping that wasn't the case. What calipers are you running? Did you use a spacer with those Cragar's or did you just bolt them right up? Is Restorod79 a member on here I take it?
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They bolt right up, but are not hub centric as noted above. I would never use a spacer again.

Being able to fit almost any wheel is a another very good reason to go to Dynalite calipers.

Or get out the hand grinder and clearance the stock caliper.

I did trial fit one of my wheels on the back with the stock caliper and it did not rub. I guess there are differences from car to car.
 
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