wheel and tire specs

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

just to make sure, i can use 17x8 wheels with 4.5" back space yes? i plan on getting some 17x8's and some 235/45/17 tires.

im tired of 14 inch wheels and tires and i have a little extra money to spend. i need tires for the car so i might as well upgrade the wheels and buy 17 inch tires instead. and it will make putting larger brakes on easier too.

so does 4.5" back space sound right on a 17x8 wheel?

 

[mechanic58]

Most RWD GM cars of the A and G-body era run a 4 1/2" backspace wheel. Some of the early F and X body cars required a deeper backspace to accommodate larger tires on the rear axle, but I think you'll be safe with a 4 1/2" backspace. You will still have issues with rubbing on the frame and maybe the fender lip on the front though. Custom bump stops and a slight modification to the steering stops might be required.

 

[mechanic58]

Oh and the 235s might look and work ok on the front - with the exception of the issues I mentioned above....but they're prolly going to look a tad puny on the back. Not very much sidewall on a 235/45.

 

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-141-7861GM0/

those are the ones i ordered. i realize 235/45 isnt very big at all for the rear but i want to be able to rotate the tires like normal so for now i'll use those and then maybe something bigger for the rear with the next set. i'm use to having two different sizes but i miss the more even wear from rotating the tires.

i dont think i'll have many rubbing issues, the ride height is stock and other than being wider the tire should be about the same height as the ones i use now.

 

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

i got them today, they went out on the 2nd. they look pretty nice, a pair of them shipped together turned out to be 56 pounds total(said so on the shipping label), that's 28 pounds each and i know the boxes weight a few pounds each. i'm not sure how much a steel wheel of the same size would weigh but i suspect it'd beat 25 pounds.

now i can have better handling and bigger brakes. i didnt buy these things for the looks, i chose the ones i thought would look the best for the size i'm needing. i plan on installing vette brakes in the future. this is the one thing that i cant get away with, hiding bigger brakes demand bigger wheels.

i also thought about running a 245/45 instead of a 235/45. it comes out to 25.7 inches tall, same height as a 195/75/14 tires the car came with.

i also checked out the holes for the lug nuts, i can get my matco 19mm/21mm lug nut impact socket in it just fine. so i wont have to worry about too much about what lug nuts will fit. now i have to test fit them on the car to make sure the wheels fit ok.

 

[mechanic58]

Looking forward to some pictures of them on your car. I have been thinking about bigger brakes for my Regal as well. I haven't even begun to research that yet. I've already got a nice big set of drums for the rear, they were on the 9" axle that I picked up. I'll be looking into some larger discs for the front.

 

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

i'm hoping to get some before pics with my 14" wheels, then some pics test fitting the new wheels on the car and then after with tires mounted. with the two tone gray paint scheme the silver machined lip and dark metallic gray spokes should look very good on the car. the sad thing is the body work is the last thing getting done so i'll have these really nice looking wheels on a car with dings, rust and bad factory paint now in the final stages of oxidizing. the wheels cost more than the state values the car at for taxes.

summit also gave me 20 summit bucks but the site says nothing about it when you buy the wheels. i guess it's a random thing or something.

 

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

ok i took some measurements of the wheels and here are the numbers:

weight: 24.8 lbs. i weighed them on my digital bathroom scale. maybe not the most accurate but i'm guessing that number is pretty damn close if not on the button. the wheels seem a little heavier than i would like BUT, they are 17 x 8's.

load capacity: 2100 lbs. each not surprising how high this is given how heavy they are for being aluminum.

total width: 9". the inside diameter between the lips of the rim is 8" exactly.

backspace total: 4.5" i think maybe 4" would have been better but they didnt have that option...

lug nut hole diameter: 1.125". i can get a 19mm impact socket in it with room to wiggle, cannot do that with a 21 mm.

lug nut hole depth: 1.5" actually if you include the inverted part for the cone of the nut it's probably closer to 1.75".

space inside the wheel: about 16" at the smallest diameter on the center line of the wheel. these things can take most brakes you put inside them. they have about 1.5" average clearance from the center line to the outside of the wheel so wider calipers are more feasible. i say average as the spokes on the inside are curved and go from about 1.4" or so up to 1.75" in depth from the wheel center line. i think total inside depth of the wheel is about 6". curves inside the wheel tend to be small so the inside profile of the wheel is almost kind of squarish. the mounting surface diameter is 6.125".

i've looked the wheels over for workmanship and while they are not perfect they are nice for the price. i think more attention to detail (like overspray from the outside of the wheel inside the wheel) could have been given to the wheels and i dont think it's much to ask to "fix" the overspray on a wheel even if its inside the wheel and nobody may never see it. it shows a bit of carelessness in finishing the wheels IMO. beyond the overspray issue the wheels seem pretty nice and offer a lot to those who want big brakes on their car but may not want to shell out maybe 250 bucks per wheel for those bigger brakes.

for $612.74 for a set of 4 with center caps included it's a good price and worth it. solid budget conscientious wheel.

 

[Crapple21]

You shouldn't have any problems with 17s. I have 17x8 with 4.5 inch back spacing American racing torque thrust IIs on my el camino with 245s in the back and 225s in the front. For awhile I even had 245s all the way around and I have no rubbing issues at all.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

What brand/style wheels are they?

Sounds like an American racing style wheel because of the 16" diameter clearance. 🙁

I'm selling my AR wheels once I get the car finished so that I can get a set that will clear larger brakes. I had to drop to a 12" rotor from a 13" because of their design. 🙁