17" replacement wheels for my Olds Rally's

[DoubleV]

Been searching for a while now for a wheel to take the place of my beloved stock Olds Rally's because I want to step up to a 17" tire due to the much better tire selection. Every time I think I found 'the' wheel, I would find some pics of them on a car and realize they ain't what I want. One of the things I was looking for was a wheel that had some sort of inlays on the spokes so I could paint them gold to match the stock Olds wheels. Plenty of wheels out there that have that but none seemed quite right. Billet Specialties has a couple of interesting ones and one of them that caught my eye seemed pretty cool but something about it seemed off. While doing some more searching, I came across some pics of this wheel on a car with the inlays already painted too ( though not gold ). I thought they looked much better than the 'stock pics' on the website.

So what do y'all think about the wheels in these pics? They would be going on my 85 442 and the inlays would be painted gold instead of black. There are a couple of minor things I don't care for on this wheel ( like the rivets ), but overall this seems to be one of the best wheels I have come across and for some reason give me the 'feel' of the stock Olds wheels even though they are very different.

P.S. Wheels in pics are 18". I will be going 17".

 

[Fox80]

I to feel your pain on wheel choices, I have a rear disc brake swap sitting in the box because everything I find I don't like either. I hate the fact that the 14" are all but obsolete, but like you I actually like the look of them, I even looked into having the centers put into the larger wheels. I will say that wheel you found is a nice look of modern cut wheel but classic look, if left black I would give that wheel serious thought for my car. Who makes them?

 

[88hurstolds]

Luke has street lites:

http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/1023 ... Lites-17x8


Gary Willard had made a 17" billet version of the SSIII, Luke has a photo of them somewhere as do I, of them on his '83 Hurst at Bowling Green in '07 with the redline.
This one is on Gary's car:

http://www.oldspower.com/vb/showthread.php?t=31780

Edit: found the photo:

 

[jociha]

http://www.tirerack.com/images/wheels/h ... _ci3_l.jpg

Do these do anything for you?

 

[DoubleV]

Do these do anything for you?

Considered them but don't think they would look right. Every other similar wheel I've seen with large triangular spokes like that end up looking like wagon wheels on the car.

Who makes them?

Billet Specialties. They're called SLG23. I think the pics you always see of them ( same ones all the time ) look 'off' because the center hub section looks so dang small in proportion to the rest of the wheel. I think it's because they are showing you a pic of a 20"+ sized wheel.

Luke has street lites:

Yeah Street Lites have already been considered and I have actually talked to Luke about them on his car. I think the ones I showed in the pics look a little better than the 17" Street Lites.

Gary Willard had made a 17" billet version of the SSIII, Luke has a photo of them somewhere as do I, of them on his '83 Hurst at Bowling Green in '07 with the redline.

I believe the ones pictured are 18" but either way that wheel is not really an option because they aren't being made. Too bad really.

 

[online170]

DoubleV;

In the buick world, there used to be a Vendor that took stock Rallye wheels and added a larger ring around the outside to give you the 16", 17", 18" wheel desired. I don't think he is in business but im sure other companies can do the same.


If you want the look of the new wheel, then that's a different story.



I think this is the company I am thiking of. But I swear I thought they went out of business;
http://www.trudesignwheel.net/buick_olds_wheels.html

 

[DoubleV]

Already talked with them online170. Yeah they weld a large ring around the rim. Sounds like it would make a heavy wheel even heavier and may look a bit funny with so much solid rim space. Website also says 16" for Olds wheels. I didn't discuss if he could go 17" with an Olds Rally. In the end the things I found to unsell me on this idea were the excessive wheel weight, the 'too much rim' look, 16" size, the fact I had to rip apart my stock wheels to mod them, and the biggest one was that I've never heard of anyone who has ever had it done. I figure if it was a real kick-*ss option it would be much more popular and we would all know about it.

 

[online170]

10-4, so you've done your homework.

FWIW, the heaviest wheel I have ever seen is on my buddy's olds cutlass. They are the summit brand steel wheels. They do slow the car down a bit. But the on road butt dyno cant feel it, and it doesn't detract from the fun at all.


104mph with heavy wheels and 108mph with 15" aluminum wheels. No other changes.

 

[pencero]

Billet 17's are what my olds sits on too. I'll warn you ahead of time how hard it is to keep scratches off the inner lip - it's just downright impossible

 

[xitabl442]

I have Coys wheels on mine. They are polished and I painted the gold on them. They now sell them in chrome as well. More pics in my gallery.
I do have to run a 1" bolt-on spacer in the rear.
http://www.coyswheel.com/coys-c67.html