CUTLASS Another bright idea, '87 Olds 442 wheels on my '80?

[old80cs]

I found a set of '87 Olds 442 15" wheels and center caps for sale not too far away for $500. The rims have some surface rust and faded gold insets in the spokes, but look to be in pretty good shape, the centers as well. Is the asking price out of line or decent or?

My idea is to go 15" tires all around on my '80, will these work on my car without issue? I don't think there were any major chassis, suspension geometry changes on the entire run up to '88 but I figure I should ask.

The plan I have is to sandblast the chrome off of them, paint them body color and set them up like the original painted 14" SSIII's with trim rings. I know I'll need 15" trim rings but the rim centers are all the same and will accept the snap in trim work off on my 14" rims, correct?

I have a pair of 15" SSIII's already painted to match the car but they came off a B body and I can't use them in the front of the car so even if I found two more they wouldn't work all around. I originally was going to go with my 30 year old plan of 15"s in the back and 14"s in the front but I think I want to be able to run one size tire all around and I'd prefer to go with the 15" 442 wheels if they'll work.

 

[pagrunt]

15's are no issue as the stock 215/65 & about all 14's are about 26" tall tires. Stock width won't have any clearance issues either. Now unless there is issues as noted with the chrome in my opinion I wouldn't blast a good set of 442 wheels as there may be a better deal on plain Jane SSIII's in 15".

 

[old80cs]

15's are no issue as the stock 215/65 & about all 14's are about 26" tall tires. Stock width won't have any clearance issues either. Now unless there is issues as noted with the chrome in my opinion I wouldn't blast a good set of 442 wheels as there may be a better deal on plain Jane SSIII's in 15".

Did any of the '78-'88 Cutlass's come with painted 15" SSIII wheels? I see sets of 15" SSIII's from mid 70's Colonnade Cutlass's come up for sale from time to time but not sure if they'd work on the 78-88 models.

 

[pagrunt]

Only the '83-'84 H/O's & '85 up 442's from my knowledge had 15's but no painted. The '77 up B bodies used painted wheels in 15". Back spacing should be right from '73 up wheels from A bodies but there is always that chance there's a wheel that has to be different. I've yet to have an issue with any of my '70's Chevy wheels with back spacing but did with a set of third gen Camaro wheels that looked like the MCSS steel wheels.

 

[spidereyes455]

My 80 cutlass has painted 15" SSII wheels on it. Probably came from a 73-77 Abody. They have been on the car since the late 90's that was back when you couldn't give those wheels away for free most of the time.

I agree I wouldn't sandblast and paint an original set of chrome ones.

 

[69hurstolds]

For the Super Stocks, the centers of the 442 15" wheels and 14" wheels for G-bodies are all the same. Just the outer hoop was changed to protect the innocent.

B-bodies with HD brakes I believe were 5x5 lug pattern so I don't even think they'd bolt on if from a B-body with big brakes. But they used both 4.75 x 5 and 5 x 5 patterns over the years on B-bodies, so you just have to be aware what car they came from.